Updating LineageOS 16.0 for microG via TWRP + feature test

Discuss The Products
,
11

LineageOS 16.0 for microG installed from scratch via custom TWRP 3.2.3.
The custom TWRP 3.2.3 currently can’t reliably decrypt Android 8/9 encryption for me, but it’s a better shot at it than official TWRP 3.3.0-0 (Releases), which seems to have trouble with encryption in general..

So, in the absence of reliable TWRP decryption and thus no data partition in a TWRP backup unless custom TWRP feels like it … adb to the rescue.
You can backup data including Internal Storage using
adb backup -apk -obb -shared -all -system

I’ll make that -noshared for me because MyPhoneExplorer is much faster syncing Internal Storage via WiFi than adb is via USB. You can have a look at what all these options do by executing
adb /?

If you want to confirm what’s in the resulting backup.ab file, then put abe-all.jar from https://github.com/nelenkov/android-backup-extractor/releases/ into the same directory as the backup.ab file and make sure you have whichever Java installed, then in the directory execute
java -jar abe-all.jar unpack backup.ab backup.tar password
(obviously replacing password with your password if you gave one).
You can have a look into backup.tar with e.g. 7-Zip on Windows or with the tar command on Linux/macOS.

Edit: I just tried a restore of this now 3-step backup (MyPhoneExplorer - ADB - TWRP, and restoring the other way around) on a different Fairphone 2, and it’s not looking pretty.
Mainly adb restore doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do, so I had to create the backup.tar file to then copy the contents of it over to the phone and with the Files App on the phone go through every App folder and install the base.apk (from the “a” subfolder) to get the Apps back.
I mean, the pieces are all there, but … meh :slight_smile: .
Perhaps it would be more smooth on the same phone the backup is from? I still hope we’ll somewhen have a TWRP with reliably working decryption again.

  • lineage-16.0-20190513-microG-FP2.zip (Changelog)

    • Security patch level:
      up to date (Settings - Security & location - Trust)
      2019-05-05 (adb shell getprop ro.build.version.security_patch)
    • Vendor security patch level:
      out of date (Settings - Security & location - Trust)
      2018-04-01 (adb shell getprop ro.lineage.build.vendor_security_patch)

  • addonsu-16.0-arm-signed.zip (for Root access)

  • Encrypted phone (LineageOS 16.0 encryption)

The following things work for me so far:

  • call / be called
  • send SMS / receive SMS
  • internet via WiFi
  • internet via mobile network
  • location
  • compass
  • screenshot
  • main camera (new module) works correctly with Open Camera, stock camera App doesn’t operate the flash correctly (same behaviour as with LineageOS 15.1).
  • main camera (new module) video recording
  • selfie camera (new module)
  • selfie camera (new module) video recording with stock camera App works correctly, Open Camera records only black if surrounding light is too dark or changes into too dark while you move (same behaviour as with LineageOS 15.1).
  • USB connection to PC / MTP
  • alarm (Confirmed: no alarm sounding with volume set too low.)
  • MyPhoneExplorer 1.8.11
  • Root access (Settings - System - Advanced - Developer options - Root access)
  • USB OTG
  • WiFi hotspot
  • Bluetooth (data connection, music playback)
  • FM radio
  • weather (Yorecast with my own OpenWeatherMap API Key, Weather Widget)

For reporting bugs see the bottom of this page.

4 Likes