The days of custom Android ROMs are numbered, and Google is to blame

I'm probably going to spam this around a bit, since most people don't seem to know about it, but a reminder that FuriLabs has a (GNU+)Linux phone with decent spec.s and the ability to run Android app.s (from what I've heard) pretty decently: https://furilabs.com/

Biggest drawback is it's based on Halium. Usual growing pains of a new product/company apply but apparently the company is pretty responsive and their dev.s have worked with customers to get things like calling working with the carrier and bands of their country where it hasn't worked before so improvements move pretty quickly.

Collection of different experiences I've variously seen online over the last year or so:

I don't own one, myself, so I can't give any personal experience but I've seen it around for a few years now but most people don't seem to even know about it. Maybe there's a reason for that? But none I've ever seen anyone say.

Halium
whats wrong with that
- Basically, you're tied to whatever Google-modified version of the Linux kernel you start with. All the complaints about not being able to get updates on Android apply and you'll never get to run mainline kernel.
  Not a deal breaker for me (especially when improvements here could go upstream) but it is, for some, so I just wanted to be upfront for anyone reading.
  On the plus side, it's probably part of why they've been able to get Android app.s working so well.

Holy shit, the bootlicking and mental gymnastics in the article's comments:

Phones are good now! You don't need custom ROMs!
If you got nothing to hide you will use a stock phone!
No average person loads custom ROMs, it's a nerd thing!

But I am a nerd, so why would I want crap like Android?
Talking about rooting and custom ROMs is so frustrating because most of the replies are always like this.
"baCk iN mY dAy I UseD to RoOt mY gALaXy s2 bUt pHoNeS aRE sO GoOd tOdAy iTs pOinTlEsS nOw"
Motherfucker, we're starting to not even be able to have full access to our own filesystem and Android gets more restrictive each year for alleged security reasons and you want to tell me this shit is not necessary anymore???
Lemmy is potentially the first place where people actually fucking get it.
- I mean its kinda true. The biggest draw to custom roms back in the day was adding features that either weren't available at all or only on limited devices.
  Even before google started locking shit down tight custom roms were dying because they had less and less to differentiate themselves from both each other and official android.
  Now of course we've basically come full circle. We are losing wanted/needed features for "security" but shits so locked down custom roms can't provide us with those features. :(
- “baCk iN mY dAy I UseD to RoOt mY gALaXy s2 bUt pHoNeS aRE sO GoOd tOdAy iTs pOinTlEsS nOw”
  Fucking lmao, I remember people saying that a decade ago when I had my Nexus 6P.
- Just try asking about rooting in the GraoheneOS Discord, and you risk getting banned.
  GrapheneOS has a ton of locked down stuff they don't want you to access. They make rooting extra hard, they don't support compiling the OS from source, there's still the TEE you can't access even with root, and the OS filesystem is readonly to inhibit customization.
  GrapheneOS promotes "verified boot" that stops you from doing many important things.
- Do you even z4root bro
No average person
I hate this line of reasoning in all facets of life. And it does seem to appear in all facets of life.
Nobody is average in every way. If we accept that it's okay for every goddam thing to suit only the "average", and to hell with everyone else, then nobody will happy in more than ~3-5 aspects of their life.
- Yea. Why are there so many sizes of clothes anyway? The average person doesn't need pants with a 44 inch waist. And so many food options? The average person doesn't need anything more than nutrient rich gruel.
- It’s not simply the average person it’s most people that don’t need this. For most people a custom rom adds nothing, most people barely change their wallpaper.
We should start a co-op that buys advertising data on people that say stuff like this and then bombards them with spam that says "You have nothing to hide, [name]! You want everyone to know you love [advertising data entry tied to them]"
Maybe they like authority more than android over there

CalyxOS didnt Pause Updates bEcAusE iTS sOoOo hArD now.

They did it because they Senior Devs are Retiring and they are switching out the Cryptographic Keys, so their Security wont be compromised.

Source: https://calyxos.org/news/2025/08/01/a-letter-to-our-community/

Yeah this article read as more of a hit piece and promotion of GrapheneOS than anything else. All the "news" in the article is weeks old too.
[CalyxOS] won’t receive any updates for the foreseeable future.
And yet, from Calyx's own article that AA linked:
[W]e have determined that it may take up to four to six months for us to provide the level of security maintenance we aim to deliver.
AA is just fucking trash clickbait bullshit at this point.

This is sad. I'm clinging to my GrapheneOS Pixel 7 until it completely breaks. By then I hope there will be decent Linux phone options or I might not get another phone at all.

Google can go fuck itself. The state stock phone from most major manufacturers come in with all that increasingly intrusive spyware that you can't uninstall or turn off should be illegal.

