this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2025

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Can't we do anything as google is killing AOSP and custom ROMS (programming.dev)

submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by Timely_Jellyfish_2077@programming.dev to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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It feel like we’re losing to Google, day by day. They aren’t killing AOSP directly, but they are making it useless step by step.

Now it’s Google Play Services, Play Integrity checks, installation source checks… more and more apps just refuse to run without GMS. Banking apps? Most of them don’t work. And it’s only getting worse. I run vanilla AOSP on my main profile, no Play Services. I keep GMS only in my work profile for the apps that absolutely need it. But now even some regular apps that don't need any play services won’t work on my main profile anymore. They simply block your from running , like le chat.

Maps is google's most important app there is no way to run without play services. Sure we can use webview or gmaps wv, but they don't provide turn-by-turn directions. Earlier maps used to work without play services, but two years ago, an update stopped it from working. Now that old version is out of date and no longer works.

Google is slowly making GMS very important to run. The problem with GMS is they require to run as system app and has to have all the permissions by default.

Hope EU puts pressure to make google allow apps to run independently without GMS or atleast install them as user apps(like graphene os sandboxed play services).

If we keep going on like this, AOSP can only run fdroid apps in the future.

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[–] furrowsofar@beehaw.org 5 points 4 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Keep in mind GMS does not need to run as a system app. On GrapheneOS it does not.

At least for me only about 15% of my apps need GMS and I only run GMS in my private space which most of the time I lock.

So yes I do not like needing GMS but it is not so doom and gloom.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

does it work on other roms?

[–] furrowsofar@beehaw.org 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Does what work? If you mean GMS sandboxing, that is ROM specific. Up to what the ROM supplier does.

Why would one need another ROM. GrapheneOS is one of the best. So is Google hardware in terms of lifetime cost, capability, and security. What other supplier gives 7 year support?

Generally with android it is best to choose the ROM and then the best hardware for it anyway. The best ROMs often have limited hardware support. There are not that many reasonable ROMs anyway. Nor are there many hardware choices that aupport most ROMs fully.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Why would one need another ROM

because it only runs on a very specific phone we can't obtain in most of the planet

[–] furrowsofar@beehaw.org 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Google phones are pretty widely available in many countries not just the US. But sure good point, there are many exceptions too.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

maybe many, but not most. grapheneos makes me saddened that added privacy now costs a premium, and it's only accessible to a subset of people.

[–] furrowsofar@beehaw.org 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The big deal is how long a phone gets updates. If you divide Pixel a-series pricing by the 7 years of support, they are not that expensive.

What is expensive is buying a new phone everytime they go out of support. My old LG had maybe 1 year of updates when I got it years ago and it was a $250 phone. Still ran it for 6 years but most of that time had no updates which is not great.

My point is cost depends on how you measure it.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 1 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

I can get 7 years of support from lineageos already, without having to pay a premium.

and then again:

it’s only accessible to a subset of people

you don't seem to get we can't buy it even if i wanted to pay a ridiculous price for it

[–] furrowsofar@beehaw.org 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

You may or may not have 7 years of support as the binary blobs are only updated for a limited period and this is often a lot less then 7 years.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 1 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

still worth it over a phone that costs the price of an used car to import into my country.

if all i were looking for was long support id get a samsung. what i really get custom roms for is privacy and control over my own device. that's the entire point of getting grapheneos, no?