Since we don’t yet have a specific community for custom phone ROMs, let’s discuss them here. Are you running a custom ROM? Which one? On what hardware? How is it?
GrapheneOS on a Pixel 4a, bit I’m looking to upgrade to a 6a vor 7a depending in the next good sale price
Are these sales directly from google?
Last time I checked pixel phones the performance and “freshness” Vs price ratio was really bad compared to something like Xiaomi with working xda ROMs.
GrapheneOS on a Pixel 5. It is very nice and I would recommend it.
Same setup. Love it.
None sadly because fuck samsung
Locked bootloaders should be illegal if the phone is paid off.
Rip :(
I hate how they blow fuses to permanently disable security features when the bootloader is unlocked.
GrapheneOS. I love it. I migrated from the Apple ecosystem about two years ago into the FOSS and Linux world and haven’t looked back.
LineageOS with microg on a s10+. It works great, no issues with apps not working but still have minimal google dipping it’s fingers into my life.
I only buy phones now that will support a custom ROM, I can’t go back now.
LineageOS on a Fairphone 3. It works well for what I do on my phone.
What do you think of the Fairphone? It’s pricey and not available where I am, but I’d like one.
What do you think about the Fairphone 3? Is it a respectable daily driver?
I use this little niche OS called iOS, made by some fruit company.
Oh that. I heard the project leader died of a perfectly curable form of cancer because he was going to heal himself with food or something. Crazy story, but the OS works well.
Guy who ran a fruit company tried to cure cancer with fruit. It’s like poetry, it rhymes.
GrapheneOS on a Pixel 5a5g 👍
Same but on Pixel 6. Though I caved in and installed the sandboxed Google Play to run bank apps, fortunately they do work that way without problems.
What do you use for sanbox?
Is it a solution similar to Island, Shelter, etc or is this something different?I installed it the way the guide on GrapheneOS site explained.
Same but on a Pixel 6a. It’s good for the most part. I don’t use this phone for calls/sms so I wish I could just disable that while retaining mobile data, but I haven’t figured that out yet really.
I read you can delete any stock apps like Phone and SMS Messaging by connecting your phone to a computer and using ADB (does not require root). I haven’t tried it but you can search online about using ADB.
CalyxOS on a Pixel 5. Its nice and micro G works fine in most situations. When I have the time though, I’m probably going to try graphine os with sandboxed google play and see how that works for me.
I miss LineageOS. My current nokia has next to no scene. The thing I miss the most is holding the volume keys as prev/fwd buttons.
It doesn’t do that in the stock ROM? That seems like a basic feature to me.
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CalyxOS on my Pixel 3. Love it. Runs better than the standard Android crap.
Who knew getting rid of all the tracking bullshit helps? This is my surprised face -> :-/
I’ve never had a stock android experience except for two weeks with an original Nexus phone when it came out. Hated it so much, I returned it and got Blackberry. When I was eventually forced into Android, I immediately loaded CyanogenMod and have never used a stock ROM. My friends talk about their phones, and I have no idea what they’re talking about. My experience is totally different. I couldn’t use a stock ROM.
None … yet. Hadn’t even looked into the possibility since my Pixel 2XL, and I have no idea what I dug up all those years ago.
I’m now on a Pixel 6 Pro and would love to move to a privacy-focused OS; I’m already on KDE Neon on desktop for both my production machines as of May. Rexxit has motivated me to at least dip my toes in on mobile, but as with desktop Linux, I fully expect my first attempt to bring into specific relief what I’m looking for and then go try things until I find what I like.
Graphene and Lineage seem like the best starting options at this point, but I’d love to hear from anyone else on my hardware on their experiences. My use cases are vanishingly small: Signal for text, voice and video; the local transit app; music app (still haven’t found one that makes be forswear any further experimentation) for my commute; mindless games (currently Royal Match) for my commute; 10-15 texts a week; and a phone call or two. I barely even use the camera except for work, and yes, I’m aware I purchased a phone utterly overpowered for my needs, but I’m picky about pixel size.
What recommendations do y’all have, either as a starting point or — perish the thought — an obvious daily driver?
LineageOS seems fine for your use case (and it has official support), but Pixel users are honestly spoilt for choice on custom ROMs so you could try out a few. Maybe Pixel Experience if you want to keep the Google “look”, or crdroid for another AOSP rom.
I’d actually like to move away from Google’s aesthetic. I took the demise of Windows Phone/Mobile pretty hard, specifically the live tiles that meant all I usually needed to do at any moment to get the info I wanted was wake my phone. The number of notifications I have on an app is never a question I’ve found myself asking; the content it denotes is what I’m interested in. Why give me irrelevant information and require further interaction to get that relevance?
Honestly AOSP (stock Android) isn’t that different to Google’s look, just more minimalistic and most roms will be based on AOSP with some minor tweaks. You could look into custom launchers, although not really an area I’m familiar with.
Agreed on notifications, I like to block the majority of them, which you can mostly do with modern Android versions. You might like to use F-Droid if you haven’t already, since all apps are open source and not monetary focused, so tend to have less obnoxiousness to them as well.
I’ve been through a lot of launchers, to the point where I’m not even certain what I’m currently using. It’s all cartoonish and absolutely against my design aesthetic. I turned notifications off months ago for anything but direct communication from my contacts and set the phone to go straight to voicemail for anyone else, and it’s been bliss. I have a few F-Droid apps, but I’ve found that I prefer the desktop experience for most use cases through that store … rarely do I have a pressing need to check my RSS feed where I can’t read links on a full monitor.
I get into work and back home in a far better mood by playing a casual game and listening to music on my commute, and there’s nothing I miss about slavishly checking my phone.
Stock android ROM(s) sound like a good fit since you seem to like a minimal experience.
GrapheneOS would probably suit you too and has improved privacy and security, but it’s Pixel only so I’ve never got to try it myself.
/e/OS - I bought a cheap Poco X3 pro, that was probably cheap because they show ads inside the OS. So now I got to have a cheap phone that’s also private and fast (a friend bought the same phone, no custom ROM, and now complains about it being slow)
LineageOS on a Moto One 5G Ace. Soon to be replaced with a OnePlus Nord N200 because the charging port of all things is failing.
Also LineageOS. Pixel 3a
It’s going to take a lot for me to want to upgrade when this phone has unlimited photo upload, and a headphone jack.
Same! Gotta have the headphone jack!
Pixel Experience
