[HN Gopher] LineageOS 18.1
___________________________________________________________________
LineageOS 18.1
Author : danielg0
Score : 279 points
Date : 2021-04-01 08:06 UTC (14 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (lineageos.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (lineageos.org)
| 2ion wrote:
| Unfortunately, even if LOS supports my device (it does), it's not
| a viable solution anymore for me as a primary smartphone OS (even
| though I really appreciate some of its features -- used it for
| years on previous phones) due to SafetyNet.
|
| - Google Pay will stop working. - My banks' (multiple) primary
| apps and pushTAN solutions will stop working.
|
| and that's two of the most important things I use my phone for
| nowadays. (Forced) bank MFA and payments. Also for voluntary MFA
| with andOTP of course, because I'm not against MFA, just idiotic
| pushTANs.
|
| Ironically, devices which haven't had security fixes in 1 year
| (thanks for nothing, Sony) will also pass safetynet, and the
| mentioned apps' vendors will still deem them "secure".
|
| Android security past device release remains a joke. Solutions
| like LOS exist to keep devices running well past the pitiful life
| span OEMs allow for, but they have become unviable.
| yaomtc wrote:
| What benefit does this restrictive bank offer over, say, a
| credit union? Or another big bank without this app requirement?
| 2ion wrote:
| There are two such methods left in Germany, chipTAN and
| photoTAN which (can) use seperate, external generator devices
| which you can buy. If you have multiple banks however, like I
| do, it's mixn'match. The last method left is smsTAN, which is
| insecure by default, and it's the first being phased out
| right now.
|
| The move towards more elaborate TAN setups is due to PSD2 EU
| regulations; banks usually choose the way their lawyers deem
| watertight and product management considers acceptable in
| terms of cost, although especially on the lawyer side,
| interpretations of current law still differ. Which results in
| different PIN/TAN flows even between the major players at the
| moment.
| Mediterraneo10 wrote:
| In many countries, _all_ banks are moving towards apps that
| require Google Play Services and passing Safety Net. (And a
| diverse ecosystem of "credit unions" is a USA-specific
| thing.) Banks are phasing out other means of 2FA like code
| cards or code calculators, and expecting all customers to
| have an Android or Apple phone.
| elric wrote:
| That's obviously a stupid move by those banks. And if you
| think so too, you should point it out to them. Your bank is
| unlikely to read HN (hah!), but they are commercial
| institutions and some of them might even listen to their
| customers.
| Mediterraneo10 wrote:
| No, this was actually a pretty reasonable and expected
| move on the part of the banks. They realized that
| providing code cards or code calculators to customers
| represented a expense that very few customers in our
| modern age were taking advantage of, and so they
| discontinued those programs. I love my LineageOS Android
| phone and I also own a PinePhone now, but come on, let's
| be reasonable and admit that we are so tiny a minority of
| customers that we don't matter to banks.
| elric wrote:
| Sure, it's an expense, but it's one that provides actual
| security. Instead of this "it runs on a phone and google
| says it's secure"-nonsense. Banks know people's phones
| rarely get updated.
|
| When I started using online banking in what must have
| been 1997 or so, I accessed the bank using a browser,
| client side certificate and a passphrase. It seems like
| ever since then, security has steadily declined in favour
| of "ease of use". Which rubs me the wrong way, because we
| really should have increased the ease of use of security
| instead!
| TeddyDD wrote:
| Fortunately my bank app & Revolut works on my Lineage OS phone.
| Google Pay won't work tho. I use Lineage for MicroG, so I can
| even install apps from Play store. I wouldn't be able to use
| LOS without it.
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| > Ironically, devices which haven't had security fixes in 1
| year (thanks for nothing, Sony) will also pass safetynet, and
| the mentioned apps' vendors will still deem them "secure".
|
| Yeah, that's what always got me - they'll act like rooting your
| phone or installing a custom ROM makes it "insecure", but then
| turn around and act like a phone is secure running an
| arbitrarily old stock ROM that's little more than a pile of
| known vulnerabilities. I even hit this with a company I worked
| for - they could not grasp the idea that my phone with a
| current patch level could possibly be safe, because I had root
| on it... while seeing no problem with my having root on my
| company laptop _and all of our servers_. Yeesh.
| celsoazevedo wrote:
| On some phones we can pass the SafetyNet test by using Magisk.
| Enable Magisk Hide for the apps that use SafetyNet. Sometimes
| you also need to add the Phone app to Magisk Hide (not sure
| why) and/or "hide" the Magisk app with the built in toggle.
|
| Obviously it's not something everyone wants to deal with, but
| both my banking app and Google Pay works on my Asus Zenfone 6.
| colordrops wrote:
| How long until Magisk Hide doesn't work anymore though.
| Cide wrote:
| Fellow Zenfone 6 user here. Are you running LineageOS or
| another rom? How are you finding it?
| dartharva wrote:
| Indeed. It's not even just banking apps - even my TSP's app
| refuses to run on my Samsung phone now that I have tripped its
| Knox counter. It's just a lazy and convenient approach to
| prevent tampering.
