Develop Bugs

New to Android and just Bought a Razer

Hey all. So as the title says, I'm new to Android, I've had an iPhone for like 10 years now and fancied a change. Bought the Razer on Monday and was wondering whats the benefits of Rooting the phone? As someone who used to Jailbreak the iPhone for tweaks etc, why should I root my phone? And is there any advice/help for making my phone better out of the box?

My main reason is to block ads, web and YouTube.
Oh by the way welcome to the dark side. Lol

If ads don't bother you i personally wouldn't bother with all the trouble

I root mainly because of xposed/gravity box and ads blocker

waiflih said:
I root mainly because of xposed/gravity box and ads blocker
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's that?

Root is not that hard. Go to this post scroll down to "Prebuilt boot image:" download the IMG and flash it.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=76062554&postcount=1

I use root for several different things.
1) Get rid of Ads
2) Grant extra rights to an app called MacroDroid (This app allows you to fully automate your phone through macros, like setting up a rule that says when the phone connects to my work wi-fi then it automatically will switch to vibrate only. This particular rule does not require root but there are extra functions granted by root that allow you to pretty much create whatever kind of rule you want to suit your life. It's a very powerful app and useful app.)
3) Get access to the true file structure (or root) of the phone allowing you to change undercover things if you know what you are doing.
4) I have another app called Social Contact Photo sync that needs root to match up my phone contacts with their Facebook photos.
5) I have an app called Tiles that allows you to change out and add a few extra buttons to the quick menu in the pulldown tray.
6) This is probably the most important one though, Titanium Backup. This should be the first app you install after getting root. Not only does it back up the apps and things on your phone but it also saves the data within those apps. So any custom settings and whatnot you have made in the apps will be saved. It also has many many more features, such as cloud saves to Dropbox or Google Drive.
Ultimately though the real point of Rooting is to grant you admin access to do whatever you want with it, just the way a PC is. You own it, so make it yours.

lostnsound said:
I use root for several different things.
1) Get rid of Ads
2) Grant extra rights to an app called MacroDroid (This app allows you to fully automate your phone through macros, like setting up a rule that says when the phone connects to my work wi-fi then it automatically will switch to vibrate only. This particular rule does not require root but there are extra functions granted by root that allow you to pretty much create whatever kind of rule you want to suit your life. It's a very powerful app and useful app.)
3) Get access to the true file structure (or root) of the phone allowing you to change undercover things if you know what you are doing.
4) I have another app called Social Contact Photo sync that needs root to match up my phone contacts with their Facebook photos.
5) I have an app called Tiles that allows you to change out and add a few extra buttons to the quick menu in the pulldown tray.
6) This is probably the most important one though, Titanium Backup. This should be the first app you install after getting root. Not only does it back up the apps and things on your phone but it also saves the data within those apps. So any custom settings and whatnot you have made in the apps will be saved. It also has many many more features, such as cloud saves to Dropbox or Google Drive.
Ultimately though the real point of Rooting is to grant you admin access to do whatever you want with it, just the way a PC is. You own it, so make it yours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome. That's very helpful and sounds like I'll be doing that then! One note, should I force the Oreo update first or leave it?

askylitangel said:
Awesome. That's very helpful and sounds like I'll be doing that then! One note, should I force the Oreo update first or leave it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you wanna try rooting i recommend you to back up your ohone ir sync it with google, then download the factory images of razer,
From here you can flash the factory images of oreo and have your phone factory reset, then from there set up your phone.
Oh to use the factiry images, you need to unlock your bootloader.

IM in the same boat, ive only ever owned iPhones going back to the 3GS the RazerPhone is my 1st Android phone too slowely getting use to it however the only problems i have is with lack of secuirty and OS updates that we are use to on Apple devices

iliais347 said:
If you wanna try rooting i recommend you to back up your ohone ir sync it with google, then download the factory images of razer,
From here you can flash the factory images of oreo and have your phone factory reset, then from there set up your phone.
Oh to use the factiry images, you need to unlock your bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So how do I go about doing that?

There's always a guide
https://forum.xda-developers.com/razer-phone/how-to/guide-to-unlocking-bootloader-t3706462
Please be aware that unlocking your phone will delete all data so backup pictures etc

SeriousFlash said:
There's always a guide
https://forum.xda-developers.com/razer-phone/how-to/guide-to-unlocking-bootloader-t3706462
Please be aware that unlocking your phone will delete all data so backup pictures etc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So is it worth waiting on 3 to push the Oreo update? (I'm from UK) or should I unlock the bootloader and force the update?

