this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2024
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Privacy
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It also removes much less google proprietary code blobs when compared to DivestOS or GrapheneOS. See a basic comparison table here: https://eylenburg.github.io/android_comparison.htm
I find that website kind of useless for me. Lineage OS does have drawbacks (like any OS) but it is pretty much a clean slate that you can tweak and customize. It has the latest updates and the best stock apps I've seen. You can setup private DNS for encrypted DNS and change settings as needed.
I don't use any proprietary apps nor do I use Android auto. (modern cars are surveillance tools made of cheap unrepairable plastic) I see a lot of people complain that they need some banking app or streaming service but for me all of those have been replaced or were never needed. Lineage OS may not work for everyone but assuming everyone needs Graphene OS and a Pixel is kind of unfair. I don't like pixels and my current device works fine and will continue to work until it dies.
My point was that regardless of what apps you use, much of googles proprietary code is retained which increases attack surface and could be spyware. The website was just a neat overview comparison between ROMs. DivestOS has details on what it removes (and prob why it removes it). I am not saying that lineage is a bad ROM, just that there is more degoogling possible. DivestOS is a soft-fork of lineage that goes much further than it in an effort to deblob and harden Android. Security often can come at the cost of some usability.
Edit:
An example of a real disadvantage of lineage regardless of what apps you use is what webview it uses. Its webview is (likely) unhardened for Security and therefore poses some risk to the user if used in an attack. Webview provider cannot be changed without root.
Lineage OS doesn't ship with Google proprietary code. There are ways to install GSF but that would turn it into Google Android.
It certainly doesn't encourage as much proprietary software as Graphene os
I may have been incorrect, but I was pretty sure the deblobbing is why DivestOS doesn't support some of Android's features (along side the greater reason of security/privacy). Lineage, like any ROM, depends on binary blobs. DivestOS (and GOS) more thoroughly deblob than Lineage, which I think is a quite important metric when considering a ROM.
Blobs removed by DivestOS: https://codeberg.org/divested-mobile/divestos-build/src/branch/master/Scripts/Common/Deblob.sh