| 3np wrote:
| Very much OT, but maybe it's worth a shot... I wasn't able to
| do a full backup of my Galaxy (encrypted, stock, unrooted) so
| installed TWRP. Now I'm stuck in the infamous boot loop and
| can't get out. Knox is tripped. I kind of really need to get
| in to get some files in there. Should have known better but
| it's a bit frustrating that it was precisely trying to
| perform a backup that made this happen. Can't find stock
| firmware anywhere and even if I did I'm not sure if it's
| possible to flash it without wiping ...
|
| I don't suppose anything rings a bell?
| dartharva wrote:
| Sorry to hear that, I've been in the same situation for too
| many times now. Yeah, recovering your files at that stage
| is very likely impossible.
|
| You _can_ get your stock firmware easily though, with any
| of these tools:
|
| Frija (GUI, recommended): https://forum.xda-
| developers.com/t/tool-frija-samsung-firmwa...
|
| Samloader: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/tool-
| samloader-samfirm-fr...
|
| samfirm.js: https://github.com/jesec/samfirm.js
| codethief wrote:
| I've been using LineageOS since the good ol' CyanogenMod days and
| I am very grateful for how much work the developers put into it
| day in and day out.
|
| Thanks to them, I managed to get rid of Google Apps in my day-to-
| day life almost[0] entirely and drastically improve privacy for
| me: Instead of Google Play Services I use MicroG[1] and instead
| of Play Store, I use Aurora Store[2] and F-Droid. For syncing
| files there is Syncthing[3] and for backups there is
| Seedvault[4]. To isolate apps I don't trust I use NetGuard[8] and
| Shelter[9] and practically no internet-facing app has access to
| my internal "SD card" on which my photos and documents reside. As
| a bonus, getting rid of GApps and using LineageOS has increased
| my phones' battery life and their overall lifetime tremendously.
| (I've only owned three smartphones in my entire life, the
| original T-Mobile G1, the HTC One M8 and the BQ Aquaris Pro.) I
| couldn't be happier.
|
| That being said, I've closely been following GrapheneOS[5]
| because I find its additional security guarantees very
| attractive. In fact, just a few hours ago my new Pixel 5 arrived
| and I'm looking forward to giving it a try. Though I already know
| I will miss MicroG... Maybe I'll end up building my own custom
| Android ROM, using Hashbang or RattlesnakeOS[6, 7]?
|
| Overall, I don't really understand people who criticize Android
| for not being open while loudly claiming a "pure" Linux phone
| would be so much better. (There was yet another discussion here
| on HN just a few days ago.) Yes, Android is a not your typical
| open-source project and clearly in the hands of Google. Yes, most
| phone and chip manufacturers still haven't open-sourced their
| hardware binary blobs. We definitely have to fight these fights.
| But with a Linux phone I'd probably be struggling with window-
| manager-related bugs in the worst possible moments (say, an
| emergency call) and risk all my data getting stolen whenever I
| install a new app.
|
| As much as I like Linux - I dabbled with it the first time almost
| two decades ago and have been using it as a daily driver for more
| than a decade - but its stability and security guarantees are
| orders of magnitude worse than Android's.
|
| I secretly hope that Fuchsia will find its way to the desktop at
| some point and be able to replace my Linux system.
|
| [0]: I still use Google Maps every now and then
|
| [1]: https://microg.org . See https://lineage.microg.org/ for
| LineageOS images that come with MicroG pre-installed.
|
| [2]: https://auroraoss.com/
|
| [3]: https://syncthing.net
|
| [4]: https://github.com/seedvault-app/seedvault
|
| [5]: http://grapheneos.org/
|
| [6]: https://github.com/hashbang/aosp-build
|
| [7]: https://github.com/dan-v/rattlesnakeos-stack/
|
| [8]: https://netguard.me/
|
| [9]: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.typeblog.shelter/
| blendergeek wrote:
| > But with a Linux phone I'd probably be struggling with
| window-manager-related bugs in the worst possible moments (say,
| an emergency call)
|
| Can confirm. This is a very real possibility.
|
| > and risk all my data getting stolen whenever I install a new
| app.
|
| Where do you plan to get your apps from? If you stick to the
| repos, this isn't an issue.
| karlicoss wrote:
| I mean, don't you risk all your data when you install an app on
| your computer? Certainly, but it's not the reason to lock down
| the computer experience for everyone.
|
| I appreciate the 'apps as containers' by default. But it
| sometimes makes using my phone unbearable. E.g. why can't I see
| my own apps' settings or data (in /data/data) without rooting
| my phone? Or why is my only default backup option is a blackbox
| backup in google drive? (yes there is seedvault in Lineage, but
| this already restricts you to certain phones). Why can't I use
| symlinks (or at least bind mounts) so I can syncthing a single
| directory instead of a bunch of scattered dirs like
| Camera/DCIM; Downloads; Pictures; Android/data/app.name/, etc?
|
| That said I agree that Linux on desktop could use better and
| friendlier app containers as well. But I feel like the
| security/malleability balance is much better on Linux, at least
| for a technical user.
| jhoho wrote:
| CalyxOS might be worth a look!
|
| It's available one for Pixels and the Mi A2 and offers seamless
| updates, microG and a closed bootloader!
|
| https://calyxos.org/
| SubzeroCarnage wrote:
| My project DivestOS supports bootloader locking, verified
| boot, and OTA updates for many more legacy devices.
|
| https://divestos.org
| ttfxxcc wrote:
| I wish I could donate a phone to a developer in order to get them
| to support it. I had bad luck with unofficial roms.
