I don’t understand why so many people want to change android by modifying elements like bootloaders, locking and unlocking, and all the problems that are reported here. In my experience the standard android software, with all updates applied, works perfectly well. What advantages are brought by interfering with it, to compensate for the trouble that making changes seems to cause?
In the end, I think two main reasons
-
some people are tinkerers
-
people want to escape the Google monopoly and data collectors
With lots of variations and various intersections between the two. For this, I’m also considering switching to iodéOS, because of https://keepandroidopen.org
Because there is a choice
There comes a time when you are not getting Android security updates anymore for the manufacturer’s last Google certified Android version on your device.
Android custom ROMs not bound to Google certification may very well reach higher Android versions on the same device and thus continue to provide those important updates considerably longer.
Example:
Fairphone’s software support on the Fairphone 3/3+ ends with Android 13, which ran out of Android security update support by Google earlier this year … FP3 Official software support and spare part sales will conclude in August … so 2026 will be the end of responsible internet connected usage of “the standard android software, with all updates applied” … unless you use an Android custom ROM on Android 15 currently, with Android 16 seemingly still possible, resulting in Android security updates until 2028 or perhaps even 2029 (unless Google changes the scheduling).
Mileage may vary considering such trouble.
It’s worth to remember that a forum is a trouble collector and amplifier, so to speak. Exceptional cases aside, not everybody out there will be affected.
And then a lot of trouble is caused by unrealistic user expectations.
If you use an Android custom ROM, there’s a very good chance you will run into trouble if you want to use banking Apps, for example. This is just inevitable technical reality currently, and it can be known beforehand, and users could make up their mind about what to prioritise. You prioritise banking Apps working, you stay out of tinkering. You prioritise the extended possibilities of tinkering, you don’t expect your banking App(s) to work. That simple, much less trouble.
The same is true for “degoogling” with Android custom ROMs but at the same time still expecting Apps with Google dependencies to work flawlessly at all times. The cause of the trouble is expecting anything else than technical reality can deliver. Clear up priorities beforehand, much less trouble.
And this might simply not be everybody else’s experience.
An Android custom ROM might actually work better in certain aspects, and it may well have exclusive features users want to have.
For me the answer is quite simple, I expect things I interact with to work in a certain way, and if they don’t I’ll try to change them.
Stock Android has quite a few limitations that are dictated by Google, like bundling all their apps for instance, or making it very hard to take backups that aren’t ending up on Google’s servers. The list goes on…
Running a different ROM (or a different OS entirely) gets you a lot more options to make it your own, and for a lot of people, me included, that’s worth the potential drawbacks.
If I have issues with my bike I can change the handlebars/saddle/etc., if a recipe doesn’t taste right I can switch ingredients around.
Something as frequently used as a smartphone has to conform to the users needs, not the other way round.
Mostly to remove the bloatware and for undervolting, which results in better battery times.
Then there is the problem, that the default software is quite full of UI bloat.
With custom ROMs one can install simpler versions of the system apps.
For example removing the cloud provider icons in a file manager.
Or remapping the start button to actually shut down the phone.
For me it is basically a minimal phone configuration.
On the other hand people for people with disabilities, better accessibility software with deep system integration is a blessing.
I always used manufacturers with an OS that is close to pure Android. Like Sony Experia OS or Fairphone. I don’t use custom roms but deactivated or uninstalled most Google apps and replaced them with open source apks. I started doing this in 2020 when my beloved Xperia XA 2 started to struggle.