If you want to root your phone just go for the unlocking and debranding your phone to get Oreo and the easy root.
If you don't want to root then wait for three I would say since Oreo doesn't bring too much new stuff besides autofill in apps and better Dolby Atmos
The guides are all pretty straight forward and if something goes wrong you can always flash the recovery images

SeriousFlash said:
If you want to root your phone just go for the unlocking and debranding your phone to get Oreo and the easy root.
If you don't want to root then wait for three I would say since Oreo doesn't bring too much new stuff besides autofill in apps and better Dolby Atmos
The guides are all pretty straight forward and if something goes wrong you can always flash the recovery images
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome. Thank you so much! If I get lost you're the first person I'll ask for help aha

I should probs ask. But once it's rooted what do I do next? Like to block ads etc

Block Ads without a constantly running process by modifying the HOSTS file, OS Tweaks (L Speed, HEBF Optimizer, ect.), Better Customization (Substratum), more features you can use, Hack games with Game Gaurdian (Useful in games like City Racing 3D where you can hack the IAPs to get them free, because $100 for one car is too expensive), Bypass regional or device restrictions on the Play Store by spoofing a different devices specs.... and for my favorite root ability, ViPER Audio (Nothing sounds as near as good, not even Dolby Atmos)!
The list goes on and on... I love root. Most devices I use I root. However rooting voids your warranty. Also some devices have better development and are more stable, the Razer Phone is still new so it may be a while longer before we have more ROM options with root.
There are two types of root. System and Systemless (Recommended, especially for new users since a factory reset will often undo changes you made that may of bricked your phone when something went wrong)

FanboyStudios said:
Block Ads without a constantly running process by modifying the HOSTS file, OS Tweaks (L Speed, HEBF Optimizer, ect.), Better Customization (Substratum), more features you can use, Hack games with Game Gaurdian (Useful in games like City Racing 3D where you can hack the IAPs to get them free, because $100 for one car is too expensive), Bypass regional or device restrictions on the Play Store by spoofing a different devices specs.... and for my favorite root ability, ViPER Audio (Nothing sounds as near as good, not even Dolby Atmos)!
The list goes on and on... I love root. Most devices I use I root. However rooting voids your warranty. Also some devices have better development and are more stable, the Razer Phone is still new so it may be a while longer before we have more ROM options with root.
There are two types of root. System and Systemless (Recommended, especially for new users since a factory reset will often undo changes you made that may of bricked your phone when something went wrong)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sounds amazing tbh. Is there a tutorial for the systemless? And how would one go about installing the "add-ons" so to speak?

askylitangel said:
That sounds amazing tbh. Is there a tutorial for the systemless? And how would one go about installing the "add-ons" so to speak?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Personally I would wait until there's more development and things are more stable... but if you so ask...
First you should get TWRP. https://forum.xda-developers.com/razer-phone/development/twrp-razer-phone-t3727333 After installing, back everything up to your microSD card. Then you need to install Magisk (This is the systemless root, I usually myself don't use systemless root and I prefer system root as I'm more careful and I want some of my changes to stay even after a factory reset). After that, you may get Magisk modules which add functionality and use some root apps.

Just a quick note, it does seem like there are some minor bugs with the Oreo update on the Razer.
Me and my gf have matching razers and both our phones have stopped syncing voicemails to our dialer and our dialers keep crashing.
We have also had a problem with the phone becoming entirely unresponsive even to force power off and after about 5 minutes the OS would crash and reboot then it would be fine.
This all seems to be a bug within Oreo, the only other phone to ahve the update seems to be the Pixel phones and they seem to be reporting similar issues.
I never had these issues prior to the update and we have both had these phones since day one (very awesome phone by the way regardless of the issues).

Is rooting Worth it?

Hello everyone,
So is rooting Worth it or should i wait for a while?

Not nearly as important today as years ago when OEM firmware was buggy, laggy and without many features. Nowadays, most of the features we used to root our roms for are built in to stock roms and with as much ram as we have in phones, lagginess no longer seems to be much of an issue.

I was going to wait to root, but getting ads on my phone was a deal breaker. I need a good root-level ad-blocker.