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| Are you sure you can't? I'm pretty sure I've seen devs
| literally saying that they'd support a device if people wanted
| to donate one.
| jackallis wrote:
| Managed to, somehow, install 14.1 on my Galaxy S5 while ago.
| Still stable and is great. Have not had the nerves to upgrade, as
| it not as simple as pushing a botton, but for now it is awesome.
| volongoto wrote:
| This made me think about the Huawei devices that ship without
| Google Play Services. But, looking at the list of supported
| devices, I could not see any new Huawei phones. I wonder what the
| reason for this lack of support could be... Is it because of
| locked bootloaders?
| foolmeonce wrote:
| Older Huawei were pretty normal and you could request unlock
| code, etc. I think they started to get more secretive/closed as
| every random fact about their implementations could be made
| news worthy by adding a suggestion of incompetence, pirating or
| snooping purpose.
| phh wrote:
| Yup it's precisely because Huawei stopped providing bootloader
| unlock. Before that, Huawei was on a good track to be
| appreciated by developers. They had developers program (giving
| away devices), great GSI support (which means easier to make
| device specific ROM as well), Xiaomi's bang-per-buck. There's
| still a bit of development around devices of that era, but now
| it's pretty much dead, even though there are some ways to
| unlock some not-too-new devices through DC Unlocker for
| instance.
| dotancohen wrote:
| How well do Lineage or other custom ROMs work with devices that
| are not explicitly supported? I've got a Samsung A50 that has the
| absolute worst UI, even though I loved the UI on my Samsung Note
| 3. Rather than ditch the perfectly fine hardware, I would like to
| install a custom ROM on it. However the A50 is not on the list of
| supported devices.
| dekoruotas wrote:
| Usually they list other supported ROMs on XDA Forum, but a
| quick check there indicates to me that there are no AOSP ROMs
| for A50. It is likely due to it using Exynos chip which
| requires use of proprietary drivers.
| foolmeonce wrote:
| That still leaves the option of using a GSI of whichever
| distribution.
|
| https://github.com/phhusson/treble_experimentations/wiki/Sam.
| ..
| RealStickman_ wrote:
| Still using LOS 16 on my OnePlus 3. I really should take the time
| to update to the latest version.
| _joel wrote:
| Any recomendations for current spec phones that work with
| lineage?
| BelenusMordred wrote:
| People here are saying Oneplus, but I would recommend Pixel 4/5
| or Xiaomi Mi A3 with stock Android One to fallback on if you
| don't like using LineageOS.
|
| Oneplus have become quite end-user hostile lately. They used to
| be quite good for this stuff but times do change.
|
| If you go the Pixel route, there's also GrapheneOS (formerly
| Copperhead). It offers a lot more security features, with of
| course some tradeoffs when you make a phone _secure_.
|
| https://grapheneos.org/
| infogulch wrote:
| It seems GrapheneOS recommends Pixel 5 or Pixel 4a 5G for the
| longest expected support window. [1]
|
| [1]: https://grapheneos.org/faq#recommended-devices
| dekoruotas wrote:
| OnePlus devices have been always recommended on their Reddit,
| but personally I've been using a Xiaomi Mi 8 for nearly 2 years
| with no issues.
| jaimex2 wrote:
| Anything from OnePlus, they're consistently friendly with the
| custom rom scene.
| gabegm wrote:
| For some reason I can't find the 7T in their list for
| supported devices.
| pedro2 wrote:
| They are -- but now with caveats: https://www.reddit.com/r/Li
| neageOS/comments/cv5mhw/oneplus_6...
| IntelMiner wrote:
| I was hoping to port it to the LG Velvet, especially since LG
| is debating leaving the cell phone space
|
| Unfortunately they geolock unlocking their devices. European
| models can be unlocked, Australian ones? Nope!
| guilhas wrote:
| I just settled on a pixel 3 xl. It has still one of the best
| camera quality available. Got it on ebay for 135EUR. OS
| Lineageos microg ROM. But kept stock camera app.
|
| I was not happy with the selfie quality on the pixel 3a xl
| although I would have liked the audio jack.
| sm4rk0 wrote:
| You obviously didn't follow the OnePlus' motto (:
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| Most Motorola phones have good support for custom ROMs,
| although you should of course check your specific model against
| lineage's list or XDA before buying it. In particular, Motorola
| doesn't do anything to prevent you unlocking the bootloader;
| you just get an unlock request code from fastboot, plug it in
| to their website to get an unlock code, and then give that back
| to the phone over fastboot and your bootloader is unlocked.
| They also have SD cards and 3.5mm audio jacks on most (all?)
| models, if you care about that. The only downside that I recall
| off the top of my head is that their NFC support is really
| spotty; a few models have it, but most don't.
