Comment by wing-_-nuts
1 year ago
I really haven't kept up with third party roms for smartphones in a while. I take it graphene is a major player? Last one I heard of was lineage os. I guess I probably need to start looking as my pixel 5a has probably lapsed security updates
GrapheneOS is the security-first Android distribution. It tends to drop support for older devices not long after official driver updates stop, because it's harder to ensure top-notch security in that case. The Pixel 5A is in "extended support", which is to say deprecated.
LineageOS is the broad-support Android distribution. Its current version supports all Pixel devices. Third parties have even built recent-ish versions for ancient devices (e.g. Android 13 on the Nexus 5).
while lineageos and derived roms like /e/os are doing a good job supporting old smartphone models and temporarily saving them from thr landfill, they are struggling to support less than 5 year old models that aren't google pixel and fairphones.
The google pixel line were the only smartphone you could buy new on a brick and mortar shop on monday almost anywhere in the world and have it running on a custom rom on tuesday and graphene was leading the way in pushing privacy and security at its maximum while other rom maker are making a lot more concessions.
LineageOS still is king to save old devices but grapheneos definitely is a major player because some people like me did chose second hand google pixel with the sole purpose of being able to run graphene.
Ironically, running a google smartphone was the best way to live a life without sending data and rely on google services.
A major player amongst the tiny world of user-centric privacy-focussed third party Android based OSes I guess. Their major selling point — aside from privacy and maximal degoogling — is that you could take a Pixel, install GrapheneOS, and have it work with not too much trouble. No elaborate study of a plethora of devices needed, and the device is supported for a comparatively long time.
The Pixel 6 I have will be hitting its end of life in October 2026. I had wished to be able to simply get a newer Pixel and just carry on.
> graphene is a major player?
No. It is not. Lineage and a lot of others are major players.
They just have different focus. GrapheneOS cares about being secure. Others cares about being, well, custom, and "privacy", "privacy" as in "noooooooooo I don't want to install google stuff jfc", instead of being secure against random threat actors.
"and a lot of others" a lot of others is GrapheneOS. GrapheneOS is likely the second largest ROM after lineage.