Berner said:
I was going to wait to root, but getting ads on my phone was a deal breaker. I need a good root-level ad-blocker.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't get ads if you opt out of them during setup.

dns.adguard.com
put this as dns in wireless setting.

Currently I have two reasons to flash
To access auxiliary cameras in gcam we need root
And also to use substratum themes we need root.
But since there is no straight way of rooting as in no official twrp support for now ..I will do it later . I can probably do without the above two things

Berner said:
I was going to wait to root, but getting ads on my phone was a deal breaker. I need a good root-level ad-blocker.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
adgaurd is doing good for me so far

Here I briefly provided the device with root, this to restore my apps via swift backup. Then flashed full OTA and back on original boot.img.
I have had root for a while but have not used it a lot, if you want to remove system / apps or something it will not work, thank you Google for this. As long as it is not possible to mount, root is useless for me.

Really it depends on what you want to do /achieve.
Sent from my OnePlus7TPro using XDA Labs

Personally I don't feel it's worth it, given the potential of creating other problems, having to fix boot loops, and generally falling into a rabbit hole vortex which has nothing to do with the everyday life in front of me ?

In short, yes, mainly because you can get back some of the Google apps. The OnePlus phone dialer app is terrible. If you're rude, you can get the Google one. Also you have easier access to Google feed

Lossyx said:
Really it depends on what you want to do /achieve.
Sent from my OnePlus7TPro using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is absolutely true, but virtually most of the things one can gain nowadays are rather minimal gains. Nowadays, with phones having 6,8 and even 12 GBs of ram and better optimized stock roms, they generally run smoother than third party roms. Ten years ago, that wasn't the case. Stock roms didn't have many of the features I wanted and the only way to get them was in adding them to third party roms, like AOSP. Now, many of those features are already baked into Android and overall development is down.
---------- Post added at 04:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:01 AM ----------
Cowbell_Guy said:
In short, yes, mainly because you can get back some of the Google apps. The OnePlus phone dialer app is terrible. If you're rude, you can get the Google one. Also you have easier access to Google feed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't have to be rooted to get Google feed. Many launchers have it, such as pixel launcher, nova, cpl, lawnchair and others. Also the google phone dialer can be added via apk. No root needed.

jim262 said:
That is absolutely true, but virtually most of the things one can gain nowadays are rather minimal gains. Nowadays, with phones having 6,8 and even 12 GBs of ram and better optimized stock roms, they generally run smoother than third party roms. Ten years ago, that wasn't the case. Stock roms didn't have many of the features I wanted and the only way to get them was in adding them to third party roms, like AOSP. Now, many of those features are already baked into Android and overall development is down.
---------- Post added at 04:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:01 AM ----------
Don't have to be rooted to get Google feed. Many launchers have it, such as pixel launcher, nova, cpl, lawnchair and others. Also the google phone dialer can be added via apk. No root needed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with everything you said. But it's mostly not about making tweaks to get better performance nowadays.
For me, the biggest reason I root is because of Viper4android.
Sent from my OnePlus7TPro using XDA Labs

Upside:
As of now:
Adblocking, Freezing apps, accessing system files, proper backups and restore, easier/more Tasker capabilities, proper substratum, "better" YouTube vanced, working gcam aux, custom kernels and kernel tweaks such as minimum brightness, oh, and did I say adblocking?
In the future:
Twrp, custom ROMs, probably a fix/mod for the goddamn ****ty default camera, you name it...
Downside:
Some reading about how to root
Actually rooting (unlocking bootloader needing a data wipe)
Remembering not to reboot before applying root again after ota system updates (and having to download full size every time)
Some extra settings/work needed to hide root from bank apps
Worth the extra hassle? absolutely freaking yea.
My device, my control?

Eddiemc said:
Upside:
As of now:
Adblocking, Freezing apps, accessing system files, proper backups and restore, easier/more Tasker capabilities, proper substratum, "better" YouTube vanced, working gcam aux, custom kernels and kernel tweaks such as minimum brightness, oh, and did I say adblocking?
In the future:
Twrp, custom ROMs, probably a fix/mod for the goddamn ****ty default camera, you name it...
Downside:
Some reading about how to root
Actually rooting (unlocking bootloader needing a data wipe)
Remembering not to reboot before applying root again after ota system updates (and having to download full size every time)
Some extra settings/work needed to hide root from bank apps
Worth the extra hassle? absolutely freaking yea.
My device, my control
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everything you say is true, but you can achieve virtually all those things without root nowadays. Most major OEMs offer proper backup and restore software, no need for substratum as themeing (dark mode) is already built in to 10, all apps can be disabled with adb commands and many stock OS's also offer a ability to disable and uninstall many of them. Ad blocking can also be done to varying degrees with out root and most ROMs today are actually smoother and faster because of better optimization nowadays and lots more RAM and storage. These things were extremely important in the day when most phones operated with 2 GB ram and 16 GB storage, but things are way different now, so it is not as critical anymore.

