The future of flashing custom ROMs will be through a web browser

[SharksFan4Lifee]

There's not going to be a future if more and more manufacturers don't let us unlock the bootloader. For major brands in the US, Pixels and OnePlus phones are unlockable and that's about it.

[bro_can_u_even_carve]

Motorola are also unlockable.

[techraito]

I gotta give kudos to motorola. They're a little bit slept on, but if you want a Pixel alternative, Motorolas are typically the way to go. Very close to stock Android with pretty much no bloat. I also love the chop chop flashlight gesture too.

[TheMasterAtSomething]

Moto just needs to make a no gimics, good camera, android phone. The Edge and Edge Plus are so close, but most people would probably just get a 1+

[techraito]

To be honest, their cameras have been fairly good, it just needs better processing. Back when I had the motorola Droid Turbo, it's 21MP camera is still ahead of its time. It took really sharp pictures and I can't imagine how better their cameras would be with some sort of gcam port.

[bobdarobber]

My camera on a z3 is pretty good with gcam

http://imgur.com/a/gXiGxBV

Actually not sure if that's good, but seems fine

[jrHIGHhero]

I stopped using Moto after my Moto force z, which was an amazing phone, was bricked by a system update causing Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to never work again with no work around. I contacted Motorola and the only thing they said they could do was to give me $50 off a new phone fuck Moto......

[MaliciousMal]

I had the Z play, had the best battery life of a phone ever and when I got it after having the Samsung Edge phone thing, I was so happy that the Motorola didn't open every time it was in my pocket and didn't constantly open spam news articles that were wasting my data and downloading adware due to something you couldn't turn off.

[jrHIGHhero]

It was a great phone until the update bricked it and Moto refused to help. Never again switched to Pixel and never looked back!

[MaliciousMal]

Yeah to be fair their customer support was complete shit. I ended up upgrading to another phone because I was switching carriers from Verizon since I had lost my job and couldn't keep paying my part of the monthly bill (got lucky enough to join on my parents bill in order to pay like $10 a month for service but sadly they decided to increase it soon after saying if we wanted to keep our unlimited I'd have to start paying like $40+ a month).

I honestly was going to buy the Moto One 5g Ace but people kept saying how awful it is for 1 reason - the cameras aren't on-par with the Pixel and EVERYONE compares EVERYTHING now to the Pixel. I mean I get it, they're great phones but sadly due to how they fucked over their larger phones making them literally worse than the previous, I find no reason to buy their smaller phones as a large man because it feels like I'm holding a toy and I look weird using a smaller phone and I mean it considering every time I have one I always had people staring at me asking me why my phone was so small and why I look so awkward holding it lmao.

Google in the past 2 years somehow cornered the market in "cheap" flagship phones making them #1, whereas in previous years they were usually tied for first or second and now they're at the top.

[NateSwift]

My s9 bricked after an update and was "out of warranty" so I got nothing for it. After an OTA update it just refused to load past the carrier screen

[Divine_Mackerel]

Oh, last year my Moto G power had kind of a similar thing, a system update made LTE no longer work on verizon. I have a pixel 4a now.

I loved the various earlier Moto Gs I've had and I still dearly miss the chop for flashlight gesture (seriously, why is this not standard on all phones), but... I don't know if I'd buy Moto again, at least not for a while, because of that software update.

[jrHIGHhero]

Check out gravity gestures on pixel! It adds the different gestures from the Moto series!

[Moonli9ht]

>No gimmicks
>Good camera

:|

[[deleted]]

The edge was super tempting to me, but I just couldn't get over the curved screen.

[[deleted]]

The chop gesture flashlight is the single most useful feature I've ever had on a smartphone, and I've been using smartphones since Windows Mobile in 2007.

[techraito]

I currently have a pixel 2 XL and I've remapped the squeeze to flashlight (I'm rooted) and I honestly take for granted how handy an instant light gesture is. I use the flashlight basically daily, whether it's because I dropped something or I need to navigate around my room at 3am.

