Custom ROM and banking Apps

Hi, because of the huge delay of the A14 update I am seriously contemplating installing LineageOS or CalyxOS.

But I do still have reservations, especially concerning compatibility with banking apps

Would you know if they actually work on custom OS’s?

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I would expect that most banking apps fail on LineageOS without workarounds, because it does not support “Corporate Approved” OS checks (see the device integrity quirk on the device page), and a lot of banks claim to protect your security so much that they rather wont work on a device that you actually own.

However apparently it should work on CalyxOS, if you

  • let the setup utility relock the bootloader (not a problem on FP4. possible to work around with hacks)
  • accept to use microG, either in the main user profile, or in an other one you will be able to create in the system settings
  • turn on “Google SafetyNet” in microG settings (default off)
  • reinstall any apps that checks safetynet if you have installed them before turning on the setting in the point above

sources: 1 (private), 2 (private), 3 (private)

I use Calyx, but personally I cant vouch for any banks, because I dont use microG (have just set it up in a second user profile to check this out), and I only do mobile banking in Firefox.

If you go with Calyx, be perpared that you will only be able to access the Play store through the Aurora Store app (just a different look, has the same apps), because they dont ship google blackbox code.

I dont know how does microG do safetynet attestation, from the settings page it seems it tries to do it with some respect to user privacy. The advanced menu in the 3 dots menu lets me think it allows for some interesting workarounds for rooted devices.

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If you want to try it out, dont forget to make backups, both of app data (as far as you can back them up) and your photos and files in internal memory.

I tried a few apps on iodéOS. (DKB, Comdirect, Renault, Santander) and, if existing, their 2fa apps and was surprised that all of them worked

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I can confirm this for LineageOS 4 microG and BBBank (which should be the same as VR-Bank).

just to be clear, do you mean that they work?
do you have safetynet enabled in microG settings? (if you have that setting)

Yes and yes.
In my case (BBBank and SecureGo) it works flawlessly, and I’m using it regularly.
Safetynet is enabled in microG, that’s crucial.