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. 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 on a Fairphone 3. It works well for what I do on my phone.
GrapheneOS on a Pixel 6. Works great! I’ve had to override the custom memory allocator one or two times for banking apps, but that’s just flipping a switch in the app info.
GrapheneOS on a Pixel 5a5g 👍
I went with good old lineageOS but I would like to pick up a Pixel device so I can give GrapheneOS or CalyxOS a go.
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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?
I have a Pixel 6a, not 6 Pro, but I am running GrapheneOS. I had it on my Pixel 4a before this phone. I like it a lot!
From all the responses, GrapheneOS seems the most popular. Worth a weekend gander.
But I’m really responding to say I love your user name.
LineageOS for MicroG on a Oneplus 8 5g UW. It runs pretty smooth on this phone. Use to have a few minor bugs that got fixed eventually.
I really wish Verizon didn’t abandon this phone, I’m stuck on Android 11 while all other OP8 models were updated to Android 12 and then 13 last year. Owners of this phone were supposed to get two years of updates and three years of security patches and we barely got a full year. The hardware is still more than enough for my needs so I can’t justify an upgrade.
GrapheneOS on a Pixel 6a and iOS on an iPhone in the other pocket lol
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.
CalyxOS on my Pixel 6a. It works well for my needs with very little compromise.
/e/os on a Fairphone 3 for a few months now. It’s my first custom ROM, and it’s been a breeze so far :)
Some quirks that I don’t actually mind : when the phone is turned off and charging, the animation on screen doesn’t update the current battery level (but idc, usually the phone charges at night), the phone calls volume is really loud (but I usually plug my headset in for calls) and the integrated vpn is sometimes slow enough to cause websites/apps to timeout (I can live with that).
I still have my old android phone mainly for my bank application.
Edit : typo
Unfortunately none. I have an S10e with a locked bootloader. This is the first android phone I’ve owned that I hadn’t used a custom ROM on. The last Samsung phone I owned was an S4 and I hadn’t kept up with the custom ROM scene, so I hadn’t known the locked bootloader nonsense when I got the S10e.
It sucks because there are no note security updates for the phone even though the hardware is still in good condition. I can’t justify replacing a working phone even if I could afford a new one. I’m hoping eventually a vulnerability will be uncovered that allows unlocking the bootloader. There was one a few years ago I think, but it got patched before I even knew about it.
That sucks. I also have never used a stock Android phone. I don’t know that I could. Because I’m in the USA, my choices for phones that will run a custom ROM and still make phone calls is very small. But that’s the subject of a different post.