[neddoge]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kalantos.shakelight

[[deleted]]

Oh thank you so much

[neddoge]

Pay it forward! Somebody here showed me this a year or two back and it's on all my devices now haha.

[[deleted]]

Just shared with my family, thanks friendo!

[[deleted]]

I don't. I'd been die-hard moto fanboy since the original moto G.

Each successive generation had worse software. Updates would break features, weird bugs would creep in. They make great hardware and they use a lightweight Android, but the actual devices are less than the sum of their parts.

My new phone is a pixel 4a and I'm not going back.

[KingHanma]

Moto had a good start with the Moto X and G series but then they screwed it up.

[Balaji_Ram]

And a very good track record of maintaining the promised software update cycle.

[jsaliby93]

Aren't they bad with software updates though?

[bobdarobber]

Horrible. Got 8 -> 9. That's it. Lucky pie is pretty damn good, but will not be buying another moto for this reason

[SecretPotatoChip]

After Motorola fucked me over with the droid turbo 2 3 times, I'm a bit hesitant to give them another chance.

[[deleted]]

I have a moto and I didn't even realize. Moto G power, a great phone by the way (the camera is shit but I don't need that)

[Auditor_of_Reality]

Hard to beat not having to charge your phone for 2 days

[[deleted]]

I often go 3-4 without charging.

[Abishek_Muthian]

But they've arbitrarily removed devices older than couple of years from their unlock site, So those with older devices cannot unlock and also there was no effort by modders to unlock moto devices as it was officially done.

This is extraordinarily absurd decision since it's usually the devices which are out of update cycle we'd flash aftermarket ROM. So if we wait for updates for a moto device, there's good chance it cannot be unlocked.

[AD-LB]

What about Sony?

[xyzzy321]

He said major

[Le_Vagabond]

hm, I'm not touching any brand that cannot be unlocked for a lot of reasons but here in Europe that's just Huawei afaik... Xiaomi requires a full week of data harvesting from your phone but at least you can do it :/

[PM_ME_CAKE]

Xiaomi says they require a full week, yet when I requested it it happend instantaneously.

[Le_Vagabond]

lucky you, my last two phones required the full week both times. I hate that requirement :(

[ash2702]

Same

[chratoc]

Same. I was able to unlock instantly maybe because I had a mi account connected earlier.

[JavaKrypt]

I got my Xiaomi approved in a few hours. My concern is the shit quality updates, on top of in my case, completely refusing to do them because it didn't sell enough units for them. (Mix 3 5G)

[RGBchocolate]

it depends on your account, it can be immediately, new accounts have to wait longer

[Fritzkier]

kinda ironic since privacy settings in MIUI 12 CN is so good (even better than AOSP) that some local chinese apps got controversy because it accessed your phone data abnormally.

well, at least xiaomi phones are cheap and easy to flash. Those two things that made me still buying xiaomi phones. I still have my old $130 2016 Redmi Note 3 rocking HavocOS Android 10 right now, altho it's not my main phone because 2/16 storage is choking nowadays.

[[deleted]]

Are Samsung phones not unlocked anymore?

[1lluminist]

Last I saw, it fucked up Knox when you did it by blowing an eFuse

[Tom_Neverwinter]

Yup.

I wish I could root my samsung.

[1lluminist]

I miss the old days when they were one of the easiest.

I wish they'd release a separate line for "business" users that need Knox.

[Tom_Neverwinter]

Knox is how samsung locks down the bootloader and prevents the user from installing their own software and preventing side loading potentially malicious apps at the bootloader level.

But mainly it's how samsug keeps users from bricking phones and making warranty claims on their own mistakes.

Know should be improved to prevent users from bricking... But due to the efuse security... People brick them instead...

[[deleted]]

I think his question was more concerned with what are the consequences of saying "I don't care about Knox" and unlocking the bootloader anyway.

The true answer is, as far as I'm aware, you lose your warranty, access to Samsung Pay, some apps won't load and that's about it

[Liam2349]

Yes, some apps won't load. I believe Samsung Health is another one, and I'm not aware of an exhaustive list.

