Comment by const_cast
3 months ago
Its the other way around - these aren't less popular because people want them less now so we kneecap them - they're less popular BECAUSE we've spent the last decade kneecapping them.
Custom roms would be more popular if every app dev and Google weren't doing everything in their power to make their software not work on custom roms.
That's intentional. It didn't used to be that way.
I don't think so. There are still plenty of devices and apps that can be unlocked and run custom roms on. But there is barely any developers working on it. Custom roms were always a power user method to give themselves more functions. What functions are missing from modern OEM roms and launchers?
1. There is exactly one device sold in the entirety of the US that can have the bootloader locked on a custom rom - ironically, the Google pixel.
2. Bootloader locking matters because many (most?) apps will just refuse to run.
3. Why? Because Google built up the attestation API which severely handicapped those 99.9% of devices from running custom roms.
4. Even on the 0.1%, the Google pixel, it won't pass full attestation - so some really picky apps like banking won't run. Only stock android untouched will run those apps.
It didn't use to be this way 10 years ago.