| retrac wrote:
| Yes. In particular, the Motorola budget series devices are
| one of the best options for an unlocked phone under $100 for
| Lineage OS.
| benevol wrote:
| Definitely Fairphone: https://www.fairphone.com/en
| yellowapple wrote:
| I'd be a Fairphone customer right now if they shipped to the
| US.
| papaf wrote:
| I installed Lineage 17.1 on a Fairphone 2 yesterday. If only
| I had waited one more day...
|
| I can +1 the recommendation though. Lineage runs much better
| than the original OS and breathes life into what would be
| e-waste.
| skbt wrote:
| It is interesting that oneplus one and oneplus 3 are getting 18.1
| while oneplus 2 is not
| celsoazevedo wrote:
| The OnePlus 2 was a bad phone overall. It didn't sell as well
| as the OnePlus 1, had the infamous Snapdragon 810 and the
| modding community was never that strong. All this ends up
| affecting long term support.
| nobodywasishere wrote:
| This is all volunteer based, so if a device isn't supported,
| it's because no one stepped up to maintain it
| hitchhikerr wrote:
| The OnePlus 2 was pretty unpopular because it didn't have an
| NFC chip, so there's probably no one who owns one who is
| willing to maintain it.
| Darmody wrote:
| I bought a Poco F3 because it is impossible to find any other
| decent brand with similar specs without paying twice as much.
|
| The first thing I'll do as soon as there's a LineageOS ROM
| available is installing it and getting rid of all the crap the
| phone comes with.
| searchableguy wrote:
| > LineageOS has a feature that helps people protect their privacy
| when calling helpline and hotline numbers by hiding the calls
| from the logs.
|
| > LineageOS 18.1 introduces a helpline contact list (just look at
| the 3-dot menu in the dialer to find it). In addition to quickly
| being able to find and call any of these numbers, we also show
| names, languages, websites, and categories for many of them.
|
| Both are interesting UX consideration.
| boomboomsubban wrote:
| >LineageOS has a feature that helps people protect their
| privacy when calling helpline and hotline numbers by hiding the
| calls from the logs.
|
| I love that there's a completely real and sincere justification
| for the feature, people suffering from issues may want/need to
| hide their help line contacts, but everyone involved has to
| know 90% of it's use will be sex lines.
| matthberg wrote:
| The hiding is based on a listing of sensitive phone numbers,
| which they've collected internationally. So not just allowing
| willy-nilly number hiding like you suggest.
|
| https://github.com/LineageOS/android_vendor_lineage/blob/lin.
| ..
| morpheusbruh wrote:
| Can't wait to check it out.
| benevol wrote:
| Thank you so much to everybody who works on LineageOS! You are so
| awesome! I LOVE it!
| Flex247A wrote:
| I am using an unofficial build of LineageOS 14.1 on my 6 year old
| tablet (Mi PAD 1 'mocha'). After using it for over a month, the
| ROM is amazingly stable.
|
| The earlier MiUi which the tablet shipped with (7.5.2 Android
| KitKat) had problems with memory management. For some reason, the
| 2GB RAM was partitioned into two parts, one for the OS and the
| other for the running apps. But LineageOS does not have this
| problem, and it is much quicker than when I bought it!
|
| I use FDroid to install apps and am very satisfied with it.
| NewPipe is excellent and videos can easily play at 1080p 60fps
| when earlier, the tablet used to lag on 480p videos.
|
| I have changed the governor to powersave and turned on doze mode.
| Amazingly, this 6 year old tablet can hold charge for over a
| week! Even when watching videos at 1080p, the device does not
| heat up.
|
| More power to the LineageOS team and XDADevelopers!
|
| EDIT: ROM version
| 2Gkashmiri wrote:
| Hello... I own a mi pad 1 and its running miui with android 3
| or 4 I think.
|
| Newpipe works but barely. Same for other stuff. Last year I got
| China rom I guess but that changed the ui.
|
| Can you point me where to get started? I would love to use this
| device as its currently just a dump tablet with limited
| features.
| Flex247A wrote:
| Sure!
|
| Actually MIUI has Android 4.4.2 KitKat.
|
| I repartitioned the ROM partition by following this guide:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7_jrw9C9Pg
|
| And downloaded the ROM files form here:
|
| https://forum.xda-
| developers.com/t/unofficial-14-1-7-1-2-201...
|
| China ROM is really bad as it can lead to black screen with
| the tablet becoming unresponsive.
| 2Gkashmiri wrote:
| What is the lineageos you use based on? What android
| version?
| Flex247A wrote:
| Version 7 Nougat
| Haemm0r wrote:
| It is still possible to get OTA Updates for the Xperia Z2
| Tablet (Snapdragon 800) using the AICP Rom too. I'm really glad
| that I bought this device.. Link: https://forum.xda-
| developers.com/t/rom-official-aicp-15-0-q1...
| techrat wrote:
| > It is still possible to get OTA Updates for the
|
| ...for as long as the maintainer continues to support the
| device. And maintainers are all volunteers.
| Haemm0r wrote:
| ... of which I am aware of as it is a "custom rom". Which
| means it is nothing different to what the OP is using.
