this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2023

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LineageOS is currently installed on 1.5 million Android devices (9to5google.com)

submitted 11 months ago by fne8w2ah to c/android

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I was given an old Samsung S4 for use at work recently, for scanning QR codes with primarily.

I’m an iPhone guy, so am lost with Android, but the version it was locked to was ancient and massively out of date. I did a bit of research, and after a few hours of trial and error I’ve got it running on Lineage 14.1, with a few useful apps downloaded from F-Droid. It’s gone from an old hunk of trash to a perfectly usable device that won’t win any awards for its benchmarks, but is spot on for what i need it to do.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Only 14.1? Now granted, there's so many different models that it might not apply to all of them, but the european/and qualcomm jfltexx for instance runs 18.1 just fine
(well, it's showing its age with Android 11, but still very usable)

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, it might be able to go newer, but as I said, Android is an alien land to me, and what I seemed to find on XDA Forums was that this particular model of S4* is only supported as far as 14.1. There’s so much info out there that it’s too easy to get overwhelmed, so I got to a point that enabled what I needed and left it. Willing to accept any further advice, mind.

*Turns out there are several variations of S4, ranging from the I9500 Exynos processor one I have here, to several different versions running Qualcomm silicon.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Ah, the Exynos variant. It's not even listed as being supported at all, so good to hear that it worked anyway

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 11 months ago (4 children)

I wouldn't dream to use any stock android at this point. Been on LOS forever and each new phone I buy either check if Los is available or, in one case (my current phone) I ported Los for it myself.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

How hard is it to port LOS? I've been wanting to do it for a couple obscure devices I have but I've read the documentation and felt overwhelmed.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago

Its hard but rewarding, and perfectly doable given you want to do it.

Note that there are a few mandatory requirements for a port to be feasible, like unlocked bootloader and vendor sources available for kernel.

As newby, you also want already existing ports to start from.

Also, some powerful hardware to build on (32+gb ram, 10+ cores, 100+GB storage).

Also older (up to A11) can be real bitches, after A12 things are improving a bit.

[–] scarilog 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

How do you port it? Don't you need access to the device tree files iirc?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

You need to copy or grab or create the device tree files. Usually by cloning a similar device. Vendor files are extracted from stock rom. Kernels, you need an official release from vendor to start width.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I put lineage OS on devices that are too old to get updates on any other platform. Zombie devices basically. They're doing great work. Delaying e-waste.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

What if your device doesn't officially supported? There are some "unofficial rom" on some forums but I don't trust them.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

When we're talking about devices that aren't getting security updates anyway, you shouldn't be using them for anything sensitive, even with direct lineage OS builds. Without baseband hardware driver updates, you're an extreme risk for a drive by exploit.

From my threat model perspective, lineage OS makes a vulnerable device useful, but not for anything sensitive.

A game phone, a VPN phone, a webcam, a sync thing endpoint, a crypto miner, a kid's phone, lots of uses. But not banking, not passwords.

If the build isn't coming from lineage os, I question why not? It just takes one maintainer to keep the build going. At best you're going to get a point in time build, you're not going to keep getting operating system.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

I am pretty sure lineage os does get regular updates on my oneplus 3t.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 11 months ago (10 children)

If we could fix the issue with non working Google Wallet/Google Pay, that would be great.

But it is also worrying that there there seems to be only Apple and Google Pay in Europe - no alternative solution for wireless paying.

Other than that, Lineage OS on my 9T feels great. Battery life got almost doubled and it feels great to use a device with all current security patched installed. Next step would be to use a completely degoogled version with only FOSS software installed - just for some app there are no real alternatives available: Banking app, Fitness watch app, Carsharing app etc

[–] MigratingtoLemmy 24 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The bigger problem is the community dying from OEMs not releasing their tools/locking their bootloaders (fuck you Samsung???)

[–] Fuzzypyro 7 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Samsung and the carriers. The easiest way for most people to get a phone is on a carrier plan but surprise surprise. They OEM lock devices so that users can’t swap firmware or root. Doing so would allow them to go to another carrier. As if hanging a lease contract over your head wasn’t enough.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago

Fitness watch app

Check out Gadgetbridge!

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago

Ironically, I always end up rooting lineage just to pass the security checks to make Google pay work. Smooth one Google

[–] synapse1278 12 points 11 months ago

I pay with my phone using grapheneOS and the banking app of my bank, it works perfectly without Google-Pay.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

Check out /e/os, the only problem I found is it is more difficult to interact with some google services and others are not supported but you can always use a browser to access them

[–] Emerald 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)

What even is the purpose of Google Pay? I don't know anyone who actually uses it but some people act like its a necessity? We have cards that you can just tap these days. Isnt that making Google and Apple Pay useless?

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 11 months ago (10 children)

For the needs of "degoogled but fully functional Android OS" these days at the end of 2023, the options are LineageOS for most phones, GrapheneOS on a Pixel, and that's it? Or are there more projects at this point?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago

/e/OS and many others. Look up your model on xda-developers.com, where most ROMs are published. The most commonly supported devices are Google Pixels because AOSP is officially developed by Google for them.

[–] curve 10 points 11 months ago

CalyxOS.

[–] MigratingtoLemmy 9 points 11 months ago

Most phones from one year back, yes. If you want something from 2023 it better be an FP5 or a Pixel

[–] RazorsLedge 5 points 11 months ago

Calyx is great. It comes with microG baked in. Also it's got a great installer. Note that you can opt to keep the bootloader unlocked if you want to root it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

iodeOS, calyxOS, /e/OS are all good projects. divestOS are also good, ~~but probably not usable for most, because of the lack of google play alternative.~~ it now works with unprivileged microg. However use of microg is still is unsupported and unrecommended according to the website.

paranoid android seems to still be a thing. The introduction on the website is sparse, and I havent tried it. So I cannot speak for how good it is.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago

What are the stats for Graphene and Calyx?

[–] deania 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

There isn't a version of LineageOS available for my phone : (

[–] bruhduh 7 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Which phone? If there's a will, there's a way, if you want then find "manifest" file for your phone and compile recovery then compile lineage os and flash it, there's instructions how to compile step by step and how to flash

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Wish my phone supported it

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Me too

[–] helmet91 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You mean, *LineageOS devices.

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[–] keyez 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Installed it on my old oneplus 6 who's only issue was battery life to get it from android 11 to 13 now that it is back to my daily driver since my Samsung s20 broke. It's running great

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

Having a OnePlus 7 Pro and I was thinking about switching OS to get Android 13 and current security patches. Are there any cons to switching OS? What about basic functionality (NFC, WiFi/data connections, Bluetooth, Calls and so on)? I guess I need to somehow save app data if I don't want to lose 600+ tabs, had any experience/issues with that?

How about the performance and battery life?

[–] keyez 5 points 11 months ago

WiFi, mobile data, Bluetooth and VoLTE all still work fine. Performance and battery is about the same as when I used oxygenOS11 for about a week before going to lineageOS. Only con is the need to wipe the phone so make sure things are all backed up! I missed a few folders and photos before wiping the device.

[–] knifer 4 points 11 months ago

OnePlus 7 Pro owner here. Currently running the Pixel Experience ROM. Pretty stable. Although I haven't really tried NFC as there no use for it where I live. You can check out the xda thread.

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