I wish mobile Linux was in a better state too, this sucks.
If you're on Graphene for security, Linux mobile will be the last thing you want as the security of those devices is akin to carrying around a bootloader unlocked android with no app sandboxing. You'd be better off buying a fair phone and using iodé until they can't develop any further.
- It depends on what your requirements are. Is physical security important, or is preventing data collection more important? Not all security is the same.
- That's dangerously close to something Microsoft would say, like
  "LiNuX is tHe LaSt ThInG you WaNt FoR sEcUrItY"
  But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and hope you just meant that Linux mobile isn't ready for use as a daily driver yet.
  (sent from iodé)
- Not everyone runs dangerous proprietary apps that need sandboxing. Does my offline puzzle game need sandboxing? Firefox has its own sandbox built in.
  Some people consider unlocked bootloaders a feature.
- What prevents you from sandboxing in linux? Ever heard of cgroups?
The government represents private interests so I think the legality is exactly where it's intended, another fuck you to the consumer so congressional stock portfolios go up.

sadge :( any solutions for us?

I read something on masto a while back that said something like "tech companies would remove the customer if they could" and I am very quickly adopting that as true in my brain.

Last month postmarket got 4G modem AND recieve voice working at the same time.

It's gonna be a hot minute, but more competition is for the best

they got the monopoly, now they are tightening up control. which seems to be a trend with these surveillance companies lately. not concerning at all.

i also notice how all of these brands come in courting the enthusiast, then discard them whenever they get enough traction.

Nothing better than people onboarding themselves and also onboarding others for you.

Got to grassroots a more open platform over some decades like desktop Linux. Once a RISC-V phone comes out running some relatively normal Linux distro is out, I'll buy it as a tinker with phone. At least it'll be a portable battery powered device to run full desktop Linux when docked

What is RISC-V going to do?
Once a RISC-V phone comes out running ~~some relatively normal Linux distro is out, I'll buy it as a tinker with phone. At least it'll be a portable battery powered device to run full desktop Linux when docked~~ the boot sequence in five minutes.
But seriously, right now RISC-V's performance sucks, to the point of daily driving Linux is a suffering.

Remember, you don't own it if you can't use it however you want.

This person clearly would have stolen a car
Phones with unlockable bootloaders but no one makes ROM for: You are welcomed to smash wallnuts with me when I retire.

2026, year of the Linux phone

Not with these tariffs. 🤣
Linux sucks on ones especially from a security and usability perspective
Edit: For those down voting, what OS do you use on your phone? Everything I've tried has left a lot to be desired.
- I think one the biggest sells, especially for these custom rom's is privacy to be honest. I don't really trust Google or Apple with the data they probably collect. During COVID parents were being reported to law enforcement for CSAM when sending pictures of there kids medical issues to doctors(Archive Link).
  One I guess could argue that sure shit happens when it comes to that scenario, but with the political climate in America combined with the fact that some of the largest tech companies seem to be kowtowing to whatever the current administration is doing, probably makes a lot of people rethink privacy and to find alternatives.
- Would you care to elaborate with specific examples?
- Usability makes sense. Security is a real head scratcher here.
- One thing that is neglected with android vs Linux is the application style. Mainstream Linux distros direct compile from source, this means users can read the source code and report any malicious code which has happened, with incredible speed. We don't have that with androids APK files, therefore android needs a much more robust security system. There are other reasons too, like google opening its flood gates to banking apps, if Linux is ever even semi successful (I doubt it will out compete apples or google) in mobile os, banking and high security commercial services will be relegated to the browser.
- Linux sucks on ones especially from a security and usability perspective
  Linux runs on like 99% of the servers that power the internet, and can do so rather securely.
  Maybe try that again.

I really don't get the doomsayers in this thread, all boasting about how android is secure and private -- that's bullshit. Android may be secure, and Google has a rep of doing secure stuff, but it's hardly private, 'cos Google.

Then they go on about how you just can't do that with regular linux. Wtf?
For the most part, mobile linux distros are adapted desktop distros and all the tools you can use on android for sandboxing et al you can use on regular linux.

Are there linux distros for mobile that are on par with android? No, not at the moment and not with that attitude. Can there be? For sure, and Google's pushing it in that direction.

If you're gonna be doomsayers bitch about hardware drivers, that's indeed an issue and even that, it's, like regular linux, a matter of time until someone reverse engineers them.

Mobile phones are not secure. By design
- Show me a better Sandbox than the one for android apps.

Sad opensource and consumers are shafted!

Very sad state. Maybe hope lies in emulation? What I want ideally for my phone is for it to run a Linux-type desktop OS, and have light VMs (if containers won't do) running fully locked garbage Android systems for those apps that require them.

As an exclusive Linux user since the early 2000s I remember well the days programs were unavailable and website only supported Internet Explorer. Wine and virtualization remedied much of that pain.