| NotPavlovsDog wrote:
| I have been reviewing security for unofficial builds, and it's
| pretty abysmal, same for GPL compliance by the ROM creators.
| Could you share how you reviewed security for the unofficial
| ROM?
|
| I'm putting a list of actions to take, but so far it appears it
| will take days to review ROMS, alternatively download a rom,
| review what is in it and build from Lineage official source,
| with Lineage having the better privacy record ....
|
| Some things I would need to check:
|
| - The binary blobs at least match the originals, for example
| binaries from xiaomi
|
| - Included applications that DO publish their source match the
| published source / binaries built from said source
|
| - Permissions are sane/correct and don't have too many 777
| where it is not needed, which is often set for convenience
| during development
|
| - That developers are aware and transparent about any telemetry
| or spyware, which appears to receive a rather cavalier approach
| from many developers.
|
| This is just one example of developer hostility and
| incompetence on the xiaomi eu rom community when asked about
| spyware: https://xiaomi.eu/community/threads/why-does-xiaomi-
| eu-rom-t...
|
| There are many more to be found at the XDA forum, under custom
| roms.
|
| There are also some older discussions on HN, xiaomi related,
| but it does bring up the larger point - how many of the
| applications and core functionality in custom roms is spyware ?
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26306661
| ZeWaren wrote:
| I have a similar experience with my Pixel 2 XL.
|
| The Lineage build with power saving mode stays up 2-3 days with
| active use.
|
| I'm extremely satisfied by it. Kudos to the Lineage team!
| BarbaryCoast wrote:
| You know, when Google said Android 11 and up would require A/B
| firmware, I ditched my beloved OnePlus One, and bought a OnePlus
| 6 instead.
|
| Now I see that the One is getting Android 11, but there's no sign
| of a build for the 6. It's probably coming, but I find it ironic
| that the phone that "wouldn't be supported" has a zero-day build,
| but the phone that _is_ supported doesn't have one (yet).
| tandr wrote:
| "One" is a matter of pride for the Lineage, as it was one of
| the phones that was originally shipped with Cyanogen (MOD?). So
| there is a community that continues to support it. (And I also
| think it is also a "f... you" statement to all of these who
| said "the hardware is too old to support newer versions of
| Android")
| flippinburgers wrote:
| I am under the impression that even using something like this
| will leave a person open to vulnerabilities. Is that the case? In
| other words, some parts of the system (firmware etc) cannot be
| upgraded.
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| Using a custom rom usually puts you in an equal or better
| position compared to stock. If the vendor releases a new
| version with updated firmware blobs, then lineage can just
| update to use those blobs, but for the parts that lineage can
| patch (which is most of the OS, just not some low-level drivers
| and such) it's usually far more up to date than what the
| manufacturer ships, and will only become more so as the
| manufacturer drops support after a few months. Exceptions
| exist, but they're rare.
| Maakuth wrote:
| Wow, Nexus 7 2013 is still supported. For reference, it was a
| budget tablet with $269 MSRP, introduced eight years ago! I've
| been running some older LineageOS build on mine, but I think I'm
| going to do the repartitioning and install the latest and
| greatest. It is admittedly becoming a bit sluggish with modern
| apps.
| IntelMiner wrote:
| I've been holding on to whichever build was based on Android 8
|
| Mostly because it was the last one that allowed a custom kernel
| with overclocking support. At 2Ghz the Nexus 7 is still
| absolutely buttery smooth for most uses
| zozbot234 wrote:
| Looks like it needs to be repartitioned, which would be rather
| non-trivial.
| JohnTHaller wrote:
| Nexus 7 2013 was dropped by LineageOS in Feb 2019. It was
| recently picked back up again as a newer version but it
| requires manually re-partitioning the storage using a lot of
| command line entry while connected via ADB. It is not for the
| faint of heart.
| goffi wrote:
| I have one and I'm using Lineage OS 17.1, and it's absolutely
| smooth, working great. Thanks a lot for people behind that,
| this tablet is perfect for our usage (music, radio, web, and
| some apps + test device for app development), and no need to
| buy a new one and produce more electronic waste.
|
| I did the move after the stock rom went to an infinite loop
| that I could not recover.
| helfire wrote:
| Maybe they are still building but I don't see a download for the
| Pixel 2 (walleye) for 18.1 - just nightly 17.1
| tosteris wrote:
| Still building: https://www.lineageoslog.com/18.1/walleye
| [deleted]
| dang wrote:
| If curious, past threads:
|
| _Show HN: A Mashup to find LineageOS supported phones that are
| repairable_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25592066 - Dec
| 2020 (48 comments)
|
| _IodeOS = LineageOS 17.1 and MicroG and adblocker_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25405552 - Dec 2020 (5
| comments)
|
| _LineageOS with F-Droid and no Google Apps_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25253091 - Nov 2020 (5
| comments)
|
| _Hello, LineageOS 17.1_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22756346 - April 2020 (106
| comments)
|
| _LineageOS Android Distribution_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21490849 - Nov 2019 (99
| comments)
|
| _LineageOS 16.0_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19277910
| - March 2019 (107 comments)
|
| _Introducing the LineageOS SDK_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16638732 - March 2018 (105
| comments)
|
| _LineageOS for microG - Access Google services without closed
| software_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15617615 - Nov
| 2017 (198 comments)
|
| _Update and Build Prep_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13454472 - Jan 2017 (19
| comments)
|
| _LineageOS: Infrastructure Status and Official Builds_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13305081 - Jan 2017 (11
| comments)
|
| _LineageOS will be a continuation of what CyanogenMod was_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13254520 - Dec 2016 (114
| comments)
|
| Other interesting ones?