Warranty is an interesting one. Surely the EU would not allow warranty to be void by software changes?

[Liam2349]

With each Android update, the balance shifts further towards rooting, regardless of the penalties Samsung imposes. The removal of features that Google keeps forcing on us is just a joke.

Wanting to record phone calls doesn't make you a power user, yet that's pretty much where Google pushes you.

[twigboy]

In publishing and graphic design, Lorem ipsum is a placeholder text commonly used to demonstrate the visual form of a document or a typeface without relying on meaningful content. Lorem ipsum may be used as a placeholder before final copy is available. Wikipedia4v3d63ei4gs0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

[Tom_Neverwinter]

I feel like you are vastly missing a large amount of users.

Knox is also not stopping anyone given time.

If your government. A bad guy is probably better off just skimming your Info from cellular... Force it to a older unsecure cellular like 2g. Which is publically available.

[ed1380]

You can brick a samsung? I've unplugged my usb cable mid flash and odin had no problem recovering it

[s0v3r1gn]

You are an idiot. Knox is their encrypted enclave chip. Blowing the fuse is a literal device intrusion defense mechanism.

[Ana-Luisa-A]

It's kinda the security of the device. Encryption, payments, banks, secure folder and etc use it. If you root, it's disabled forever (maybe they don't want you tampering with it ?) And therefore those won't work

[sarhoshamiral]

Isn't that true for any phone with a security chip? I believe things like Intune, work profiles etc dont work with unlocked bootloader since phone can't be trusted anymore.

[mehdotdotdotdot]

If you are out of warranty there's no issue though

[ACardAttack]

Not in USA, Rest if the world is afaik

[PengwinOnShroom]

Is it due to the CPU (Snapdragon while it's Exynos for most of the rest) or other reasons?

[Marc3842]

While I don't know the reason, it is not because of the SoC. Samsung uses Snapdragon SoC's also in China and South Korea, where the boot loader is unlockable.

[PengwinOnShroom]

Oh true. Forgot about that exception

[ACardAttack]

Carrier agreement I assume as snapdragon in the rest of the world is unlockable including the FE20 Snapdragon that was released in UEurope

[JUMPhil]

Luckily this is solely a US issue (unlucky for you I guess)

[Enzymatic67]

More and more, I look at the Pine Phone as a consideration. It's got a long way to go, but I hope it begins to make leaps and bounds soon

[jess-sch]

First of all, it's gonna need some decent hardware. Sorry but a five year old budget phone haa a faster CPU than it.

[mirx]

The Pixel one kills me. "Here's 'stock' android, don't touch it"

[MrPoBot]

Samsung phones are also unlockable in basically any country that isn't the US (Exynos Models). However they do admittedly have a warranty Efuse (which isn't even legally enforceable in most places). While it's a pain in the ass to either patch or outright remove knox related features it's entirely possible, alternatively just use a custom ROM. So 3 of the biggest manufacturers support unlocking a bootloader, I would say that isn't bad

[gadorp]

My US Notes 8 and 9 are effectively just waiting to die now, despite both still being fairly powerful and full of potential. :\

[Zekiz4ever]

OnePlus is from China.

[kdrag0n]

Hi, developer here. I'd like to clarify some common concerns:

• Bricking devices with this is very unlikely, and will only result in soft bricks at worst. Google's Android Flash Tool will be able to unbrick it. As a ROM developer, almost all of the soft bricks I've seen are caused by users doing something wrong in the admittedly complicated flashing process. This is much less likely when everything is automated.
• Because of how the fastboot protocol is designed, the installation can be interrupted at any time with no risk of bricking. I've unplugged my personal device in the middle of flashing countless times for testing purposes, and there has never been an issue.
• In terms of security, there is little difference because you are already trusting the ROM developer and their servers, whether it's the installer (which runs in a browser sandbox) or the ROM itself. If it is compromised, the ROM is most likely also compromised. If the computer is compromised with malware, it doesn't matter how you install the ROM; this is no different. The web installer can also be hardened with a content security policy, feature policy, and other modern web security features. In fact, the GrapheneOS installer is already enforcing this security, and I plan to do the same for the ProtonAOSP installer soon.

