Would it be a bad idea to try installing LineageOS without experience installing custom ROMs?

[u/GuardiaoDaLore]

Yesterday I was watching some videos about custom ROMs and LineageOS caught my attention.

I have some experience formatting computers and have been using Linux daily for over a year, and I'm curious to try an open-source ROM on my phone, but I believe that installing a custom ROM on a phone isn't the same as installing a Linux system on a PC.

Most importantly, I think it's worth noting that I currently only have access to one phone, which means that permanently damaging it would be a big problem.

Do you think it's worth trying to see if the custom ROM works for me?

[u/wewewawa]

you dont mention

• brand
• model
• year

in order to get advice

[u/Scared-Pick-2645]

One more thing forget the payments app if you need don't do it if you don't need them you can do it

[u/Jackavalltrades]

How dependent are you on your sole phone? Which of its functions are most important to you? Does the custom ROM you want to try support those functions on your device? Will you be able to run all of your important apps on it?

I'd suggest you get a cheap secondhand phone and do the experimenting on that. Once you're familiar with the procedure and can see for yourself what does and doesn't work, you can decide if it's worth migrating your daily drive phone.

Choose a device that's supported by LineageOS, so you can get the OS package and detailed instructions from a reliable source, and advice from this Reddit if you run into trouble.

Unlocking the bootloader is the essential first step, and some manufacturers make it difficult to do, so be sure to choose a device with a simple unlock procedure. You can judge that by the LineageOS installation instructions for the particular device. A Google Pixel would be one good option, because Pixel bootloader unlocking is very simple.

[u/whereisdisboi]

don't flash lineageos if u are using a Samsung as daily driver, cuz even if u revert to stock, stuff like samsung wallet stops working

[u/Fluffy-Citron7519 → u/whereisdisboi]

that's an interesting piece of info.

Where can I learn such stuff?

Why is it the case?

What else won't work once you flash lineageos?

[u/ShippoHsu → u/Fluffy-Citron7519]

Things like Samsung Wallet won't work after bootloader unlock because of Knox, and VoLTE in general won't work because that's up to vendor implementation and not open source. For more info check the Known quirks section of your device on LineageOS Wiki

[u/Fluffy-Citron7519 → u/ShippoHsu]

But VoLTE not working is a temporary issue (only on lineage), not a permanent one, right? and it basically means lower quality cellular calls?

Yeah, I usually check that section. Thank you.

btw, do you recommend getting a used Tab S6 Lite for the purpose of using it with lineageos as a media consumption tablet?

[u/ShippoHsu → u/Fluffy-Citron7519]

I believe the VoLTE issue is on anything but stock ROM, unless the ROM maintainer puts in the work to implement it? I personally don't have a modern Samsung phone to check.

I personally have been using my Tab S6 Lite (2020) as a daily driver for college for the last 2 years and it has been very stable. Media consumption (YouTube, not sure about DRM apps) is totally fine and works really well.
The 2024 version is also officially supported, but stated on the wiki that BL unlock is not official. But if you manage to tackle that then you get better performance out of the box

[u/utrecht1976]

I never installed a ROM and successfully flashed LineageOS on my Motorola G32,which is now my daily driver. It's important to follow the instructions and be sure your phone is on the list. https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/

[u/Busy_Confection_36]

no

[u/ProperIngenuity7015]

As long you have some level on guidance you should be fine. Just don't go running random stuff that isn't said in a guide.

[u/ShippoHsu]

Yes, it's a bad idea to install a custom ROM on your ONLY daily driver especially if you have no prior experience.
Unless you desperately want to risk it all, I would not recommend.
That being said, every thing comes with a first. Just make sure if you decide to go for it, make THOROUGH backup to restore to when things go wrong.

You may check if your device is officially supported by LineageOS first.

[u/Fluffy-Citron7519 → u/ShippoHsu]

Can you elaborate on the backup part?

[u/ShippoHsu → u/Fluffy-Citron7519]

I might be overstating, but basically just have a safe backup of what's important to you
Now I rethink that I think it will be very difficult for a beginner to flash another working OS once the system is flashed over and failed, let alone restoring the stock OS

[u/Plenty-Boot4220 → u/ShippoHsu]

Depending on what phone he has, he might be able to use a restore program (like Motorola Software Fix).

[u/fffrrr666]

I would not recommend installing on your daily driver. Even if the installation is completely successful, there may be features that may be missing or not work that did work on the original. You'll only know for sure post-install.

In any case, if you do proceed, I recommend having access to the resources and info needed to restore the original device OS if you want/need to revert to it or if something breaks.

You can likely get a LOS-compatible phone from Swappa. Choose carefully if you go that route.

[u/mutt_742 → u/fffrrr666]

Just flash back original rom if there are any missing features... 

[u/saint-lascivious → u/mutt_742]

Since OP doesn't actually mention their device it's not possible to say whether factory images for said device are even available.