| Neil44 wrote:
| Love these guys work. Turning devices too old and slow into
| useful devices again.
| vanderZwan wrote:
| Proving once again that it's not the devices that are slow but
| the stuff running on it
| dmos62 wrote:
| Seconded. Thanks to these guys I'm still using an 8 year old
| phone as my daily driver. Galaxy S4. Only thing that went so
| far is the battery.
| danielg0 wrote:
| Yeah, it's great. I'm using a Moto G3 from 2015 that continues
| to get weekly updates (although still on 17.1 at the moment)
| and I have no complaints. Only app with any issues is Firefox
| for Mobile - sometimes a single webpage will use up all the RAM
| and crash repeatedly - so I've changed to the stock browser.
| jeffchien wrote:
| Seconding the "turning _current_ devices into useful devices"
| sentiment too. My Samsung T720 (Tablet S5e) had 15-20GB main
| storage capacity with the stock ROM's partition scheme, but
| 50GB with LineageOS. Absolutely ridiculous. I'd never buy a
| tablet without LineageOS support.
| Semaphor wrote:
| Turning current devices into useful devices as well ;)
|
| Since my first Android (HTC Desire Z) I have always installed
| Cyanogenmod/LineageOS (or whatever came before) right after
| getting the device.
| Scene_Cast2 wrote:
| Google Trends is telling me that "peak modding" for android was
| around 2014, and has steadily been decreasing since. [0]
|
| What happened since then? Are people more satisfied with stock
| ROMs and see less use for them? FWIW, my own phone is on
| LineageOS, and love the freedom it provides.
|
| [0]
| https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2009-11-01%202...
| JeremyNT wrote:
| Personally, the Pixel line has greatly reduced the need for
| third party distributions, which I used primarily to get rid of
| vendor garbage. Pixels are the only phones I will buy now.
|
| Pixels still have junk - but it's only Google's junk. There's
| value in getting rid of the base image and switching to
| LineageOS (or another distribution) but the situation isn't so
| dire as it is with other vendors.
|
| I love that LineageOS is still going strong and it fills a huge
| gap once official software updates cease. I just no longer view
| it as a hard requirement.
| arbitrage wrote:
| > Google Trends is telling me that "peak modding" for android
| was around 2014
|
| Netcraft confirms it.
| nfriedly wrote:
| Yea, I'd say stock ROMs are definitely improving. I used to mod
| phones they day I got them. Then I got a Pixel 2 and since then
| I've just left it on stock firmware.
|
| I'm probably going to have to go back to a custom ROM sometime
| soon, now that Google has stopped supporting it... but it was
| perfectly fine to use as-is for the past 3 years.
| BugsJustFindMe wrote:
| The decay and death of CyanogenMod.
|
| Lineage never achieved the same level of accessibility. It
| always felt like you had to dig through a wasteland of forum
| posts for random "unofficial" builds where the camera wouldn't
| work or LTE wouldn't work or bluetooth wouldn't work or
| Snapchat wouldn't work.
| jlkuester7 wrote:
| Hmm, that has not been my experience with Lineage at all.
| Over the last couple of years I have flashed several devices
| with Lineage and it has always worked almost seamlessly.
| Maybe the difference is that these devices have mostly just
| been popular Nexus/Pixel with official builds. (Except for my
| Nexus 7 where I flashed an unofficial build since Lineage no
| longer official supports the greatest tablet ever made
| _shakes fist angrily_ )
| LanternLight83 wrote:
| From the article posted: >>> Build roster >>> Added 18.1
| devices >>> Google Nexus 7 2013 (Wi-Fi, Repartitioned)
|
| Sure soujd like official support for 18.1 on the Nexus 7 is
| available! Commentors below note that the repartitioning
| process required for these newly supported versions can be
| tricky, but that doesn't scare me off, and I'll be taking
| to updating mine this weekend c:
| jlkuester7 wrote:
| Woah! Back by popular demand! That is awesome!
| johnnycerberus wrote:
| My 2 cents, I've abandoned custom ROMs (circa 2015) because
| many financial apps that I was using were very anxious when it
| came to my OS and they stopped working. Even multiplayer games
| stopped running and required me to use a stock version, without
| root. The majority of games on mobile are masked casinos, a
| pure microtransaction fest so they behave like actual financial
| apps.
| arsome wrote:
| A lot happened - many more recent phones, especially from big
| brands like Samsung heavily restrict unlocking of their
| bootloaders. Google implemented SafetyNet, meaning anyone who
| wants to use things like Google Pay, Netflix, even Pokemon Go
| and others now has to jump through hoops. Additionally, things
| like Netflix are still restricted from HD playback on unlocked
| devices due to hardware DRM.