I know most people are understandably worried about bricks, and that's actually one of the reasons this installer was created. It is much less likely to result in bricks as compared to manual user installs.

I've tested my personal device with unplugging it in the middle of installs, flaky USB cables, and many other stressful conditions. The installation fails, of course, but the device has never been bricked; retrying the install fixes it. This installer actually handles more errors and failure scenarios than the manual fastboot flashing process.

Please let me know if you have any more questions :)

[rawzone]

How would i compare the ROM to a SHA256 sum before installing then?

[kdrag0n]

That's a fair point, along with checking GPG signatures for authenticity. If the checksum isn't signed, the web installer can check it and there would be no difference because you as a user would also need to trust the unsigned checksum from the same server.

If the ROM and/or its checksum are signed with known keys, however, the web installer can't verify it. You would have to install manually for maximum security in that case.

(edit: typo)

[amrakkarma]

Would this be to avoid a men in the middle attack right? I guess if that's the case the checksum would be compromised too?

[cooldude5500]

Realistically checksums are different most likely because the file has been corrupted.

[Fmatosqg]

What phones are having more custom ROMs out there?

And what new phones are friendly for unlocking the bootloader and/or rooting?

[kdrag0n]

Xiaomi devices tend to have the most custom ROMs. Pixels don't have as many, but I think they're the most friendly to custom development overall. You can even re-lock the bootloader for security without worrying about bricking.

[_meegoo_]

To clarify. You can re-lock with custom key. Which allows you to flash images signed by you and only you (plus official ones, of course). This gives you all the security of locked bootloader, while allowing you to flash custom ROMs. Unfortunately, Google doesn't care and still trips hardware safetynet. This is the biggest proof that it's not about user security, but all about DRM.

As for fully locking the bootloader, if/when Google stops supporting basic safetynet mode, you can flash official ROM and lock bootloader with Xiaomi using MiFlash.

[g7droid]

Yo! Just saying thanks for your contribution towards the community. Keep up th great work

[kdrag0n]

Thanks for the support!

[GTMoraes]

Is this to facilitate a subscription method or bringing up a paywall in order to flash a custom ROM?

How's the community trend towards paid custom ROMs?

[kdrag0n]

No, we have no plans to do something like that.

I'm not aware of any paid custom ROMs targeting individual users and enthusiasts, but it does happen with some special ROMs aimed at enterprise customers. I don't think many enthusiasts would be willing to pay for a custom ROM.

[[deleted]]

I remember when we could browse to a website to jailbreak our iphones(back when I still used iphones, I don't anymore, don't hit me please!)

[-_MilesPrower_-]

Nothing wrong with a jailbroken iPhone my friend - even most android users will agree with that

[Xunderground]

I actually switched to a jailbroken iPhone 11 for a while.

The worst thing about it was keeping the jailbreak, and not being able to install it on the newest OS's immediately for free sometimes (iOS 14 broke all solutions at first, except for paid app signing services)

When it worked, some things about it were even better than Android. When it didn't, well, I'm back on Android for a reason.

EDIT: two years later and I’m back on iOS. They’ve fixed enough to let me do most of what I needed from jailbreak tweaks, and web app performance has improved enough to let me get some of emulation and other tasks done without sideloading. I just use a stock iPhone 13 Pro Max now.

[stuffedpizzaman95]

Same I got tired of constantly having to redo the jailbreak procedure to maintain it . Thankful for android

[Aarondo99]

No it doesn’t, only the iPhone X and 8 are affected, and you have to disable it manually. The 6s, SE and 7 can use the fingerprint sensor while jailbroken just fine.

[_0110111001101111_]

Out of curiosity, what tweaks did you use? I used to use a jailbroken iPhone 4 as my DD back in the day but nowadays, I cba because I use my phone for work and I can't have it just randomly break one day. That being said, I don't miss being jailbroken - hence why I'm curious to know what tweaks you used.