jim262 said:
Everything you say is true, but you can achieve virtually all those things without root nowadays. Most major OEMs offer proper backup and restore software, no need for substratum as themeing (dark mode) is already built in to 10, all apps can be disabled with adb commands and many stock OS's also offer a ability to disable and uninstall many of them. Ad blocking can also be done to varying degrees with out root and most ROMs today are actually smoother and faster because of better optimization nowadays and lots more RAM and storage. These things were extremely important in the day when most phones operated with 2 GB ram and 16 GB storage, but things are way different now, so it is not as critical anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The question is "is rootiong worth it" not "should you do it" or "what was it like in the past." Please try to stay on topic.
"Most major OEMs offer proper backup and restore software." Not all do and most of the apps are abysmally lacking in features.
"no need for substratum as themeing (dark mode) is already built in to 10." Yeah not even close buddy.
"all apps can be disabled with adb commands and many stock OS's also offer a ability to disable and uninstall many of them." Having to connect my phone to a computer with adb installed and learn complicated commands or downloading an app and clicking uninstall/disable...
"Ad blocking can also be done to varying degrees with out root" You get much better adblocking with root and much more controll over your hosts file among other features.
Discussing is root worth it here on XDA is really ironic and shows what this site has become.

^^ How do I back up application ________'s data? I don't update apps daily/weekly, usually quarterly or less. Will take a backup (titaniumbackup) first before doing updating so I can revert back if there issues.
Google backup still is not 100% reliable. How else can the above be done on an unrooted device?

Kirahvi said:
The question is "is rootiong worth it" not "should you do it" or "what was it like in the past." Please try to stay on topic.
"Most major OEMs offer proper backup and restore software." Not all do and most of the apps are abysmally lacking in features.
"no need for substratum as themeing (dark mode) is already built in to 10." Yeah not even close buddy.
"all apps can be disabled with adb commands and many stock OS's also offer a ability to disable and uninstall many of them." Having to connect my phone to a computer with adb installed and learn complicated commands or downloading an app and clicking uninstall/disable...
"Ad blocking can also be done to varying degrees with out root" You get much better adblocking with root and much more controll over your hosts file among other features.
Discussing is root worth it here on XDA is really ironic and shows what this site has become.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"all apps can be disabled with adb commands and many stock OS's also offer a ability to disable and uninstall many of them." Having to connect my phone to a computer with adb installed and learn complicated commands or downloading an app and clicking uninstall/disable... Is that any harder than having to root your phone by connecting your phone to a computer also and use adb commands? As far as themeing goes, I can fully theme my phone on my Vivo Nex, Google Pixel, Samsung S10 and Note10, OnePlus, Xiaomi, Redmi and Huawei phones. Not sure which phones your using, you can theme all these phones. Dark mode can easily be enabled in Android 10 and OnePlus has offered a system wide Dark Mode UI for years and with Google now embracing it, virtually all Google apps can turn dark as well. Gmail, Play Store, You Tube, Photos, etc ... all dark.

jim262 said:
"all apps can be disabled with adb commands and many stock OS's also offer a ability to disable and uninstall many of them." Having to connect my phone to a computer with adb installed and learn complicated commands or downloading an app and clicking uninstall/disable... Is that any harder than having to root your phone by connecting your phone to a computer also and use adb commands? As far as themeing goes, I can fully theme my phone on my Vivo Nex, Google Pixel, Samsung S10 and Note10, OnePlus, Xiaomi, Redmi and Huawei phones. Not sure which phones your using, you can theme all these phones. Dark mode can easily be enabled in Android 10 and OnePlus has offered a system wide Dark Mode UI for years and with Google now embracing it, virtually all Google apps can turn dark as well. Gmail, Play Store, You Tube, Photos, etc ... all dark.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The dark theme you are talking about man doesnt compare to what swift installer or substratum can achieve at the moment. There is a reason why we are still using these apps even when windows 10 has a dark mode. You might be comfortable with it but some of us are not. I like my phone fully black with a proper adblock , viper4arise to make my earphones sound even better, now i have instagram mod called instaperfs can download pics from the gram. The amount of stuff i can achieve with root a lot. So yeah rooting is still way worth it. Banking apps just need to be hidden in magisk and you are good to go

Adaway is a long time fav

New User - I am wanting to totally remove google from my A70 phone. Is this possible?