I'm surprised to never see Apostrophy OS being mentionned. Only comes with Punkt cellphone but it seems like a decent alternative that doesn't use a pixel phone.

I tried a punkt phone because I wanted a 'dumb' phone and I didn't want to look like I was using a burner. It must have been 2021 - I think it was their model 2 phone. I have to say that although the screen and body were great, overall the quality really wasn't amazing,.The usb power connector cover came off straight away and was lost, and there were various annoying little issues with the ui. It was like they had designed the bulk of it, but they still needed to work out the details. Basically none of the reviews at the time pointed out these little issues so I don't know how long the reviewers actually spent with the phone.
I'm all for independent non-andriod/ios phones. I have a pixel running graphene at the moment, and will next have an old-style nokia
It might just be that they were a newer company, and they have fixed the issues now - I hope they have. I liked the way it looked. But if you are thinking of buying one today I would look around for independent longer term reviews, or be prepared for a few annoying issues and support them anyway because of what they are doing!

No use developing a monopoly (and having its future profits valued on the market) if you don't plan to use it for ~~hurting the consumers, society, & environment~~ profits.

And anyone using Google related products is feeding the beast.
\ Now explain that to eg Chrome users.

Nah, companies besides google make phones

If that's the case then the days of Google are numbered. Something will come along that fills that demand if it doesn't exist already.

And if it does then it will explode in popularity.

Sorry to say, but that's just not how America works anymore. They won't allow competition to exist, either through vicious business tactics, or tagging in the congressional puppets, no new competitors will be allowed to enter the space.
Maybe an argument could be made for a small thing to exist, but if it ever became a threat it would be put down or corrupted to be just like the rest. Capitalism is ethics poison.
- Meh. Fuck America. My next laptop will be a Huawei if I have to import the fucking thing myself.
  Foreign make. Foreign OS. Foreign chips. Both Govco and Microsoft can eat my ass.

Not a lawyer or anything, but how possible would it be for a phone company, any no matter how big or small is, to just sell phones with lineageOS preinstalled (or any other similar custom ROM) assuming that company does not own custom ROM. This is more hypothetical question, because I really like Samsung phones and was thinking how a phones like Samsung S or even A series with lineageOS preinstalled (and working like stock ROM would work) would actually be a beast of a phone, like by both privacy, security, gaming and other aspects.

/e/OS does this already, and I believe you can already buy phones (second hand) with Lineage on them.
Like Fairphone shipping with e/OS? https://shop.fairphone.com/the-fairphone-gen-6-e-operating-system
- Yeah, that too. Forgot about them :)
The issue being phone manufacturers don't give a shit 'cos only a few will moan about this.
Regular users don't even know what a custom ROM is or why they should use one.
Legally, it wouldn't be a problem.
The problem is that whatever company sells custom ROM cell phones is going to need to eat the support costs for these phones. You're also going to need to deal with customers who are going to lose access to a mainstream app store.
- Yeah, I get that. I was just thinking, because I like how Samsung has beast of phones, in terms of hardware, but their software is bloated so I was thinking how cool would be if there is phone with Samsung hardware, but software like lineageOS and others similar.
There is a market for it. I have been selling secondhand phones with custom ROMs installed on eBay for several years, though for me it has never been more than a hobby. There are quite a lot of people out there who are interested in having a more private operating system on their phone but feel uncomfortable installing one by themselves. Unfortunately, it is also a market that attracts grifters because it's so easy to prey on people's fear and paranoia and rush them into paying for massively overpriced hardware.
There's a few companies that do this currently.

Absurd propaganda piece 🤣

"Google isn't writing the code I need, it's too much work."

Graphene OS is suck a joke and it sucks that we seem to be stuck with it.

For me personally I would never trust Graphene OS. It has way to much snake oil and is tied to a crazy narcissistic dev who is mentally unstable.

For now Lineage OS with MicroG will have to do but it isn't ideal.

Care to elaborate on the snake oil?
- A lot of the security features are things found in regular AOSP. Sure it does have some cool features but I think the community overhypes it quite a bit.
  The biggest "snake oil" though is the sandboxed Google play services. Google services depend on Google to work and require your data to function. Privacy wise I haven't seen anything explaining how Graphene magically makes it private. If they did somehow make it work offline they would likely get sued by Google for violating Google terms of service since Google play is proprietary. MicroG attempts to solve these issues but the main dev of Graphene OS harassed the MicroG team instead of working with them. That is a common thing in Graphene. The devs like to be the center of attention so they don't work with anyone else in the community.
GrapheneOS is pretty much a passion project. You are looking for Armbian.
- or Calyx or iodé or post market or Ubuntu touch or...
- That feels a bit like Apples and Oranges...