Anyone here with a rooted Android, LineageOS, etc in 2020?

Why rooted? I get that it’s fun to have full control, but I’d rather set things up with adb or wtv, and then not have the device rooted when in daily use. Sure, you could choose which apps have root access, but still… Using the minimum privilege level is the linux way. Anyhow, custom ROM is a separate subject.

I recently set up an older phone with /e/ OS, based on Lineage OS and adding microG as a substitute for Google Play Services. It’s quite usable. The preferred source of apps is F-Droid, but for a few needed apps from the Google Play Store, Aurora Store works nicely. Just note that support for (in-)app purchase license verification requires the Play Store.

Similar to TurbyPots I used to root all my phones. Started in 2008 with the first Android HTC G1. Overclocking, undervolting, stripping back to bare minimum - it was a lot of fun for years. It was more to get rid of unwanted bloatware and also improve performance\capability as opposed to ‘deg00gling’.

When I got my first Pixel phone (moved away from Samsung) I stopped rooting and flashing custom everything because there was nothing I wanted to get rid of or change. Android had improved and the (ahem) makers of the Pixel deliver the OS in it’s purest form. Talk about walking into the lions den.

Like many things, it can easily become something of an obsession. XDA and BLF
are interchangable.

Yesterday updated my old Samsung S5 from 16 to 17.1. Everything works fine. Phone is rooted. Using Lineage about 3years newer had any problems.
First of all get recovery TWRP > LinageOS+ OpenGapps micro + Root(Magisk)+ whatever you want.

Back in the nexus days I used to flash ROMs and tweak nearly everything all the time. Nowadays on stock android (especially on my pixel 4a where the software is brilliant) I don’t feel I need to. The only reason I would is to get a system wide ad block, limit charging to 85% and maybe a few magisk modules. It was also a bit of a pain with my previous phones as some couldn’t have their bootloader unlocked (Xperia XA / M4) or kept messing up (Moto G5S plus). I had a ton of software issues including my IMEI being deleted from the device unless I used one specific android version (so no ROMs / software updates) also custom recoveries aren’t really a thing anymore and flashing with a PC is a pain.

I have a rooted Xiaomi Mi 9 SE with CrDroid.
Small size, excellent Camera for less than 300€.

Because my smartphone is not someone else's playground, and it is my right to fully manage it at my will.

Certain things like using a custom user agent with the G00gl€ chrome browser is still only possible with a rooted system. And although certain others are catching up such browser is still the best overall, imho.

Also, in the past I've seen certain applications go bad or rogue with updates. This is, losing useful features or whatever other mishaps. Applications like that get frozen in time, or just the great kick in the arse.

I stop rooting phones when www.blokada.org wet out. But I still have rooted tablet to cheat in android games :slight_smile:
Mike

I use AdAway, something you may be using already btw.

It needs root afaik.
Mike

I used to root my phones, until I was unable to install banking apps. I’ve heard this might be different now, but since have gone over to Nokia with Android one. I was pleasantly suprised to discover that you can uninstall most of the apps previously baked in, including most of the google apps.

Probably still not fully in control, but good enough for me now.

Yes, that’s exactly the ROM I’m running. No Magisk yet and also haven’t reinstalled TWRP since the reflash. Only extra mod I did was restoring a Moto symbol on startup in place of the warning screen. I did that through ADB and a Win10 pc. Funny enough the Galaxy S5 Neo (version SM-G903W) is a phone on my list to try and acquire. How is it performing?

/e/ is very interesting to me as they have bundled and streamlined LineageOS and microG. They have a beta build available for my G7 (river), so I’m likely going to give that a test run as well. A Galaxy S8/S9 running /e/ is something I’m considering… but

The kicker for me in all of this is having a non removable battery. No matter what OS I’m running, there is integrated hardware with proprietary drivers running the device. Nobody seems to know what exactly goes on ‘down-there’ and quite frankly, I don’t trust it. I want to reserve the right to remove power from the device at will. I don’t know when/how it has become acceptable for either corporate or gov entities to have such information and access to a wide open backdoor into our lives. Whether it’s my location, interests, conversations, or sleep cycles… Truly not information that anybody needs nor shall have. efff that.