Is there a replacement operating system for an a70 phone. I want to clear google and all affiliates from my phone permanently. Thank you.

Yes, i suppose it's possible.
Flash Lineage OS to your phone (without GApps.)

adigha said:
Yes, i suppose it's possible.
Flash Lineage OS to your phone (without GApps.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have done exactly this and I love it. For apps, I either search google for alternative download locations, or I use F-droid and Aurora Store.
The only real issue I have encountered is that not all apps use their own service for push notification and are dependent on gapps background services, or the app has to be allowed to run constantly in the background. Small price to pay to be able to ditch Google imho

For the Millions of Pixel 4a's sold , not much going on here.

I would have expected more activity here......

seems like people are happy with their devices out of the box... so there isn't much need for mods, custom ROMs and stuff like this?!

I think the modding scene died as stock Android progressively chipped away at the best major features of custom ROMs. Better privacy controls, power savings, night & dark modes, quick tiles. Those were pretty much the biggest selling points for me. The only other custom ROM features people liked were PIE controls and and silly animations.
And with the Pixel you'd lose so many of the Pixel extras if you flash a custom ROM. (recognizing music, probably live transcribe, the nifty Live Wallpapers, etc.
I've been occasionaly racking my brain to figure out if there are any value-added features left to pursue. Say, for LineageOS- they could replace all of the stock audio files with some high quality and very unique sounds, get some interesting wallpapers (a fresh coat of paint.), improve the stock launcher, bundle F-Droid, and offer Google Cloud Messaging and location svcs alternatives. They did/are add(ing) an online backup solution called SeedVault.
It's a difficult thing to think of any original ideas. I also have this per-app fuzzy location idea I submitted to Google issue tracker (which iPhone also came up with recently. I think they call it Approximate Location.)
It used to be more exciting to be a flashaholic but every time I look at the custom ROMs these days they don't "do anything" for me. More minuses than pluses.

jawz101 said:
And with the Pixel you'd lose so many of the Pixel extras if you flash a custom ROM. (recognizing music, probably live transcribe, the nifty Live Wallpapers, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have all these working on derpfest but I generally agree with your point. Im mostly modded for some personal QoL changes that might not be worth having SafetyNet broken, im weighing it atm

I rooted for about 2 weeks until a security update happened. It's such a pain to update without TWRP, I went back to stock. Only thing I miss with root is backing up data with Swift BU. There are a few other things that are nice with root, but not necessary (mainly custom accent colors, and fonts). I know I'd love to be back on Derpfest, but until a stable TWRP is available, sticking with stock.

Just got mine. Love it. Going to enjoy the stock pixel before playing around with root and roms.

Bought the Pixel 4a precisely to avoid all this root and modding stress. And I was not disappointed, everything runs perfectly.

My last 2 phones ran stock with root. This phone is no exception. I'd be on a custom ROM if the stock wasn't AOSP (eg. Samsung, MIUI, etc). Magisk fixes up any annoyances.

tcat007 said:
I rooted for about 2 weeks until a security update happened. It's such a pain to update without TWRP, I went back to stock. Only thing I miss with root is backing up data with Swift BU. There are a few other things that are nice with root, but not necessary (mainly custom accent colors, and fonts). I know I'd love to be back on Derpfest, but until a stable TWRP is available, sticking with stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I just bought a Pixel 4a, downgraded it to A10 and install Magisk and TWRP.
It seems to be running fine so far (1 week).
But I am concerned with your comment above about a security update breaking your root.
Is this right?
If so, then is there a way to stop auto-security updates?