|
| Android has also gotten a lot better - many of the
| modifications people were doing just aren't as necessary
| anymore, most of the features I used from GravityBox back in
| the day are now part of the OS. The difference between major
| versions has dwindled. Back in 2014 we had some of the most
| hackable devices just starting to age out when new Android
| releases with major changes were hitting and manufacturers
| refusing to support them.
|
| Personally I still root and stick to Pixel and OnePlus devices
| where it's easy to do so. Magisk makes it relatively easy to
| achieve a safetynet bypass and having things like Advanced
| Charging Controller around means my device is going to last for
| years longer, but it's no longer as simple as it once was. With
| the Android improvements though it's hard for even me to
| rationalize the need to load custom ROMs until my manufacturer
| has abandoned my device though.
| Mediterraneo10 wrote:
| Plus, several countries have announced that their COVID
| vaccination passports will exist mainly in app form, since
| paper certificates are supposedly too easy to forge. Since
| only a tiny minority of techies like us around here run
| alternative Android images and app developers have come to
| expect Google Play Services everywhere, it is almost certain
| that those COVID passport apps will require Play Services (or
| even Safety Net, which means MicroG wouldn't be a
| workaround).
| birksherty wrote:
| I still root for fine tuned privacy (through xprivacyLua) and
| app backups (through titanium backup). These 2 apps provide
| features that are not available in any other os.
| arsome wrote:
| Interesting, looks like there's an Xposed solution that
| passes safetynet easily these days. Might have to give
| XPrivacyLua a proper go.
| _e wrote:
| I have used XPrivacyLua for years. It is great but not
| perfect.
|
| Daniel Micay,author of GrapheneOS (an Android fork),
| pointed out some shortcomings of XPrivacyLua on
| reddit[0]:
|
| You do probably want the ability to force apps to see
| fake data, but this doesn't do that. It's a client-side
| check inserted into the app that the app can bypass (even
| unintentionally, by using a different client-side
| implementation) or disable.
|
| It does not provide any isolation and cannot
| fundamentally improve privacy / security because it's
| based on client side checks, which is not a working
| approach. It relies on apps not accessing the data via
| other approaches or alternate implementations of the
| client-side code, which isn't uncommon. Apps can also
| detect it and simply work around it directly. This will
| only give you a false sense of privacy / security. Apps
| will likely use the fake data for their user-facing
| functionality, making you think that it works, but a
| tracking SDK bundled with the app can easily bypass this
| and harvest your data if you allow the permissions via
| the OS. This is harmful approach...
|
| [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/GrapheneOS/comments/ch5kv8/i
| s_magis...
| colordrops wrote:
| Android is still horrible until you can control background
| activity or at least background network traffic. There is no
| way to shut those off completely. I assume this is an
| intentional decision by google as it would severely limit the
| platform for analytics and marketing.
| NotPavlovsDog wrote:
| A simple approach without root is using a fake VPN blocker
| such as Blokada (FOSS) https://blokada.org/
|
| Scary to see all the hits. For _complete_ - requires a lot
| of work and the custom ROM builders do not appear to be so
| interested.
| colordrops wrote:
| I do use a fake VPN blocker, and that's how I found out
| that you can't do it. You can either block completely, or
| you have to allow background network. There needs to be a
| "only allow data while in foreground" but google is a
| sociopathic company (as are most public companies) and
| wouldn't do something like this that is user friendly but
| revenue unfriendly.
| tumblewit wrote:
| DRM is a problem everywhere including linux and running
| ChromiumOS. There is a protected path from the stream to the
| display that needs to be "certified" in order to support
| something like 1080p. I guess for payments it's similar. Its
| really unnecessary and waste of resources imo. But creators
| probably want some kind of assurances and so we are stuck
| with it.
| ddalex wrote:
| > payments it's similar
|
| Without the protected path, how do you know that a
| malicious program doesn't use a low-level API to start a
| payment from your account without you noticing ?
| berdario wrote:
| 1- You don't, but it's not a real problem since non-
| cryptocurrency payments are reversible and trackable, so
| scammers won't use them. They'll rather exploit analog
| ways to get money out of you, recent example:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrKW58MS12g#t=7m18s
|
| 2- You don't, but sandboxing should be enough to isolate
| untrustworthy apps from OS-level APIs that could do what
| you're afraid of.
| skynet-9000 wrote:
| You are forgetting that DRM stopped all that piracy that
| bankrupted the movie industry. That's also why there were
| so few movies released in the last 15 months or so.
|
| It really debunks that myth that open source software could
| ever handle the strong encryption that's so desperately
| needed to protect new movies and TV shows from showing up
| on The Pirate Bay.
|
| I for one welcome this cogent and secure technological
| response to a market issue.
| tumblewit wrote:
| More like ISP StreamingService partnership did this since
| it is far cheaper for them to streaming from edge boxes
| at their own CDNs than p2p which hurt the ISPs because
| they have to pay for peering bandwidth. Also streaming
| services are just too mature these days and easy to use
| compared to p2p. There are plenty of free licence movies
| and tv shows but even those prefer streaming platform
| over p2p. It has almost nothing to do with DRM.
