32 ms·

LineageOS 18.1

317 points by danielg0 6y ago

Neil44 6y ago
Love these guys work. Turning devices too old and slow into useful devices again.
- dmos62 6y ago
  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 6y ago
  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.
- vanderZwan 6y ago
  Proving once again that it's not the devices that are slow but the stuff running on it
- Semaphor 6y ago
  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.
- jeffchien 6y ago
  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.
_joel 6y ago
Any recomendations for current spec phones that work with lineage?
- dekoruotas 6y ago
  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 6y ago
  Anything from OnePlus, they're consistently friendly with the custom rom scene.
  - gabegm 6y ago
    For some reason I can't find the 7T in their list for supported devices.
  - pedro2 6y ago
    They are -- but now with caveats: https://www.reddit.com/r/LineageOS/comments/cv5mhw/oneplus_6_accessing_2nd_rear_camera/ https://www.reddit.com/r/LineageOS/comments/cv5mhw/oneplus_6...
- benevol 6y ago
  Definitely Fairphone: https://www.fairphone.com/en https://www.fairphone.com/en
  - yellowapple 6y ago
    I'd be a Fairphone customer right now if they shipped to the US.
  - papaf 6y ago
    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.
benevol 6y ago
Thank you so much to everybody who works on LineageOS! You are so awesome! I LOVE it!
Flex247A 6y ago
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 6y ago
  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 6y ago
    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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7_jrw9C9Pg And downloaded the ROM files form here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/unofficial-14-1-7-1-2-2017-09-11-lineageos-14-1-for-xiaomi-mipad-mocha.3557616/ 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 6y ago
      What is the lineageos you use based on? What android version?
Maakuth 6y ago
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 6y ago
  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 6y ago
  Looks like it needs to be repartitioned, which would be rather non-trivial.
- JohnTHaller 6y ago
  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 6y ago
  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.
codethief 6y ago
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 https://microg.org . See https://lineage.microg.org/ https://lineage.microg.org/ for LineageOS images that come with MicroG pre-installed. [2]: https://auroraoss.com/ https://auroraoss.com/ [3]: https://syncthing.net https://syncthing.net [4]: https://github.com/seedvault-app/seedvault https://github.com/seedvault-app/seedvault [5]: http://grapheneos.org/ http://grapheneos.org/ [6]: https://github.com/hashbang/aosp-build https://github.com/hashbang/aosp-build [7]: https://github.com/dan-v/rattlesnakeos-stack/ https://github.com/dan-v/rattlesnakeos-stack/ [8]: https://netguard.me/ https://netguard.me/ [9]: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.typeblog.shelter/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.typeblog.shelter/
ttfxxcc 6y ago
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 6y ago
  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 6y ago
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.
searchableguy 6y ago
> 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 6y ago
  >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 6y ago
    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/lineage-18.1/prebuilt/common/etc/sensitive_pn.xml https://github.com/LineageOS/android_vendor_lineage/blob/lin...
morpheusbruh 6y ago
Can’t wait to check it out.
dotancohen 6y ago
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 6y ago
  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 6y ago
    That still leaves the option of using a GSI of whichever distribution. https://github.com/phhusson/treble_experimentations/wiki/Samsung-Galaxy-A50 https://github.com/phhusson/treble_experimentations/wiki/Sam...
Scene_Cast2 6y ago
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%202021-04-01&q=lineageos,cyanogenmod,android%20rom https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2009-11-01%202...
- nfriedly 6y ago
  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.
- johnnycerberus 6y ago
  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 6y ago
  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.
2ion 6y ago
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 6y ago
  What benefit does this restrictive bank offer over, say, a credit union? Or another big bank without this app requirement?
  - Mediterraneo10 6y ago
    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 6y ago
      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 6y ago
        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.
skbt 6y ago
It is interesting that oneplus one and oneplus 3 are getting 18.1 while oneplus 2 is not
- celsoazevedo 6y ago
  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.
- hitchhikerr 6y ago
  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.
- nobodywasishere 6y ago
  This is all volunteer based, so if a device isn't supported, it's because no one stepped up to maintain it
flippinburgers 6y ago
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 6y ago
  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.
dang 6y ago
If curious, past threads: Show HN: A Mashup to find LineageOS supported phones that are repairable - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25592066 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25592066 - Dec 2020 (48 comments) IodéOS = LineageOS 17.1 and MicroG and adblocker - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25405552 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 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25253091 - Nov 2020 (5 comments) Hello, LineageOS 17.1 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22756346 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22756346 - April 2020 (106 comments) LineageOS Android Distribution - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21490849 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21490849 - Nov 2019 (99 comments) LineageOS 16.0 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19277910 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19277910 - March 2019 (107 comments) Introducing the LineageOS SDK - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16638732 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 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15617615 - Nov 2017 (198 comments) Update and Build Prep - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13454472 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13454472 - Jan 2017 (19 comments) LineageOS: Infrastructure Status and Official Builds - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13305081 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 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13254520 - Dec 2016 (114 comments) Other interesting ones?
volongoto 6y ago
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 6y ago
  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 6y ago
  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.
helfire 6y ago
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 6y ago
  Still building: https://www.lineageoslog.com/18.1/walleye https://www.lineageoslog.com/18.1/walleye
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
Darmody 6y ago
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.
BarbaryCoast 6y ago
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 6y ago
  "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")
RealStickman_ 6y ago
Still using LOS 16 on my OnePlus 3. I really should take the time to update to the latest version.

