LineageOS 17.1, based on Android 10, released

6 Comments

1. 2020-04-02 6:55 pm

   Alfman verbose=1

   Thom Holwerda,

   Not every Android devices is supported right away, of course, but there’s a decent number of supported devices regardless.

   We may not get any more updates on the pixelxl 🙁

   WordPress linked to this related article Android developers can now block rooted devices, Netflix bites where you said this…
   http://www.osnews.com/story/29821/android-developers-can-now-block-rooted-devices-netflix-bites/

   If I can no longer install Netflix (and possibly more applications) on custom ROMs, there’s no way I’ll be using custom ROMs on my devices. For now, this is a Play function and we can still sideload the applications in question, but with Google Play Services installed on virtually every Android device, one has to wonder – and worry – how long it’ll be before such checks happen on-device instead of in-Play.

   Is been a few years, is this still your take? It sucks being discriminated against for your preferences. Many people give up 3rd party alternatives, but when everyone behaves this way it leads to increased monopolization unfortunately. Sometimes you have to be willing to walk away in order to be heard.
• 2020-04-02 10:23 pm

  kikika

  I didn’t have netflix installed before, but I just checked and I was able to find, install, and run netflix on my rooted device with lineage os 16.0 without any problems… maybe google stopped allowing developers to block rooted devices…
• 2020-04-03 12:19 am

  Alfman verbose=1

  kikika,

  I didn’t have netflix installed before, but I just checked and I was able to find, install, and run netflix on my rooted device with lineage os 16.0 without any problems… maybe google stopped allowing developers to block rooted devices…

  I don’t have a netflix account to test with myself, but at least at the time of the article I think it was blocked from the play store. However apparently netflix did not invoke the safetynet API and would still run if you sideload the APK yourself.

  I don’t know if anything has changed since then, but this is what the original article says…

  Last weekend, a huge turmoil swept the root-enthusiast Android community as it was discovered then confirmed that the Netflix app was being blocked from showing up in search results on the Play Store for rooted devices. At the time, Netflix said it was using Widevine to block unsupported devices, but that made no sense to us: the app was still functional if it was sideloaded, it was only not showing up as compatible in the Play Store. So what sorcery was Netflix really using?! Turns out it’s a new function of the Google Play Console.

  As part of the updates announced for the Play Console at I/O 2017, Google mentions a new Device Catalog section under Release management that lets developers choose with intricate granularity which devices their app supports on the Play Store. Devices can be viewed and excluded by many attributes including RAM and SoC, but the important factor we’re interested in is SafetyNet Attestation.

  Developers will be able to choose from 3 states shown in the top image: not excluding devices based on SafetyNet, excluding those that don’t pass integrity, or excluding the latter plus those that aren’t certified by Google. That means any dev could potentially block their apps from showing and being directly installable in the Play Store on devices that are rooted and/or running a custom ROM, as well as on emulators and uncertified devices (think Meizu and its not-so-legal way of getting Play Services and the Play Store on its phones). This is exactly what many of you were afraid would happen after the Play Store app started surfacing a Device certification status.

  This is different from the full SafetyNet API implementation that apps like Android Pay and Pokémon Go use. In the case of Pay/Go, the attestation check happens when the app is installed on your phone and doesn’t allow it to run unless it passes the integrity test. But in the case of the Play Console, the attestation check happens when you’re browsing the Play Store and only affects the availability of the app for your device. If the full SafetyNet API isn’t included in the app itself, you will still be able to grab the APK from other sources, install it, and the app will work just fine.
2. 2020-04-03 9:16 am

   Caraibes

   About Netflix for LineageOS, it works fine on all of my devices so far. The only hiccup I had was on a Nexus 7 tablet, running LOS 14.1. I had to search for a specific older version of the Netflix APK, and of course I had to block updates on the Play Store so it stays on that version. Otherwise, no issue so far. My LOS devices so far: Nexus 6, Nexus 6p, Nexus 7, Moto G4, Samsung Galaxy S5.
   I am expecting a brand new Google Pixel (1st gen), but it’s blocked by Corona virus crisis (I am cut away from the Capital city, no more deliveries). I was unsure if leaving the Pixel with native Google Android or go with LOS…
• 2020-04-03 12:01 pm

  Alfman verbose=1

  Caraibes,

  I am expecting a brand new Google Pixel (1st gen), but it’s blocked by Corona virus crisis (I am cut away from the Capital city, no more deliveries). I was unsure if leaving the Pixel with native Google Android or go with LOS…

  Personally I’m done with google firmwares if I can help it, so I’d go with lineage (with microg). My biggest gripe though is that it takes lineage some time to support a device and on top of that their developers tend to upgrade their hardware more frequently than I want to, meaning you won’t necessarily get a long support window. My wish would be for ARM hardware to become generic and decoupled like PCs, so things could just work without these binary blobs and short term support windows. Alas this is a systemic problem in mobile and I don’t see light on the horizon because obsolescence naturally increases sales, so manufacturers don’t want to fix it.

  Regarding pandemic: we still have deliveries, for many people here that’s the only way to get supplies since so many brick and mortar stores are shut down. Amazon’s overloaded though and “prime” orders are taking 30+ days to fulfill. On the other hand shipments from smaller shippers are still being fulfilled in a timely manor and if anything my clients are experiencing a drop in online sales. In fact I’ve lost some of my regular clients and may not get paid. I might have to find a new job after this…
3. 2020-04-05 7:02 pm

   Adurbe

   The ability to customise Android was once its USP, but Google and the manufacturers gave up on that aspect Long ago. Lineage is an interesting novelty now, but since all the blocks and checks Google has forced on the (ubiquitous) play store, there is little value in breaking your warranty.
   Even older devices are nigh impossible to get working thanks to bootloader locks and similar.