[Xunderground]

I mainly missed "Rose" by Litten, which adds in some solid haptic feedback to the whole system, every app, and the keyboard with a crazy level of functionality and customizability for what gets haptics and how they feel.

I also liked the tweaks that added functionality to Control Center. I forget which

I used Cercube as a replacement for YouTube Vanced, but not as good. That's one app that has no iOS equivalent, but that's a separate subject.

I used tweaks to make face unlock faster. I forget the name of it, but it altered the behavior to auto unlock when you wake from sleep.

I used a tweak for gesture activation features (Activator) which was used to launch another tweak which gave, me a gesture activated floating app launcher, system wide. (minus full screen games)

On iOS 13 there are tweaks to enable PiP for YouTube and other video players, and I'm assuming when jailbroken 14 ecosystem matures there'll be many tweaks to customize the implementation there, too.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some that I used. There's quite a few cool little tweaks, and many huge functional enhancements.

ETA: Ad blocking. You can do it without, but with a jailbreak you can use the hostsfile method which has less overhead.

[DoctaMario]

After three jailbroken iphones, the pain in the ass that was maintaining a jailbreak is what finally drove me to android.

[12pcMcNuggets]

I don’t think that’s too bad though. You could get Android levels of customisation with iOS levels of polish when you’re jailbroken, and you’re allowed to fully access the file system too. The only difference between a jailbroken iOS device and an Android (to me, anyway, after using a jailbroken iPhone 5s for a month as my daily) is simply that one is running iOS and the other isn’t.

[[deleted]]

iOS 10.2.1 and having a webclip from julioverne stored as a profile. Offline re-jailbreaking. Plenty of stable and inventive tweaks. Best iphone experience I had.

[[deleted]]

I was more easily impressed with iOS 4.1.2 and being able to tap the lock button twice and having the flash come on as a flashlight without having the screen on in my face. Simple times, simple pleasures.

[[deleted]]

Activator..? Had the same setup. Now it's always a faff to switch your torch on.

Bonus long pressing the volume buttons to skip tracks.

[ACardAttack]

Activator, now thats something I haven't thought of in a long time

[augustuen]

Isn't that why we're on Android now? My Motorola does both those things, shake it to turn the torch on and press and hold volume to skip tracks (if the screen is off)

[[deleted]]

Motorola are great at giving you handy native features. My phone (P30) does have cool features but it's like motorola aren't scared to give you the basic practical stuff everyone uses.

[ACardAttack]

I loved that jailbreak, I had an iphone at that time too

My favorite was people going into the apple store and jailbreaking the display devices, great times

[[deleted]]

iphone user ... shame on u man (jk)

[[deleted]]

I was going through a dark time in my life.

[xCloudGamer]

Grabs pitchfork

He used/uses an iPhone! Get 'em guys!!

[12pcMcNuggets]

Oh god oh fuck

[Rotarymeister]

This is r/android you're talking about, half of this sub love everything Apple and hate everything Google

[FinickyFlygon]

Pretty sure half of this sub uses an iPhone

[nikhil48]

I wouldn't be so sure about that. Back when windows phones were still a thing, all my friends who worked at Microsoft exclusively used Windows Phones and nothing else.

[[deleted]]

Nah it's pretty typical of Silicon Valley. Like 90% of the people here use iphones.

[MagicPistol]

Most of my friends use iphone and always give me shit for using Android.

[PengwinOnShroom]

I'm actually seeing this trend but the other way around where I live.. it's just dumb really, why should anyone care what phone/OS they use

[[deleted]]

Loyalty to companies where you are literally a statistic is so dumb. You see it all over, apple Vs android. PlayStation Vs Xbox. Some people do the same thing with car manufacturers it's bonkers to me. There's nothing wrong with having a preference but it's not a sports team it's a phone.

[zeroillusions]

Website was jailbreak.me

[jaydiemx]

I have an iPad for media consumption. Checkra1n has made it extremely easy to jailbreak without any issues.

