Custom Phone ROMs in 2024 

So glad to see my builds of RisingOS for the 6a being used and shared via here on RU-vid. Yes I'm the official maintainer of the rom. It gives me the ideology that their will be a little bit more interest in the custom rom community in general as this is to give end users just a bit more features over stock while retaining everything from stock... Thanks for the amazing video.!!!

The more they enshittify, the more we're all desperate for a Linux phone alternative that is daily driver ready.

being a custom rom developer myself it feels good when some big youtubers cover this topic too 😊. (Btw i am in ProjectBlaze and EverestOS Core team and take care of pixel side stuff)

Custom rom is the safest option right now. A lot of 3rd party apps detect root, unlocked bootloader and even safetynet magisk modules have hard time bypassing them. Heck some games even detect developer mode turned on.

A few days ago I actually tried to root my oneplus 7T pro (non branded, EU edition) and it is now forever stuck in fastboot lmao. Not mad about it, that thing stopped receiving updates 2 years ago, and the last update it got made the phone absolutely unusable. But safe to say that I am probably going to wait a bit before trying any of this. But I will still bookmark this video just in case. UPDATE: I got curious and decided to see if I could install lineageos on my phone. Initially I was just trying to get magisk, so I did not even think of this solution. And to my surprise, it actually worked! I know there is no direct connection, but I would have just given up on that phone if not for your video Chris, so thanks!

Cool. I wish I had the time to mess around with custom ROMs again.

LineageOS saved my old S9+. A lightweight rom fixed all the slowdowns an unresponsiveness that comes with bloated android skins like OneUI. Also Viper4AndroidFX is still a really good reason to unlock your bootloader and root, even in 2024.

Honestly, root and custom ROMS can provide great afterlife to an old phone. I've rooted my Galaxy A50, and managed to install docker on it. Now it runs a Kavita instance.

Using Lineage OS here. Works pretty great, had no problems with that, including bank apps here in Sweden. Thanks for the video!

The reason I stopped using custom roms is I realized that no one is really auditing them. It's essentially "trust me bro" in terms of security. I don't have time to code audit a whole OS myself, so I depend on other entities for this. Say what you want about stock firmware, but in the western hemisphere I don't have to worry about it potentially stealing my bank passwords.

It's sad rooting is not popular anymore. I really can't use a phone without rooting. It has risks, but having my phone to work AS I WANT and not a company, is marvelous for me.

I'm using LineageOS 21 on my OnePlus6 and it works great.

I've been using custom ROMs since 2014, it's amazing how clean and updated your device can be, even without official support. I got a Redmi Note 7 with Android 13 (Pixel Experience) and don't think of changing it until it explodes in my hand, it's great! The first week i got the phone, i already unlocked and put a custom ROM (also voiding the warranty, so be careful and test your device before).

Almost a decade ago I was always tinkering with rooting and ROMs. And when I got my OnePlus One, that was the time that my daily driver was always modded. Resurrection Remix was my jam, and I used to mod my friend's phones as well whenever their phones stopped receiving official updates. However then adulting happened, so I had to keep my daily driver stock (especially considering I was living abroad for a while, hence wasn't worth the risk). And then finally moved to an iphone (wasn't that keen to switch, but since I saw how the ecosystem was integrated, took a chance). But I still have my oneplus one, and yes I do miss the good ol' days

Some ROMs pass SafetyNet by default without root (like DerpFest or crDroid). Also, a phone with face unlock that only uses a regular camera and not an iris scanner/whatever Apple has on their iPhones is NOT secure at all. It can be bypassed by just a photo of you. Fingerprint unlock is much more secure.

I remember the good old ROM days. I mostly did it to block ads with Adguard or AdAway or the One UI one where you needed to apply for a developer key. Over time, the biometrics with banking apps and rooted phones became a hit or a miss (even with spoofing with magisk hide) which forced me out. Now I just use Firefox browser with ublock installed and I never play games on phone (where ublock can't block ads)

I have been using crDroid since 2018. At this point, being able to install a custom ROM is a major selling point for a phone for me.

Early days of Android were one of my memorable days. My first Android phone was Samsung Galaxy Young. I've spent so many hours trying out many custom ROMs. Optimizing and squeezing every performance it could have just so i could run Dead Space.

Custom ROMs are a bit seamless right now these days. I've used Arrow OS (probably the most lightweight and battery friendly custom rom so far) and it does its job. I'm not complaining about my old phone and it has been my staple ROM without any root. Security updates are there, so there's always bug fixes for every maintainer of other devices (in my perspective)

I've been rocking GrapheneOS on a Pixel 7 with a locked bootloader for 4 months now and it's been a pretty seamless experience for me. Minimal, yet it does everything I need. Not a huge upgrade compared to stock battery-wise though.

really great video, thanks for it! just a quick correction: You don't have to lock your bootloader to get GPay working, if your rom is able to pass the play integrity test then you can easily use it! (Even if your ROM can't, there are still few tricks to win that mouse cat game against Google :P)

If only google made Unlocking bootloader capability a mandatory requirement. But knowing them not even enforcing their rule about devices should be able to boot their GSIs properly it's not going to happen, ever. Been 2 years since i'm using this un-unlockable device of mine, and i'm not happy.