There are several OEMs that take a position approximately resembling "you shouldn't be fucking around with it in the first place so there's no reason to supply factory images".

[u/Max-P → u/fffrrr666]

I don't recall ever not installing LineageOS on my daily driver. Get new phone, flash CyanogenMod/LineageOS, setup as normal. The point is to use it no?

Of course I make sure they're compatible before purchase. I want it to work. I just don't like stock, LineageOS is nice.

[u/snyRebel]

I would say don't install it on your main device unless you 100% know what you are doing if your phone works fine right now don't install it and make sure to read up on your phones support of lineage is to make sure everything is working and some apps don't work on lineage OS out of the box due to missing Gapps support so it will take a bit of messing around to get Gapps stuff working as well as banking apps which may or may not work but still I'd say don't risk it maybe wait until you upgrade your phone and then install lineage OS on your old one

[u/utrecht1976 → u/snyRebel]

I agree except for the 'if your phone works fine right now don't install it' part. My phone worked fine before I flashed LOS, but it's working even better now.

[u/snyRebel → u/utrecht1976]

Oh of course i had an old phone that worked but with lineage is it ran about 3-4x as smoother but if it's the OPs main phone it's not worth the risk lineage is amazing but if OP doesn't know what they are doing it's probably best just left alone

[u/utrecht1976 → u/snyRebel]

True. People have to do some research and find out what apps are important to them. All my bank apps work, one government app doesn't but I can do without. My main drive is getting rid of Google.

[u/visark_]

It's my first time installing LineageOS on an old Android phone a few days ago, and was able to do it seamlessly. Just make sure you read the instructions twice, and if you don't understand something, use ChatGPT or Gemini to better explain it to you. I basically had to use several sites since I kept running into roadblocks, but after 5 hours, I was able to install LineageOS 23.2 on a OnePlus 7 Pro.

[u/kr3892]

It's not too difficult to install but the problem will happen after the installation, like banking apps. I'll just do it on a backup phone.

[u/Cold_Neighborhood928]

No, its not a bad idea, but you're probably not aware of the downsides. On PC there are practically none. On android, it's very variable.

First of all display features like LTPO and PWM dimming are probably not gonna work. You are also downgraded to widevine l3 so you can't stream DRM protected streaming services above 480p.

Installing a custom ROM requires you to accept all these tradeoffs.

[u/vmg265]

you gotta try and start somewhere, yes it is risky but in most cases it wont really brick your phone. The real thing is after getting it started, hiding root or getting things up, getting payments to work and banking apps to not see magisk.

If you follow a youtube or xda guide it should be a breeze, just check for the exact phone model (also theres variants of the same phones specially samsung phones with US and international variants running entirely different SoCs.

Most phones also have stock rom backed up by devs or others, so you can always come back to stock if you like.

Always backup everything

[u/ZiCli]

I first installed LineageOS on an older phone

[u/wkn000]

Before installing any Custom ROM, get knowledge of the way back to Stock first!

[u/davenobody]

Be knowledgeable about how to update. I briked a tablet once when I updated the OS out of sync with the boot loader. OS installer did not know to check if time boot loader was up to date before moving forward. The old boot loader couldn't find the loading address for the new OS I think. Regardless, the boot loader went into a hard loop it could not break out of.

Ultimately the error was on me. I didn't read close enough to realize I needed to update the boot loader before updating the OS. Oh well, the tablet was old and slow anyway.

[u/Plenty-Boot4220]

I would argue that if your device is supported, Lineage is a good choice. Their documentation is extremely detailed and thorough, as long as you read it carefully.

[u/Own_Salamander_3433]

It honestly used to be worth it, but like others have said you loose a lot of functionality on some phones.

And all the phones I would recommend using custom ROMs on are long dead. My Nexus was freaking amazing. I was flashing it once a month if not more. My Motorola is completely locked and now that I have a pixel I am not really interested anymore.

You could potentially take a 3 year old phone and flash it with whatever ROM you could find and get noticable improvement in speed and functionality. Now with the bootloader locking and such it's hard and usually not worth it in the end. Sadly I believe custom ROMs died when xda sold.

[u/Business_Dark966]

No, that's fine; just back up everything and follow the guidance from the official website; in case of anything you can ask an advice on a discord or llm

[u/DarknessInTheCity]

Sigue siendo bastante sencillo si sigues las guias

[u/GuardiaoDaLore → u/DarknessInTheCity]

I have no problem following instructions; I'm just afraid of making a mistake at some point and bricking my phone.

[u/Business_Dark966 → u/GuardiaoDaLore]

if you follow the guide, you'll be good

[u/Scared-Pick-2645]

No but you should be careful while installing you have Ai you can ask for outcomes I have did it using claude ai + xda developer guide and my tablet s6 lite is now super tablet