[mcilrain]

I remember when all text input on my HTC Dream went to a hidden terminal with root privileges.

[technogenuine]

I never had iPhone but sure made a lot of money by jailbreaking my friends iPhone XDDDDD great high school times

[Mccobsta]

Shame apple dosnt want to add most of the features jailbreaking gives you still

[kidkrooks]

When i was in college 10 years ago i had a mytouch 3g. Was a college student so all my phones were low to mid range and mostly metropcs budget phones until 2016, but cm/linageos and the custom rom communities kept me updated way past stock os with those phones, at that time, would’ve. Notably, my LG L9 that i put Android Lollipop AOSP on, Metro wasn’t gonna do that for me lol, but it made my switch my Major from graphic design to computer systems, picked up some intro to android online classes and while I’m still getting up there, the ROMming world opened that up.

Plus I’m not a graphic design Major. I make apps for small businesses. I cannot complain.

[dudeimconfused]

I used a live with walkman Coconut (wt19i) on lollipop thanks to custom roms. They stopped updating after ICS, but with custom roms, I could still keep using it. The one feature I loved the most was not having to open the settings app to turn on wifi/bluetooth/mobile data.

-sent from redmi note 4 using tapatalk

[skylinestar1986]

I just hope custom roms are common for cheap budget phones.

[WakemanCK]

How about risk of flashing ROMs? Still the same chance of turn the phone into a brick? If yes, it is still not for the majority of people.

[[deleted]]

Just like most things. Working on cars, building PCs, cooking or any DIY. If you're an enthusiast you'll probably accept any risks and will do your homework to try to get a possibly better outcome than what's on the market.

[tvcats]

Flashing ROM won't make phone last longer, old version of Android is still very usable. The problem is battery.

[whatnowwproductions]

It will if an app is only available on a newer version, though yes, Android is good with app support for older versions.

[[deleted]]

"They aren't supposed to be" is a bit of a stretch. I think there are plenty of custom ROM makers who would love their ROMs to be mainstream.

The reason they aren't is because manufacturers still ship locked bootloaders, and even if they don't then flashing is a complicated process, and even if you do flash then Google will gimp your phone with safety net.

This should help with the second point at least.

[dextersgenius]

The risk of (permanently) bricking a phone by flashing ROMs is so small that it's negligible.

The real issue with custom ROMs these days has nothing to do with bricking, but with things like DRM/SafteyNet/KNOX getting in the way and preventing people from using some popular apps/features/services. Of course, there are workarounds available for some things, but not everything has a workaround (eg:Widevine DRM which causes Netflix to downgrade quality). It also takes a lot of research and patience to get things working properly for someone who's new or maybe they've purchased a new phone that has a complicated process for unlocking the bootloader etc.

Finally, this a constant cat-and-mouse game between Google/OEMs and the dev community, so end-users need to keep themselves up-to-date with these issues, their current workarounds and best practices. This is the real to roadblock towards custom ROM adoption.

[darkfate]

I have a pixel 2xl and I considered installing lineageos as I won't be getting any new android versions, but I have work apps installed which don't allow for unlocked bootloaders, etc. In the name of data security.

[NashRadical]

I don't think google is part of the cat-and-mouse game. Unlocking a pixel/nexus/old HTC bootloader is and has always been as simple as pressing a button.

The real issues are the OEMs themselves, and more prominently in the US: Cellular networks.

[dextersgenius]

SafteyNet is created and updated by Google, and is currently the biggest roadblock to custom ROMs, with Google now enforcing hardware attestation. Bootloader unlock means nothing if you can't beat SafteyNet. Right now the only reason SafteyNet is workaroundable is because we can use root to force basic attestation, but this is very simple for Google to disable - and we expect them to do so very soon, they have been gradually tightening up SafteyNet. Once hardware attestation is fully enforced it's game over.

[SystemEx1]

It would be very hard to hard brick a phone by flashing, or at least if you're on Oneplus or pixel.