LineageOS 18.1

317 points by danielg0 6y ago

Neil44 6y ago

Love these guys work. Turning devices too old and slow into useful devices again.

dmos62 6y ago
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 6y ago
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.
vanderZwan 6y ago
Proving once again that it's not the devices that are slow but the stuff running on it
Semaphor 6y ago
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.
jeffchien 6y ago
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.

_joel 6y ago

Any recomendations for current spec phones that work with lineage?

dekoruotas 6y ago
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 6y ago
Anything from OnePlus, they're consistently friendly with the custom rom scene.
- gabegm 6y ago
  For some reason I can't find the 7T in their list for supported devices.
- pedro2 6y ago
  They are -- but now with caveats: https://www.reddit.com/r/LineageOS/comments/cv5mhw/oneplus_6_accessing_2nd_rear_camera/ https://www.reddit.com/r/LineageOS/comments/cv5mhw/oneplus_6...
benevol 6y ago
Definitely Fairphone: https://www.fairphone.com/en https://www.fairphone.com/en
- yellowapple 6y ago
  I'd be a Fairphone customer right now if they shipped to the US.
- papaf 6y ago
  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.

benevol 6y ago

Thank you so much to everybody who works on LineageOS! You are so awesome! I LOVE it!

Flex247A 6y ago

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 6y ago
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 6y ago
  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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7_jrw9C9Pg And downloaded the ROM files form here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/unofficial-14-1-7-1-2-2017-09-11-lineageos-14-1-for-xiaomi-mipad-mocha.3557616/ 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 6y ago
    What is the lineageos you use based on? What android version?

Maakuth 6y ago

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 6y ago
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 6y ago
Looks like it needs to be repartitioned, which would be rather non-trivial.
JohnTHaller 6y ago
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 6y ago
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.

codethief 6y ago

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 https://microg.org . See https://lineage.microg.org/ https://lineage.microg.org/ for LineageOS images that come with MicroG pre-installed. [2]: https://auroraoss.com/ https://auroraoss.com/ [3]: https://syncthing.net https://syncthing.net [4]: https://github.com/seedvault-app/seedvault https://github.com/seedvault-app/seedvault [5]: http://grapheneos.org/ http://grapheneos.org/ [6]: https://github.com/hashbang/aosp-build https://github.com/hashbang/aosp-build [7]: https://github.com/dan-v/rattlesnakeos-stack/ https://github.com/dan-v/rattlesnakeos-stack/ [8]: https://netguard.me/ https://netguard.me/ [9]: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.typeblog.shelter/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.typeblog.shelter/

ttfxxcc 6y ago

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 6y ago
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 6y ago

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.

searchableguy 6y ago

> 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 6y ago
>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 6y ago
  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/lineage-18.1/prebuilt/common/etc/sensitive_pn.xml https://github.com/LineageOS/android_vendor_lineage/blob/lin...

morpheusbruh 6y ago

Can’t wait to check it out.

dotancohen 6y ago

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 6y ago
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 6y ago
  That still leaves the option of using a GSI of whichever distribution. https://github.com/phhusson/treble_experimentations/wiki/Samsung-Galaxy-A50 https://github.com/phhusson/treble_experimentations/wiki/Sam...

Scene_Cast2 6y ago

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%202021-04-01&q=lineageos,cyanogenmod,android%20rom https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2009-11-01%202...

nfriedly 6y ago
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.
johnnycerberus 6y ago
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 6y ago
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.

2ion 6y ago

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 6y ago
What benefit does this restrictive bank offer over, say, a credit union? Or another big bank without this app requirement?
- Mediterraneo10 6y ago
  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 6y ago
    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 6y ago
      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.

skbt 6y ago

It is interesting that oneplus one and oneplus 3 are getting 18.1 while oneplus 2 is not

celsoazevedo 6y ago
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.
hitchhikerr 6y ago
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.
nobodywasishere 6y ago
This is all volunteer based, so if a device isn't supported, it's because no one stepped up to maintain it

flippinburgers 6y ago

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 6y ago
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.

dang 6y ago

If curious, past threads: Show HN: A Mashup to find LineageOS supported phones that are repairable - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25592066 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25592066 - Dec 2020 (48 comments) IodéOS = LineageOS 17.1 and MicroG and adblocker - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25405552 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 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25253091 - Nov 2020 (5 comments) Hello, LineageOS 17.1 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22756346 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22756346 - April 2020 (106 comments) LineageOS Android Distribution - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21490849 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21490849 - Nov 2019 (99 comments) LineageOS 16.0 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19277910 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19277910 - March 2019 (107 comments) Introducing the LineageOS SDK - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16638732 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 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15617615 - Nov 2017 (198 comments) Update and Build Prep - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13454472 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13454472 - Jan 2017 (19 comments) LineageOS: Infrastructure Status and Official Builds - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13305081 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 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13254520 - Dec 2016 (114 comments) Other interesting ones?

volongoto 6y ago

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 6y ago
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 6y ago
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.

helfire 6y ago

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 6y ago
Still building: https://www.lineageoslog.com/18.1/walleye https://www.lineageoslog.com/18.1/walleye

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

Darmody 6y ago

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.

BarbaryCoast 6y ago

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 6y ago
"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")

RealStickman_ 6y ago

Still using LOS 16 on my OnePlus 3. I really should take the time to update to the latest version.