In true BLF spirit though, I have some ideas on this. Going to give it a try and see what happens. But I’m thinking of using the space and port provided by 3.5mm jack to actually route one of the battery poles through, and create a “kill-pin”.

The problem with 3th part OS is that it have no proper camera driver and camera cant focus in dark like with original driver.

I’m really hoping the modular Fairphone gets to the U.S. soon. It’s probably not as sleek and slim as the latest and greatest blackboxes, but I would buy one for sure.

I can hear you man. While it may not be the same, how about a faraday bag?

A faraday bag effectively blocks all incoming or outgoing radiation from the device.

Other than this, as they are to cut-off power from a device's battery it would be necessary to install a (MOSFET) switch in its connector or somewhere else, or resort to somehow directly switching off the MOSFETs inside the inbuilt BMS in the battery. Which makes me think that a short circuit would attain that, for example, but needs to be well implemented. So a solution may be possible, but certainly a lot of hassle as things are now.

Sun, 10/18/2020 - 19:59

I have never experienced a problem even if using a "3rd party" OS. My experience is in fact awesome, with the 3rd party ROMs I've used being a lot more powerful than their stock counterparts.

Good idea with artificially tripping the cells inbuilt protection. I’ll need to study the circuits and micro controllers to see if that’s a practical way of doing it.

I already ordered a faraday bag yesterday. Going to put it to the test when I get it. This is my best option for the time being until I can get a device with a hardware kill switch.

look at dns66 for hosts functionality without root.
can be found on fdroid.
going to put lineageos on a note 9 soon.

I ran CyanogenMod then LineageOS on my 1+1 but gave up on Lineage due to the censorship and attitude of the devs and mods on the forum and subjects not allowed on the forum. No feature requests for one. Currently using Havoc rooted with magisk and swift black substratum theme on my current 1+6.

I’ve read but cannot confirm that recent versions of AdAway have added a non-root VPN mode similar to Blokada. Of course if you have root then you can just use it to modify the HOSTS file as usual.

As for root and custom ROMs I do root my phone’s but I don’t run custom ROMs. I like root for being able to backup apps and their data. It is very handy for apps that don’t have their own backup solution. Also it makes restoring my phone a bit faster since I don’t need to waste time redownloading all my apps.

Now my reason for not using custom ROMs is as follows.

1. My current phone isn’t very popular for ROMs. I have a Pixel 2 and LineageOS only recently released official builds for it. Many custom ROMs have a limited number of devices they support so I find myself with slim pickings.

2. I find custom ROMs seem to have less and less exciting features with each new version of Android. I am fairly content with Google’s vanilla version of Android.

3. Whenever a new Android OS version is released, I am left waiting months waiting for the custom ROMs to switch to the new version. And once available, we are that much closer to the next Android version and the cycle repeats.

I always carefully pick what is going to be my next smartphone. I never buy a smartphone who was launched very recently, this way I can read plenty of reviews and also check the availability of custom ROMs at XDA Forums.

Not buying the latest also allows me to buy a high end smartphone for affordable price. Also, high end mobile SoCs are more powerful than mid range stuff even if a couple generations older, as far as I know.

Seriously? In my experience, a good custom ROM surpasses anything stock. They are meant to be this way.

For example, my AEX ROM features things like an amazing task switcher, without the need to install any other software:

Comparatively speaking, task switchers like the one which first appeared in Android Lollipop suck big time, imho.

So do you need to be on the latest version? I don't. I'm still on Android 8.1, works great. No hurry.

Old and bad are different things. A new version is not always better, I've seen quite a few new versions of whatever software turn into downgraded crap. It's me who decides when to upgrade, to the point of uninstalling certain applications because they upgraded themselves just because fLIck thee.