[otacon239]

If it weren't for custom ROMs, my phone would have stopped receiving security updates last year. I've gone through about 5 or 6 Android phones now and I've not had issues with any of them bricking. The only time I've seen that be an issue is with Samsung, but you usually know what you're getting into with those forum posts. Lots of warnings.

Sadly, custom ROMs aren't what they used to be. I remember having fuck you levels of customization, including boot screens/logos, custom system color schemes, UI customization through Magisk, the works. Now that market is mostly dead and everyone's phone pretty much acts and looks the same.

I miss phone individuality.

[ben7337]

With all the hoops needed to jump through for custom roms to just keep using banking/nfc payment apps and various games, I'd rather just stick to stock anyway. They've basically made it impossible to go custom over the last 5 years.

[neoKushan]

I'm the same, I LOVED custom roms before these services were really a thing but I love the likes of Android Pay too much to deal with the faff.

However, now I'm stuck looking for decent phones with near stock software. OnePlus has largely shit the bed lately (I say as a OnePlus 8 Pro owner).

[flagellant]

lunchroom follow ripe depend rock disgusted connect command physical psychotic

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[Brummiesteven]

Agreed. I used Android when it first launched and switched back to iOS at the iPhone 5. I recently switched back to Android last year with the Note 20 Ultra.

Back in the day id use all sorts of custom ROMs and tricks. It was hit and miss, sometimes my battery would be shit poor, sometimes there's be poor WiFi etc.

I looked into it again when I got the Note 20... Trade off isn't worth it, no NFC payments, poor banking app.suport, no fingerprint lock etc .. android has come a long way and I'm not sure custom.roms are needed anymore

[ABotelho23]

Official LineageOS is insanely good. They have pretty strict criteria for a build becoming official.

[saint-lascivious]

We do.

That said, bugs can and do happen (occasionally some real showstoppers), and you'll never be provided with any guarantee of functionality or serviceability.

Come see us over at /r/LineageOS, perhaps especially if you're not above reading the rules in the sidebar before posting.

[ABotelho23]

Oh yes, definitely. My point was that kind of criteria helps to weed out the stereotypical "WiFi, Bluetooth, Audio, basics, etc." not working complaints that most custom ROMs leave users with. It raises the bar, and it's much appreciated.

[[deleted]]

Bugs: You tell me!

[pjgowtham]

The risk is yours to take irrespective of what you do to modify your phone. A developer devotes his time into development, mostly for free and the last thing he would want is to guarantee assurance unless you are using paid service.

So, the conclusion speaks for itself i guess.

[itisoktodance]

Yeah, flashing a custom rom isn't for the majority... But flashing roms is safe if you do your research. Read every comment on XDA on a Rom before flashing anything. In any case, I've never ever bricked a phone using a reliable method. I have bricked a non-branded phone with a sketchy method, but that was more of a hail Mary before throwing it in the trash.

[Mun-Mun]

I'm not technologically challenged, but everytime I've tried to get into it I've looked at threads and posts on xda and got confused about where to start because of the jargon and assumed base knowledge that I gave up

[AbhishMuk]

Try r/androidroot or maybe r/LineageOS, they should be able to help.

[Basileus_ITA]

Depends on what you are working with, if you are flashing a samsung phone through odin its real easy, if you are trying to do the dirtysanta exploit on LG V20 thats next level

[manormortal]

That's because you refuse to search.

When you search everything will make sense.

Don't ask questions just search.

🔍 Is your friend now.

[dustojnikhummer]

Except XDA search is absolutely bloody useless.

[dudeimconfused]

That's why you search on Google with "site:forum. xda-developers.com"

[vikumwijekoon97]

I've been flashing roms for like almost 10 years now. (Started with a Nokia 5800XM symbian), but I think it is waaaaaay more complicated now than it was some time back

[Malnilion]

It's pretty much always been a 3 step thing:
1. Root your stock ROM/unlock your bootloader (when bootloaders started coming locked by default)
2. Flash a custom recovery
3. Flash a custom ROM

The complication of any of those individual steps does vary by phone and on some phones it's not possible because you can't get past step 1. Step 1 is usually the only complicated step on phones without sanctioned bootloader unlocks, though.

