I have been convinced to switch from apple, and i am soon purchasing a pixel 7 pro. I would then like to put a custom rom on it because i would:
- like to use foss more
- like to maintain better privacy than apple offers
- would enjoy the control over the system
- not like to ever touch google chrome
There are some limitations to what i can choose though, as i need the following to work:
- google apps like sheets/docs/classroom/youtube
- banking app (usaa specifically)
- play store (could be replaced)
Additionally i would like to keep the flashy camera stuff google talks about with the camera as i use the camera a fair bit. I have also heard that androids can have different UIs, so i would appreciate a nice looking one (i use gnome on my desktop for this reason alone). What ROMs would you guys recommend i choose?
LineageOS is always a good bet, but using a custom ROM will require you to root, which breaks most banking apps.
From what you are looking for, I would say you might not need a custom ROM, as you have much greater control over your system compared to an iPhone already, and unlike iPhone where all browsers are variations of Safari, Firefox is available as an alternative without using a custom ROM.
UIs (called launchers) in Android are a matter of personal preference, a lot of people do like Pixel experience though.
I’d say get the P7P and use it as is for a couple of days before you decide if you want to use a custom ROM instead.
This is good advice, i will wait a few days. That being said, if i can get all my apps working and i do decide to go for it, how would lineageOS compare to something like GrapheneOS for example? what other kinds of things might i lose if i choose to use a custom ROM?
I’ve been using Lineage since it was called CyanogenMod (was maintainer for Samsung Tab S2). It is the cleanest rom I found. You’ll need a gapps (google apps) source, but there is Nickgapps that gives a core set that only gives google store and the required services, so you can add whatever you want from the store.
I don’t know GrpahenOS, but the only one even less bloated I know is AOSP, on which Lineage is based. You can add whatever you want, root is available via Magisk, which gives even more options. (Ad blocking via LSposed and MinMinGuard spring to mind)
You will lose Google services and will have to replace them with something called MicroG, an open source implementation.
I personally haven’t done much custom ROMs, you may want to see if someone more knowledgeable on the topic will chime in here.
lineages is focused more on customisability and features and device longevity
grapheneos is focused on security and privacy
many features implemented in grapheneos has been upstreamed in aosp(base) android
one disadvantage of grapheneos’ approach is it stops updating after vendor(google) stops updating the firmware as it considers the device depricated
Will it receive updates after reflashing the stock ROM? Or is there another way? Through updating GrapheneOS?
I don’t understand, can you clarify?
Oh, I think I misunderstood your comment. I thought what you said was that after installing GrapheneOS, you wouldn’t receive firmware updates from Google. What you actually said was, correct me if I’m wrong, that GrapheneOS will only be able to release updates for a device as long as Google itself does so, because they’re based on Google’s updates, right? Does this mean that other custom ROMS that are based on a different approach will be able to keep releasing updates for a device after Google stops at “EoL” after 7 years?
yes, there are hardware security fixes and os security fixes
google only releases updates for 3-5 years, so grapheneos also supports that device for the same period
but others like lineageos just keep porting the os to older devices which no longer receive hardware security fixes as they also focus on device longevity
Guaranteed 3 years of OS updates while 5 years of security updates for most Pixel phones. The recently released Pixel 8 and 8 Pro are exceptions with 7 years of each. Source: Google
I like Lineages take of bringing new life to “old” yet still great devices too!
Graphene os does not require root
this is misinformation
installing a custom rom doesn’t require root in fact, some custom roms advice you against it like divestos, grapheneos, calyxos and some more
Sorry if this is really basic, but what is rooting? What are the positives and negatives of it?
rooting means gaining root access of android device
in Linux file systems, root is the base folder called / and then comes other folders
like(simplified) /Downloads/boku_no_pico means boku_no_pico is in downloads folder which is inside root
so now, in traditional android based os, there are some folders which are not permitted to be accessed like system folder and rooting means gaining access to that folder, which gives you access to modifying any property of the system
some negatives are that there are some crappy services who think rooting is only/mostly done by bad actors who are trying to abuse their services (basically Netflix, bank apps) so they try to block rooted users from using their services
but these dumb big tech employees can’t even do one thing properly, hiding root is really easy once you get used to it, so now bad actors can still abuse their system and honest users suffer
basically, its like gaining superuser access on Linux (sudo su)
Oops. You’re right, my mistake, guess my information is a bit out of date.
no problem :)
just accepting this made me happy
have a nice day!