Yesterday’s epic thread about blue and green bubbles, which of course branched off into a comparison of iPhones and Androids, made me think about my own phone more than usual. It’s a Moto G Power (2020) running Android 11 that received its last security update in April.
I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t realize this, or realize that this is Motorola’s policy (one version upgrade and two years of security updates) until yesterday. I admit that this has given me a new perspective on paying $500 for an iPhone SE that might receive updates for 5+ years vs. $200 for a budget Android phone that might get less than 2 years of support from my date of purchase.
Anyway, I’m otherwise perfectly content with the phone. I bought a budget phone in the first place because I’m not a heavy phone user, which makes the thought of buying a new phone that much more painful. My options seem to be:
1. Stick my head in the sand and don’t worry about the lack of security updates for another couple of years. I’m obviously in good company with millions (billions?) of other Android phone owners, but how foolish would this be?
2. Replace it now with a new phone.
3. Maybe go down the rabbit hole of LineageOS or other custom ROMs? Is this viable for a daily driver that I don’t use much but needs to work when I need it? How mature are these compared to, say, the major desktop Linux distros?
Assuming this is your phone, looks like you might have to use nightlies: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/ocean/
Still, I've used nightlies for significant stretches of time without any major issues. You'll probably see a significant speed boost too vs the OEM software
You will need to follow a guide and do a little tinkering to set up the OS, but I think this is a viable path forward for you
On custom ROMS, a security researcher named 'madaidan' states that ROMs such as Lineage are insecure (https://madaidans-insecurities.github.io/security-privacy-ad...) with GrapheneOS being an exception.
On the GrapheneOS website, it recommends getting a Pixel 6 and above which has 5 years of guaranteed full security updates (https://grapheneos.org/faq#recommended-devices).
Louis Rossmann recently released a video talking about GrapheneOS as his daily driver and breaks down some usability misconceptions. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIZmUINSvQ4)
A Moto G7 Power like above? Motorola devices can be bootloader unlocked I think.
We have a couple Moto G7 Plus devices and use microG, I use VPN and have a firewall app. Works great. Even notifications can work with apps you choose.
I have been a LineageOS user for awhile. There's no guarantee a particular device will always be maintained but if is, it's not that hard to install. The instructions are pretty clear. I've used it on a old Samsung 3, an Honor5x, Samsung S5, and now Moto G7.
Install LineageOS on it, if it's supported?
https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/#motorola
But read this about LineageOS, et al to understand the risks: https://madaidans-insecurities.github.io/android.html
So the answer 1#, dont worry about it, somebody else does the worrying for you.
It costs quite a bit less than an iPhone ($349 as of this writing).
Android 9 got its last regular security update in January of 2022. If Google's pattern continues, Android 11 itself should continue to get regular security updates until Q1 2024.
What a waste.
And for me, that's good enough. I don't actually care about someone reading my texts. I simply don't access the internet on my phone. (Cataracts made it hard to focus close enough to read a screen that small. Yes, you can enlarge the text, but then I'd be scrolling my fingers off.) My personal life isn't tabloid material. I don't have any stalkers. (So far as I know - if I do, hi!) So someone could read my contacts, read my texts, and see pictures of my granddaughter and my cat. Under these conditions, I see no reason why I should care very much about the security of my phone.
Am I missing something in my threat model?
I have had some issues with GPS accuracy and Bluetooth connections from the S4 to a certain device occasionally dropping out, but I haven't done careful before/after tests so these may be hardware problems. I would recommend giving the LineageOS a try, at least before replacing the phone, if that's the path you want to take.
1. Bluetooth headset audio had some kind of bug. Something like this is a deal breaker or something you would never notice depending on what you do on the phone I suppose.
2. There's no sign of a key partition to support orange(?) booting. I just see N/A for the keys of whatever OS I might have booted.
#u€k these handset manufacturers like Moto whose lack of mainline support feeds our trash heaps - they know exactly what they're doing.
Buy an iPhone. You do not need this fuss in your life.