JohnC said:
Hi,
I just bought a Pixel 4a, downgraded it to A10 and install Magisk and TWRP.
It seems to be running fine so far (1 week).
But I am concerned with your comment above about a security update breaking your root.
Is this right?
If so, then is there a way to stop auto-security updates?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it is recommended to turn off auto updates. Go to developers settings > turn off automatic system updates

Royalfox said:
Yes it is recommended to turn off auto updates. Go to developers settings > turn off automatic system updates
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will do. Thank you.

a1291762 said:
Magisk fixes up any annoyances.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What Magisk modules would you recommend?
I am coming from a Samsung S4 and I liked that the built-in Samsung apps each had a different material color header (Phone - green, Email - blue, SMS - Yellow), but the phone app and message app are just mainly all-white screen apps. But this gripe is theme related.
What other non-theme issues have you used magisk to fix?

I would still root for privacy and security reasons, but I can see why the regular schmegular joe wouldnt need to care. Pixel4a is a great phone stock or modded.

JohnC said:
I am coming from a Samsung S4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you and I have different ideas about what needs to be fixed. Adding busybox, updated tz files, removing system from apps so they can be suspended in the background. That's the kind of stuff I have.

a1291762 said:
I think you and I have different ideas about what needs to be fixed. Adding busybox, updated tz files, removing system from apps so they can be suspended in the background. That's the kind of stuff I have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I meant like what modules/apps do you find indispensable?
I am using XprivacyLUA, +AFwall Titanium Backup, Autostarts and Gravitybox to keep privacy up and to keep running apps to a minimum.
I'm pretty happy that I was able to find a phone that I could install the apps needed to get the control over it as I wanted.

a1291762 said:
removing system from apps so they can be suspended in the background.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know how to freeze apps using TB, which totally disables them. But it sounds like you are just removing their background running permission, but still let them run when you want.
How do you do that?

JohnC said:
I know how to freeze apps using TB, which totally disables them. But it sounds like you are just removing their background running permission, but still let them run when you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android has the ability to block any app from running in the background. It's a battery saving feature. But you can't do it to system apps. The primary system app I've seen abusing this inability to block it is Google maps. It works just fine as a user-installed app. Magisk debloat apps (I used terminal debloater) remove system apps (without actually having to modify /system) allowing you to install them as user apps.

Another easy way is to grab the system app apk from /system/app or priv-app and copy it somewhere, delete original folder, reinstall the apk, this time it will be a user app with the original your phone used rather than an online dl
JohnC said:
I know how to freeze apps using TB, which totally disables them. But it sounds like you are just removing their background running permission, but still let them run when you want.
How do you do that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

jawz101 said:
I think the modding scene died as stock Android progressively chipped away at the best major features of custom ROMs. Better privacy controls, power savings, night & dark modes, quick tiles. Those were pretty much the biggest selling points for me. The only other custom ROM features people liked were PIE controls and and silly animations.
And with the Pixel you'd lose so many of the Pixel extras if you flash a custom ROM. (recognizing music, probably live transcribe, the nifty Live Wallpapers, etc.
I've been occasionaly racking my brain to figure out if there are any value-added features left to pursue. Say, for LineageOS- they could replace all of the stock audio files with some high quality and very unique sounds, get some interesting wallpapers (a fresh coat of paint.), improve the stock launcher, bundle F-Droid, and offer Google Cloud Messaging and location svcs alternatives. They did/are add(ing) an online backup solution called SeedVault.
It's a difficult thing to think of any original ideas. I also have this per-app fuzzy location idea I submitted to Google issue tracker (which iPhone also came up with recently. I think they call it Approximate Location.)
It used to be more exciting to be a flashaholic but every time I look at the custom ROMs these days they don't "do anything" for me. More minuses than pluses.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great post,cause i was thinking the same

I just picked up Pixel 4a this month and I am really wondering if I wanna be rooting or not. I previously have always rooted my devices (had Essential Phone as my last one). Root gets me AdAway (adblock), Swift Theme Installer and YouTube Vanced working but thats all really. Trying to weigh up if its really worth it with the Pixel 4a... original plan was to run it stock with root but now not so sure.

Question Need some advice regarding CalyxOS installation (noob question)

Do I install CalyxOS BEFORE activating the phone with my carrier, or AFTER activating the phone with my carrier, or does it matter?
I'm purchasing an unlocked Pixel 6 pro and have very little experience with installing custom firmware, however I absolutely do not want to deal with google bloat and google spyware anymore, and this phone replacement is kind of urgent because my S8 is currently in the process of slowly turning itself into a brick (most recent example being the total loss of the ability to make phone calls).
I have a grandfathered-in call/text/unlimited data plan with Sprint(?) which I guess is T-mobile now(?) I haven't really been keeping up to date with how these buyouts affect me or my phone plan.