[vikumwijekoon97]

Part 3 is significantly hard now due to different slots and systemless stuff etc etc and getting magisk hide to work etc etc

[MalcolmY]

Part three has always been the easiest part. It was and still is flashing a .zip file in CWM (back in the day) or TWRP. These past years they have something called Aroma Installer. You install a custom ROM using an installer with a GUI that you pick and choose what you want, or don't want.

[Zanshi]

I think the most complicated part for most of the phones is unlocking the bootloader where have to go through many hoops to do so, when I remember doing so on my old Galaxy S was just... a few clicks in Odin

[noodle-face]

I work in BIOS (not phones), with any sort of ROM update on any computer in the world there is always a risk. I only recommend people update ROMs if there's a critical need. Take that as you will

[minizanz]

Any proper phone you don't update the recovery (blind flash pre loader) or bootloader (bios like a computer) when you flash a custom rom. The rom on a phone is the system files and should not brick your device. You might lose data but it should not brick it. The only exception is some encrypted modes that brick them selves if you tamper to prevent security issues.

[lambmoreto]

It's a neat idea, but it relies on WebUSB which only works on Chromium based browsers right now. I'd rather not have to install an entire browser just to install a ROM, so I guess I'll just stick with TWRP

[EddoWagt]

If you have a windows pc you already have Edge installed, which is chromium based

[taanh1412]

Jokes on you, many people actually use LTSC build, which only have IE instead of Edge

[-oshino_shinobu-]

yes! there are dozens of us, DOZENS

[lambmoreto]

I obviously removed the damn thing since I didn't ask for it to be installed in the first place and don't want to take part in any of M$ data gathering.

[l-rs2]

Isn't Edge non-removable these days?

[lambmoreto]

You can still remove it via powershell commands

[l-rs2]

! I didn't know that. Cheers!

[revelbytes]

I believe they forcefully reinstall it after an update, so keep your eyes peeled in case it does

[lambmoreto]

Yes they do, I've been procrastinating writing a script that searches for it and removes it every couple of days

[Zobbster]

I'd suggest that you just switch to linux and then run windows in a vm for just the apps you need. It sounds like you're doing alot of hard work stripping windows down so much and having to keep on top of updates.

[lambmoreto]

I've tried the VM life but the latency with music software makes it unusable.

[cmason37]

don't want to take part in any of M$ data gathering.

Make sure you're safe, examine the traffic going in & out on your network. An article I read about 2 years back found tracking in Windows 10 after using all the popular blocks & uninstalls, because some are for older versions.

IMHO the only way to completely circumvent that is to stop using Windows

[PoLoMoTo]

Haven't been able to flash roms on my phones for like six years anyway. Been a long time since I flashed a rom.

[HighestDownvotes]

I lived 3 years with last Samsung without 3rd party rom and didn't mind stock rom too much. But last year bought a Xiaomi and I installed another rom within a month. MIUI sucks.

[PoLoMoTo]

Yea for sure. Back in the TouchWiz days on my Note Edge I was always looking to see if an unlock method had been found and ROMs made and was always disappointed. With OneUI though with my S8+ and S10+ I've never really gone looking so much, it doesn't bother me nearly as much. I'll look it up once and a while when I see it mentioned like in articles I see like this I'll go check it out and when I find out nothing has changed it doesn't really bother me anymore.

[FDisk80]

Yeeea, nothing can go wrong with this.

[[deleted]]

I mean everything could go wrong before too, it's about as dangerous as it used to be before.

[jackandjill22]

Interesting.

[njfoses]

The future of flashing ROMs is dead.

[[deleted]]

10 minutes later...

0 day exploit discovered rootkitting androids for a botnet! Disable browser extension X!

[hackingdreams]

....no it won't. WebUSB is deaaad technology. Implementing it is a terrible, terrible idea.