With the ever growing surveilling presence of advertisement giants like Google and Facebook on your personal and intimate devices like Phones and Tablets, it is time to deal with it.
You might be wondering why should you install a different Android based OS on your phone than what is already included. Let me give you a few reasons:
- Your phone manufacturer partners with entities like Facebook to pre-install the apps on your phone and simply uninstalling these apps won’t net you any less surveillance (they tend to get reinstalled when there is a new OS update).
- Android phone manufacturers don’t have any incentive to provide you with OS and Security Updates; using an alternative Operating System helps your device get necessary updates even after the vendor stops supporting it. Yes, your smartphone officially gets 3-4 years of support but it doesn’t need to be thrown after that.
- Since these off the shelf Android ROMs don’t bundle anything other than what is necessary, your phone can feel more responsive due to the less bloat.
- Less pre-installed software also means fewer services run in background, resulting in better battery life.
- A lot of customization options.
- Easy to rollback updates (because previous versions are available on the website of ROM).
Please be careful if you decide to use any of these operating systems on an actual device. Flashing any third-party ROM on your device will void its warranty and may even render your device useless if not done correctly.
Installing custom ROM also needs a certain level of expertise and even then you could encounter issues, specially if the device is not supported by the choice of your operating system. It’s better to try with an older, disused smartphone.
We take no responsibility for any damage caused to your device.
This list specifically focuses on Android based distributions and custom ROMs. We have a separate list of open source mobile operating systems that include options such as Ubuntu Touch and PureOS.
1. LineageOS
LineageOS is arguably one of the most popular Android ROM, which is a fork of the very popular [but dead since 2016] CyanogenMod Android firmware/OS. Due to the popularity of LineageOS, it has support for the vast majority of Android Phones.
This popularity also means that brand new phones get included in the LineageOS Project sooner than in other Android based ROMs.
LineageOS even supports your Nvidia Shield TV Set top boxes. How amazing is that?
Pros
- One of the most popular Android ROM
- Excellent first party and third party documentation due to the popularity
- The LineageOS ROM (in theory) is equally secure as the Android Open Source Project
- Extends your phone life cycle by providing OS updates even after phone vendor stops providing updates
- Timely updates for officially supported devices
- LineageOS follows the AOSP tree very closely (for people who want the most stock Android experience)
- Less “preinstalled bloatware” compared to your stock factory firmware
Cons
- Can feel “incomplete”, since no Google apps like YouTube/Gmail/Photos etc are included
- The LineageOS project is a community effort, so not all hardware features of your phone may work right out of the box
- LineageOS can not help making your phone more secure if the vendor blobs itself pose a security risk
- Unlocking bootloader is a necessary step (for all roms), and doing so can pose security issues
- Banking apps may be a hit or miss (Read more here)
2. CalyxOS
CalyOS is a rather interesting Android OS based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). Instead of not shipping the Google Mobile Services (GMS) and leaving users to figure stuff out by themselves (flashing gapps etc), CalyxOS ships with microG.
CalyxOS is backed by the Calyx Institute, which is a non-profit organization to promote individual rights like free speech, privacy rights etc.
Pros
- Uses microG
- Ships with with F-Droid and the Aurora Store instead of Google Play Store
- Datura Firewall allows you to block internet access per app
- Uses Mozilla Location Services instead of Google’s Location Services
- Monthly over-the-air security updates
- Has verified boot for increased security
- Phone Dialer automatically makes a Signal Call if the recipient has Signal
- CalyxOS locks the bootloader after installation, reducing security related attack vector(s)
3. GrapheneOS
GrapheneOS is an Android based ROM focusing on security and privacy. Although, one may argue that their efforts have been more towards increasing security, and doing so also benefits your privacy.
Neither is a bad thing, just know that GrapheneOS is oriented more towards people who value security more.
Their team works around the clock to harden the security of many parts of the base AOSP and provide you one of the best security oriented Android ROM. GrapheneOS can even sandbox Google’s Play Services.
Pros
- Provides stronger and hardened app sandboxing than AOSP
- Uses its own hardened malloc (memory allocator with hardened security)
- The Linux kernel is hardened for better security
- Provides on time security updates (under a day or three)
- Ships with Full Disk Encryption (very important for a mobile device)
- Doesn’t include any Google apps or Google services
Cons
- Limited hardware support; Only available for Google Pixels
- Their hardcore approach to security (sandboxing) has lead to headaches and is not recommended for new users
- Push notifications don’t work out-of-the-box for most apps (due to the lack of GMS)
- Security features like restricting mobile connectivity to LTE-only seem to appear a tad bit…