this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2026
264 points (98.5% liked)
DeGoogle Yourself
17330 readers
41 users here now
A community for those that would like to get away from Google.
Here you may post anything related to DeGoogling, why we should do it or good software alternatives!
Rules
-
Be respectful even in disagreement
-
No advertising unless it is very relevent and justified. Do not do this excessively.
-
No low value posts / memes. We or you need to learn, or discuss something.
Related communities
!privacyguides@lemmy.one !privacy@lemmy.ml !privatelife@lemmy.ml !linuxphones@lemmy.ml !fossdroid@social.fossware.space !fdroid@lemmy.ml
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
If I had a job I'd buy a One Plus direct from China and put LineageOS on it. I don't need to relock the bootloader since my phone is mainly for browsing and text/calls (no important private stuff). I don't even log into Lemmy on my phone because the PC experience is superior.
Recently I got rid of WhatsApp (now fully deleted my account) plus I removed Signal. My battery life is incredible now. I don't even fast-charge cos I'm too poor and my phone doesn't support any worth-while fast charger anyway! Next step is to get LineageOS and get rid of Google Play Services. Even more performance and battery saving.
Lots of caveats there. To preface, most active rom development used to take place on forums, mainly XDA. Nowadays it's on telegram, which is gated unfortunately, so lot's of knowledge get lost.
First, you NEED to be able to unlock your bootloader to be able to install custom ROMs. Here is a source
Back to hardware, recent chinese bought Xiaomi are nearly impossible to unlock bootloader without paying a 3rd party. EU/Global ones can be unlocked, but it's a hassle (waiting 30 days + need to have windows). That makes finding device tree for them hard let alone, finding ROMs.
Oneplus unfortunately is getting worse. Op13 onwards has hardware ARB (which Will brick your device). OP15 onwards has a bit complex way to unlock bootloader.
If you buy it from China, it must be ColorOS version otherwise, you won't be able to unlock the bootloader. Even with COS, you need to install an app to get an unlock token from their server to allow you to unlock the bootloader (this for now, takes 24 hrs max, but this might change and could be like Xiaomi). The Global/EU ones, are fine for now.
Remember you need to have the device tree (basically all the recipes for the hardware of the device to get it to work with other ROMs). Google used to publish this for Pixels, that's why it used to be easy to build ROMs for Pixel. This has changed recently.
So it's getting gloomy for Android devices. I just wish Fairphone would actually follow their "eco" mission, and become the new Pixels. On the other hand Jolla seems to be following up with a no compromise "Linux". Time will tell.
That user said "LineageOS", not "black sky project andromeda void to infinitum nanogapps safetynet bypass v pizde optimized custom kernel gambling android read only memory: gold bar edition".
True.
Thank you for saying this. Yes, its getting way harder and its not easy finding an older phone to install these ROMs. Even with what's going on with how Google is reacting with Graphene OS. They are slowly locking y'all out of the Pixels, and AOSP dropped support of the Pixels with Android 16.
(This is one example) The latest update to the Pixel 10 camera is locking out Graphene OS users cause it needs Play Services in order to work
Gcam builds are still a thing. But you need to lurk on forums/telegram to find the right one. It's sad this is a thing nowadays for pixel.
i've installed https://f-droid.org/packages/net.sourceforge.opencamera on my partners grapheneOS/Pixel. (Which is not only more private but also more customisable)
Does the update lock camera access or just the default app for the camera?
https://www.androidauthority.com/grapheneos-pixel-camera-app-3609484/
it has to do with the camera app. If you want to use it, you wouls have to install an older version. But honestly just use a different app if thats the case.
Putting a custom OS on a phone is like trying to install Linux in 2004. Out of curiosity I had been looking at some phones here in New Zealand, available on Trade Me (our Ebay, basically) and some of those phones had a note that there was no guarantee that the boot loader could be unlocked :/
Wny not just get an iphone?
Unless your into jailbreaking, don't get an iPhone. Also, as an ex-iphone user, its SUPER hard to get out of their ecosystem.
While iphone is more privacy friendluly than OEM android, it's much more restricted. You can do amazing things with AOSP Android (compile arm busybox, have a linux toolchain on it, host adblocking), and most importantly totally breakaway from big tech, much more than iphones.
... Because its an Iphone? What kind of question is that?
It's extrmely easy to degoogle xiaomi phones too, but they're a bit more expensive.
my xiaomi has been a pain in the ass. i need a phone number to request an unlock from xiaomi, but none of the us carriers will let it on the network anymore; or at least long enough to let it have a number that i can use for xiaomi registration.
Dang that's unfortunate. I thought t-mobile and atnt network bring your own phone type services will work, as long as they provide a microsim or esim.
It used to work, but T-Mobile made a huge update to thier blacklist and it was clear that it was targeted at Chinese branded phones, but not the ones that share hardware w other brands like Oppo.
That was actually my first choice I was gonna do as well. I got myself the Nord N200 5g but I unfortunately received the wrong model from Back Market. I returned it and ended up getting this phone for less of a headache to try to find the exact model of a phone in order to install LineageOS. That's my only problem with them.
Back Market? You don't just order off the One Plus website and ship anywhere in the world?
For the US Market, the only phones they have that are available online and even in store are the 15 and 15R.(Really expensive phones BTW) If you want any other model, you gotta go to either Amazon, Back Market, or Best Buy (sometimes you can get an older model from here).
The models for OnePlus are very limited, it used to never be like that.
The NSA does not want Americans to be under Chinese surveillance? Is that it :)
the american carriers are pre-complying rather than having to be told; they've seen how much doing so benefited the telecom provider's bottom lines in the decades prior w things like the patriot act so they're tripping over themselves to get their share from the epstein oligarchy.
they've turned the nicest phones i've had in a long time into the most expensive paperweight i've ever had because of it.