I'm not sure what you mean by "activate"? Whenever you feel like you're ready, move the sim card from old phone to new and you're off to the races.

I would always make sure a new device works as reasonably expected on stock, unrooted firmware before unlocking the bootloader and flashing a custom ROM (or even just rooting the stock ROM). The reason is that if you instead install the custom ROM immediately but it has problems - how do you know the problem is with the ROM, or with the phone? Running for a while stock ensures that it's working the way it's supposed to from the beginning, so you know the phone isn't the cause of a problem you might have with a custom ROM.
Good luck!

Calyx still has MicroG which has Google code in it. What your're looking for is GrapheneOS.
Also unless you're using a e-sim, you dont need to activate the phone with a carrier if you're just popping a simcard in. I bought my P6P from Bestbuy and just slapped my simcard in.

vassosman said:
Calyx still has MicroG which has Google code in it. What your're looking for is GrapheneOS.
Also unless you're using a e-sim, you dont need to activate the phone with a carrier if you're just popping a simcard in. I bought my P6P from Bestbuy and just slapped my simcard in.
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MicroG does NOT have "Google code" in it. It is an open source re-implementation of some of google services. If you depend on google services, its a better choice than graphene because it does NOT use any closed source google code, HOWEVER, if you do not depend on google code, its better to use Graphene since it doesn't have anything that connects to google unless you install it. Now having said that, graphene really has gone to a lot of trouble to set itself up to run *actual* google services in a sandboxed manner, avoiding some/much leakage of personal data to google.

96carboard said:
MicroG does NOT have "Google code" in it. It is an open source re-implementation of some of google services. If you depend on google services, its a better choice than graphene because it does NOT use any closed source google code, HOWEVER, if you do not depend on google code, its better to use Graphene since it doesn't have anything that connects to google unless you install it. Now having said that, graphene really has gone to a lot of trouble to set itself up to run *actual* google services in a sandboxed manner, avoiding some/much leakage of personal data to google.
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According to GOS, MicroG leaks data.
Full Disclosure, I'm on GOS and appreciate the sandboxed profiles so for apps that I NEED to have that require Google Play, and now their storage scopes is great at telling the apps that they only have permission to see specified files.
Also, GOS seems to be updated much more frequently than Calyx.

vassosman said:
According to GOS, MicroG leaks data.
Full Disclosure, I'm on GOS and appreciate the sandboxed profiles so for apps that I NEED to have that require Google Play, and now their storage scopes is great at telling the apps that they only have permission to see specified files.
Also, GOS seems to be updated much more frequently than Calyx.
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Yeah, I use graphene too.
What you say is great, but (a) not exactly unbiased, and (b) gapps leaks MORE data.
I'd be curious to see what leaks more? microg or graphene+sandboxed_gapps....
Best option if you really must use gcrapps would be sandboxed microg.
My advice: wean yourself off of gooble. Its... liberating.

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96carboard said:
Yeah, I use graphene too.
What you say is great, but (a) not exactly unbiased, and (b) gapps leaks MORE data.
I'd be curious to see what leaks more? microg or graphene+sandboxed_gapps....
Best option if you really must use gcrapps would be sandboxed microg.
My advice: wean yourself off of gooble. Its... liberating.
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Click to collapse
An unbiased comparison would be interesting.
Microg does the bare minimum to spoof the basics of FCM/GSF, right? Where as sandboxed play services is play services that allows it to run sandboxed, and with less privileges... But it's still play services (if you're installing all 3 packages in GOS).
I use both ROMs and I can say that google dns activity in GOS is about double than what it is on Calyx. Now this doesn't mean much (or anything), and it was 5 months ago when I last did a comparison. But it's interesting to say the least.

I would expect that those extra dns checks are probably from gapps. Graphene does a pretty good job of providing alternatives where applicable, such as grapheneos servers for connectivity check.
I don't know about "bare minimum". I am under the impression that microg really is aiming to be a complete functional replacement that is open source.

vassosman said:
Calyx still has MicroG which has Google code in it. What your're looking for is GrapheneOS.
Also unless you're using a e-sim, you dont need to activate the phone with a carrier if you're just popping a simcard in. I bought my P6P from Bestbuy and just slapped my simcard in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CalyxOS supports no installation of MicroG during initial configuration.