Most people stopped is because the devs were hurt when essentially the community and their work was sold out from underneath them. That on top of more and more locked phones and Google making the move from Nexus to Pixel and essentially close sourcing a lot more of the apps in the source essentially killed what was an amazing community.

I have a Pixel 7a and I'm very happy with the stock ROM, it does everything I want, plays Dreamcast, GameCube, and PS2, so I got no complaints. I'll probably install a custom ROM in May 2028 when it stops receiving security updates. Thanks for this video, Chris.

I can't not use custom ROMs. I checked for a good ROM/development support before buying my devices, and immediately change the ROM. (All my phones have been Xiaomi).

In the days of Windows Mobile, I ran almost exclusive custom roms. When I moved to Android, did the same but many / most of the cool ones required root. I didn't mind, but tools from my new workplace wouldn't install / work properly because my phone had been 'jailbroken'.

iodéOS: -> can combine their adblocker with a VPN -> can uninstall preinstalled apps -> based on Android 14 -> degoogled ...

Running PixelExperience on Xiaomi. I'm so glad I was able to get all the trash off of the phone, though I miss a good camera.

if you have a Chinese spyware phone, custom rom is a must other phones probably not specially since new ones have long software support. mid range Chinese phones like xiaomi phones are very bloated buggy and full of ads and privacy issues, custom roms are the only way to go with these phones

Android custom roms should be a lot more popular.

As an iphone user i am jealous

I've built 2 custom ROMs for the OnePlus 8 and I'm working on a LineageOS device tree for the OnePlus Open Custom ROMs are a gem, I don't understand why there not more popular. It's the equivalent of buying a laptop and keeping the preinstalled Windows. At least throw something debloated on there, or Linux, any distro. There's so many choices out there. No need to run Stock bloated firmware, even if you like Pixel exclusive features there are plenty of ROMs that keep those and Google services. Edit: Using a custom ROM is equivalent in security to using a Linux distro not made by a giant company like RedHat or Canonical. All ROMs are completely open source and based on AOSP android. Not a security risk.

Been rocking a custom rom since 2019 probably, when I bought my Mi 9t pro (aka redki k20 pro), and installed it on some old phones to give them a second life (mi 9t and redmi note 7). Never had any issue with banking apps. Really like the Google pixel spoofing for unlimited Google Photos backup storage

Not played around with custom ROM's for a while. This has inspired me to revisit. Thanks Chris.

Would you be able to do a video of a step by step of the entirety on a fresh device that you can install another custom rom?

A while back I flashed my original Pixel with Pixel Experience, it also had face unlock. I completely understand why it's something to use.

I have been putting custom roms on phones since 2016. Even now I'm on a pixel 7a and still rom it. Since all the unique features from the 4 and 5 are gone, the only thing custom roms add at this point is extra appearance features like how it looks and the type of animations it uses. There's no more proprietary drivers since no fancy hardware so everything else stays the same.

3:44 You just need to root your phone and flash a magisk module, that fixes the gpay issue (safetynet/play integrity)

I will never forget Cyanogenmod, it introduced me to the whole rom scene

I thought custom roms will no longer be relevant with modern android phones, but I was very wrong. Many OEM roms become so lacking over time that a custom rom is a better choice. An android phone will become truly your own as long as it allows unlocking bootloader.

This video is perfect, I recently purchased a Nexus 7 (2013) and flashed Nethunter to it. Im having fun with the nostalgia. Edit: Paid $10 for the Nexus 7 believe it or not.

Am 38 years old and i started with the first lg android smartphone to Samsung and i still do it after all these years, i still go to xda to such for a rom for whatever phone i have, also i gi out my way looking for a rootable phone to buy just to root it. Currently i have a note 20 ultra with a custom rom on it.... With magisk to bypass certain apps i use... One thing i like about rooting is unlimited access to my own phone and lower the cpu and gpu frequencies so that my phone last a whole day and plus it make my phone less suseptible to hardware failure... I just love tinkering with roms.

I have been using a Galaxy S21 port on my Galaxy Note 9 for over a week and it's pretty decent and makes my GN9 more "modern" and up to date. One option in the aroma installer allowed for overclocking of the CPU so I did that and my phone definitely gets warm to the touch and battery drains faster.

That voltage info looks great. But the 6A doesn't have USB-C altmode, the 8 series added it. Unfortunatly Google hates root and disables RCS for unlocked bootloaders.

