I am surprised that Google spends so much time tackling custom ROMs via it’s Play Integrity API. If only they paid that much attention to say, curating the Play Store more, it had be much better for everyone
I don’t think they do it actively. There’s just not a big enough issue for them in custom ROMs to even bother doing something about it.
Rather, they got other issues to tackle and custom ROMs are so off their radar, they get swept up simply because nobody cares (either way) to check.
Google doesn’t want distributions of open source Android without Google services to be a viable option for mainstream users because that would reduce their ability to extract profits from the Android ecosystem.
While the focus is surely more on OEMs than end users at this point, I’m sure Google wants to keep the difficulty level for end users high enough that it remains niche.
I’m sure Google wants to keep the difficulty level for end users high enough that it remains niche.
I really do not think they need to. We tech communities massively overestimate the desire and even contextual awareness (and desire to have such awareness) of regular users to engage with these topics.
Keep in mind that the vast majority of Firefox users - a browser inherently more used by tech-savvy people! - have 0 addons installed. And probably 0 desire to change this. Or to even waste thought seconds on considering whether to change it.
To users, smartphones are tools. Like hammers. If it stops being a useful hammer, do you take the head off and re-forge it? No, you buy a different hammer that does what you need it to do.
Maybe, but the archetypal non-technical user, my mother does want to run a third-party ROM. Her phone is out of its official support period, and she knows that security updates are important and would like a way to get them. Most people, at least in wealthy countries do have a technical person in their lives they can ask things like that. She doesn’t want to buy a new phone because it would be too big and lack a headphone jack, a position I share.
I had to recommend against running what I run (LineageOS, Magisk, Play Integrity Fix). Without PIF, too many apps will refuse to run on LineageOS. She doesn’t need root for much else (maybe adblocking) and doesn’t have the knowledge to make good decisions about whether to grant root permissions to an app that asks (Magisk doesn’t have an allowlist-only mode, but it should). Finally, keeping root through an update is fussy. It’s not hard, but it’s an extra step that has to be done in the right order every week or two.
Unlike Firefox in 2024, a third-party Android build that’s easy enough to install and isn’t sabotaged by Safetynet would something many non-technical users care about: an extended useful life for their devices.