| argon0 wrote:
| I don't know what you're talking about. As long as you
| can videotape a screen in a dark room and get audio out a
| 3.5mm jack, piracy will continue. The only way to prevent
| piracy is either:
|
| A) only allow movies to be played in theaters
|
| B) watermark all content, and vigorously track down
| freeloaders based on the watermarks
|
| You can still find most movies/TV/books/music for free on
| the open web as long as you use a search engine other
| than google.
| oooooooooooow wrote:
| I call nonsense on this one. Anything that's on current
| streaming services (especially the popular stuff, aka the
| money makers) can be easily found on p2p networks. DRM
| has never won a single battle that I know of.
|
| These services are not successful because of exclusivity,
| but because of convenience, feature richness, legality,
| speed of access... in other words they are worth the
| price.
|
| It's important to be aware of this: the media streaming
| landscape becoming more and more fragmented directly
| impacts the most important reason why people are paying
| for these (convenience), which could lead to a harsh
| reality check for production companies.
| vorpalhex wrote:
| You're going to get so many responses missing your
| sarcasm.
| skynet-9000 wrote:
| True. :) but adding /s is not as much fun, especially on
| April 1st.
| Qwertious wrote:
| Pretending to be an idiot is not a prank. Idiots are
| normal, nobody is a fool for thinking the person saying
| idiotic things on the internet genuinely is an idiot.
| skynet-9000 wrote:
| I'd like to take a moment and refute these silly
| arguments that I made.
|
| > You are forgetting that DRM stopped all that piracy
| that bankrupted the movie industry. That's also why there
| were so few movies released in the last 15 months or so.
|
| DRM didn't stop anything, and the movie industry is not
| bankrupt.
|
| One could easily argue that there might be other reasons
| why few movies were released since the start of 2019.
|
| > It really debunks that myth that open source software
| could ever handle the strong encryption that's so
| desperately needed to protect new movies and TV shows
| from showing up on The Pirate Bay.
|
| The _myth_? Do you realize that literally every single
| web browser is built on an open source foundation? And
| how is decryption in the browser going to keep a
| determined person from grabbing the screen output or even
| grabbing the keys?
|
| Remember, not your keys, not your lock.
|
| > I for one welcome this cogent and secure technological
| response to a market issue.
|
| Why would a technological response be appropriate for a
| market issue?
| eptcyka wrote:
| Bankrupting? When has a Hollywood movie not been a
| massive success in viewership but a massive loss on the
| balance sheet? I wouldn't trust Hollywood accountants.
| sumtechguy wrote:
| Even star wars was a failure.
| techrat wrote:
| For me it was because more devices were coming with unlockable
| bootloaders and stock roms that didn't suck. Motorola is a good
| example: Very minimal bloatware and all of their devices come
| with unlocked bootloaders off-carrier now. This means the most
| I need to do is install Magisk. No need for a third party rom
| when stock is nearly as clean.
| astrod wrote:
| I personally lost the appeal once Android One devices became
| more available.
| dartharva wrote:
| Google and OEMs gradually kept adding mechanisms that
| discouraged ROM tampering by locking features, etc.
|
| Many apps nowadays refuse to run on phones that aren't using
| authentic OEM software. With every new version, the tradeoff
| kept getting steeper for rooting or customizing Android phones.
| Also, Android has huge fragmentation with a large diversity of
| devices one has to cater to if someone wants to release a
| customized ROM.
| sigmar wrote:
| I have a unique perspective as someone that has maintained
| unofficial builds for LineageOS, and used both CM and LineageOS
| as daily drivers. I stick with stock pixel these days for
| various reasons, mostly security. I think many users of
| aftermarket firmware were trying to get rid of the awful stock
| apps (browsers, keyboards, mem hogs) that manufacturers and
| cell service providers forced onto users. As Android has
| matured, Google has been enforcing stricter rules for what
| vendors put on phones. Also newer android versions allow you to
| uninstall much of the preinstalled apps. That could explain
| part of the decrease.
| therealmarv wrote:
| For me it was fintech apps. They all stop working on Android
| mods.
| azalemeth wrote:
| I just left one of my financial services providers over this.
| I could use Magisk and get around the check. I wrote them a
| detailed email highlighting how using LineageOS meant that I
| got updates for my post-EOL device and it was _more_ secure.
| The 1st level tech support guy agreed with me and forwarded
| it to his boss. His boss closed the ticket without a
| response. I moved my account.
| rcxdude wrote:
| Stock ROMs have gotten better, modding had gotten less
| convenient. Safetynet is a huge problem there, especially for
| fully custom ROMs (there's workarounds which allow you to root
| an OEM ROM and still pass safetynet most of the time but for a
| custom ROM you're SOL and they often aren't even trying due to
| fearing google's wrath). Safetynet especially is really bad:
| it's not good enough to actually give a meaningful level of
| protection against malware or modifications, but it is good
| enough to basically make it not worth the while of running a
| custom ROM.
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