Face-unlock is no-go. I look completely different in the morning.

I've been using custom roms on every phone I ever owned, since the galaxy Y iirc

i use alpha droid rooted , safety net passed also i can hide developer status for apps not to mention i use microg, all apps are sandboxed, smooth animations ,latest android version ect,

I really do love custom ROMs. I think device support is a HUGE problem though and I'm surprised no one has worked on a solution yet. A large amount of devices don't have ROMs, or have very low quality proprietary ROMs that are no better than the stock spyware they came with. I use LineageOS on a Samsung Galaxy S8+ that I got from a cousin for like $50 and its honestly incredible how well a now 8 year old phone can run, i can still run modern games and software and Android 13 works and runs just fine.

I installed Rising Os 2.1 today, it has few minor bugs but you can live with it

When you got notifications issue on stock rom,usually custom roms fixing that problem. But when you have Xiaomi mi 11i or else phone with good cameras,you install the proper version of LineageOS,the camera quality was absolutely terrible.Lack of options in camera app,not remember exactly but video max was 4K 60fps quality max available,but no options for 8K 30fps at all,and the phone at stock doing it. If you dont want mess your photos and video quality,dont touch custom roms.Depends on custom rom,but for sure it gonna be worse than the original rom.Before someone say me,there is ANX Camera port from miui: Yes,there are some.They brick my phone and i back to stock miui.

It's always cool and funny when I watch your videos. You sound like an honest drunk wise man 😂

I have been running LineageOS 21 on my 2017 OnePlus 5 for months now. Best phone experience I ever had. Much better than the original Android 10 and the UI is blatantly smoother compared to my brand new, work-issued midrange phone. It receives updates frequently, often once a week, which are installed as easily as with big vendor phones and especially version 21 has been very stable! Only issues I have is that my bank app does not work on rooted phones and the battery is definitely showing its age. Definitely recommended for old phones that are not receiving carrier updates anymore.

Been using custom ROM's for 3 years now with root, and google pay/banking apps, everything works, you just have to set everything up correctly.

CyanogenMod was the goat back in the days. Spend my childhood just installing twrp and different custom rom on cheap Redmi Note 2 and a Xiaomi Mi 4

2:45 actually Samsung phones are the easiest to unlock u have the oem unlocking on samsung phones too and after that u can use twerp recovery or the same steps u showed which work on galaxy devices.

if you wanna see volume of people using custom os check crdroid and awaken os

This is a great throwback to pimping out phones and makes me miss it! Now I need to get an Android Phone again. So cool!

Custom Roms Still Going Strong Im Using AOSPA Which Smooth As Butter ♥️

this face unlock based on simple camera is most insecure thing ever - one can unlock your phone with your photo

i have the poco f3, has excellent custom rom community, works great and removes all the xiaomi junk

Finally someone who use custom rom other than lineage os! I usually use derpfest because they have a lot of customization but for now I use evolution X because no one maintain derpfest on my old phone

Please do more of these. The custom ROM scene is so lacking and dead nowadays compared to what it used to be. I would love to see start to finish video from you for installing a ROM, getting Magisk installed, safety net bypass (if this is even still a thing?) and some of the cool modules for it.

Samsung devices aren't too difficult to unlock in my experience, you just need to enable OEM unlock in developer options and figure out how to boot into download mode (on new devices hold Vol+ & Vol-, while connecting a charger to a device that's turned off), then enter device unlock mode. That should allow you to factory reset and unlock the device. That being said, Samsung devices don't allow flashing from fastboot, so you need to use Odin3 or compatible software to flash stuff through download mode.

Is the custom ROM would work on all Android phones & not only for specific smartphone brands?

Rocking GrapheneOS since this weekend on my new Google Pixel 8 Pro, rock solid and amazing experience.

The problem with adding face unlock in software is that it can be tricked with a printed picture.

FYI, gpay can still be used after some tweaking I run a custom rom with root and unlocked bootloader, and I'm using gpay without issues

Man I love custom roms. First thing I do when getting a new device is unlock the bootloader and install my favourite custom rom like EvolutionX or Project elixir.

Google itself killed the custom rom thing by introducing the play integrity shit which needs you to root and find spoofing tactics to bypass the CTS profiles to be able to use your phone normally, which should have run without root. But google being google did this.

I'm a big fan of /e/ OS. Great for privacy and is actually simple enough to be used by non techy people

Love custom roms still use them daily

7:23 Well in terms of security..even legitmate companies can be notorious

DivestOS is my daily driver, but I have a Googlefied backup device. Still do all I can do that that phone.

LineageOS is keeping my Tab S5e alive and kicking. I think Samsung realized that tablet was TOO good of a value (OLED, quad speakers, thin & light, etc. for 399) because now, five years later, to get the those same specs, you have to spend double that amount. It's insane. I just find it funny that it tries to warn me it may be insecure when I boot it because it's 1000x more secure with Lineage than if I left it on Samsung's long ago abandoned version of Android.

I also like to install that Orange fox recovery which is faster and has advanced options

Problem is, alot of stuff which custom rom used to offer are now stock features. Plus there is a lot of security issue, specially with bank apps etc and there is no camera optimisation as well.

i remember back in Galaxy S1, S2, S3 and S5 i used to run my phone with root and heck lot of different custom roms. heck on S5 that was absolutely required part as the Samsung stock rom was laggy mess straight out of the box. but ever since 2017 and Nokia 8 i haven't felt like on Android 8 onward there has been real need to root and custom roms on my use. sure those deGoogled ones are nice for privacy minded users, but for me it is enough to get nearly stock experience like what Sony does. if i was put to use some of those Chinese phones like Huawei or OnePlus with their roms that have taken HEAVY inspirations from iOS in terms of looks. those i would root and put stock AOSP rom onto day 1. but if phone is snappy overall and has stock look and feel and is with today's up to date Android version. then I'm ok with it.

Custom roms might not be big in Europe and west but it's a big deal in Asia mainly because of the xiaomi devices, as they themselves provides tools for device unlock which has resulted in a very big cummunity in the region. Crdroid is is my favourite till now

some phones just really needs custom roms best example i can think of is realme phone like the c51 which has a broken android 12 rom (its task bar crashes the system)

Chris this isn't related to your video but I debloated windows 10 manually and got my process count and ram usage down even more! 71 > 56 processes Not only that, but it also always stays at under 80 processes instead of stuck at 95+ processes until restart 2.1gb > 1.7gb ram usage

Been using crDroid on my OP7 for a while now. It's great and if RisingOS is based on it, I'll consider switching to it.

I would love to know if there´s a custom rom out there that hits the sweet spot when it comes to privacy and convenience. Eg: I travel a lot so going without google maps is kinda a no go (but I am sure you could find a way around it) but then there´s other things linke banking apps and stuff that makes life more complicated if you cannot access. So it would be nice to know if there was something out there that does all the right compromises.. I would flash it in a hearth beat!

Installed LineageOS 21, and it's working fantastically batter than Stock ROM!

CyanogenMod was the very first and only custom os i used from 2013. It started out from a fundamentals of OS classes in university. I went home downloaded cyanogen and spent a weekend installing it on my old sony ericsson xperia active. Took that phone from half dead to excellent,used that phone till it finally died in 2019. Pity that cyano was discontinued.

I'm not an Apple user nor a fan of it , but let's be honest, infrared camera for face unlock is way better than fingerprint but there's no reason to remove any of them (face unlock or fingerprint scanner)

I remember flashing my Sony Experia(SEX1) rom, just because you can and there were alot of choices.

Roms are different than back in the day stock has about most features you want other than being update

I mean face unlock is cool, but I wouldn't rely on it. I suspect it's just using face detection with the camera, this is really insecure because it can be easily fooled with a picture of you even

I have Redmi Note 9 Pro Max, Redmi Note 11 and I'm using custom rom on both devices in daily life for mkre than 3 years and yes it supports Gpay and other apps.

Nothing Devices are so cool for custom development as well!

i wish flashing roms would come back, but most bootloaders are completely locked these days 😔

I just installed crdroid without gapps on my realme phone, super smooth!

I am a customrom maintainer myself, I do maintain a few ROMs for my device. It was good in the old days.. But now G**gle doesn't leave us in peace now. You know first they introduced CTS and now Play Integrity which can't be passed in custom ROMs without several workarounds like spoofing your device fingerprint to another device's etc etc. G**gle literally was banning fps every hour. But now it is calmed down a little but yet you can't just get STRONG INTEGRITY profile without locking your bootloader..

You should try EvolutionX, i think they have a developer working on that model. I have a Xiaomi 9T Pro (K20 Pro), official support and updates ended back in 2021 with android 11. Today my phone runs andoid 14 with April security update, it still is may daily driver!

it's awesome because you can have fully controll on ads

Nice, you tackle this topic haha. I am using custom roms on my xiaomi devices as soon as possible after buying hahah

Mobile manufacturers and google is purposely killing this amazing thing

I just need a guide for doing all this stuff, it's gotten way more complicated compared to the Kingroot days lmao

I remember putting an Xperia-inspired rom on my samsung S1 Dous back when Xperia was the shit, good times :)

I think you didn't get the use cases of custom android roms.. For example some people would like to have the choice to de-google their phones or some "like me" have older phones which have alomost no updates for years & I'm more than happy that some communities are still working on custom roms to keep my phone up to date & avoinding buying a new one..