Should I change MIUI for a custom ROM? - Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC Guides, News, & Discussion

Hey there, how are u doing?
I just got my Poco X3 NFC (was using Mi A3), and I kinda feel like pure android is really better to use in general than MIUI (at least for me). Wondering if it's better to change it now, since I don't have much on phone (less than 1 week) or just keep MIUI because 12.5 is about to get there.
Was checking the forum and found a lot of ROMs, but I don't really get if's not "the same" as MIUI, since it's an Android ROM with modifications based on... something they wanted to change. Most popular ROMs seem to be ArrowOS, Ressurection-Remix, and others non official ROMs (LineageOS have Android 11 already). I have NO IDEA what I should be looking in general, no idea what is Selinux, permissive, don't flash with some softwares, etc. Not sure if it affects how I will use it commonly tbh.
I mean, I usually use my phone to access social media, use a lot of spotify/youtube, and I probably will need to root to have a good Linux machine running there for my studies (actually using UserLand), that's why I'm wondering about ROMs. Battery is really important since I run a virtual machine imo.
So, what do u think? Should I change MIUI with another custom ROM or just keep it because XIAOMI upgrades it frequently? Would you recommend some ROM in specific? As I said, just want good battery life and QoL using my apps and Bluetooth connection (phones and smartwatch 24/7).
Never used custom ROMs tbh, but would give a shot. Always loved community based stuff

On Xiaomi you can always flash stock and relock bootloader if you need to unlike Samsung (thanks Knox /s)

ArrowOS is my recommendation. Well made ROM. You can also flash F1xy kernel if you want more fluidity with still good battery life.
Only thing is you don't have the features of stock MIUI camera and flashing ANX Camera on ArrowOS didn't worked for me. If you want that, you can use crDroid which has it built-in.
Flash it. It offers better performance, good battery life + it's nice & clean. You can notice it simply by doing basic tasks. Less frames are dropped.
For OTA, do dirty flash of ROM, but I prefer clean flash as it makes sure that there are no bugs related to dirty flashing + I'm starting clean. I do clean flash every time I notice that Device side changelog is changed. I'm using ArrowOS which has updates almost every day. crDroid updates often too. Like once in 7 day, but it's not the fixed schedule. NitrogenOS updates every 15 days-1 month.
NitrogenOS was my ROM before, it was good, but ArrowOS is just better. ArrowOS & basically other ROMs are based on newest sources while NitrogenOS is the only ROM right now that is still based on 12.0.3 firmware. ArrowOS has Enforcing seLinux unlike Nitrogen etc. These small things is what makes ArrowOS better ROM than others. Only crDroid can "fight" with it imo.

mGrilo said:
Hey there, how are u doing?
I just got my Poco X3 NFC (was using Mi A3), and I kinda feel like pure android is really better to use in general than MIUI (at least for me). Wondering if it's better to change it now, since I don't have much on phone (less than 1 week) or just keep MIUI because 12.5 is about to get there.
Was checking the forum and found a lot of ROMs, but I don't really get if's not "the same" as MIUI, since it's an Android ROM with modifications based on... something they wanted to change. Most popular ROMs seem to be ArrowOS, Ressurection-Remix, and others non official ROMs (LineageOS have Android 11 already). I have NO IDEA what I should be looking in general, no idea what is Selinux, permissive, don't flash with some softwares, etc. Not sure if it affects how I will use it commonly tbh.
I mean, I usually use my phone to access social media, use a lot of spotify/youtube, and I probably will need to root to have a good Linux machine running there for my studies (actually using UserLand), that's why I'm wondering about ROMs. Battery is really important since I run a virtual machine imo.
So, what do u think? Should I change MIUI with another custom ROM or just keep it because XIAOMI upgrades it frequently? Would you recommend some ROM in specific? As I said, just want good battery life and QoL using my apps and Bluetooth connection (phones and smartwatch 24/7).
Never used custom ROMs tbh, but would give a shot. Always loved community based stuff
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I´ve had the phone for around 3 weeks now and it´s the first phone in years that I haven´t unlocked and installed custom Roms.
The reason is that my bank detects unlocked bootloader and I cannot use Google Pay which I use on a daily basis.
After debloating the phone and setting up the relevant apps so they don´t get shut down by the aggresive MIUI battery savings I am really satisfied. I also have a smartwatch connected 24/7 and I get around 8-9 hours SOT. Just normal usage, no gaming.
I also installed the MI Control Center from Play Store to customize the control center which is quite cool giving a bit of a customized look.
The only thing I am not to keen about is the fact that the Android security has not been updated since november 2020.
So far I am sticking with stock and looking forward to see what Miui 12.5 will be like.

geminis3 said:
On Xiaomi you can always flash stock and relock bootloader if you need to unlike Samsung (thanks Knox /s)
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So, it's like "try it, if u don't like it, just get MIUI back", right? Cool!
SkaboXD said:
ArrowOS is my recommendation. Well made ROM. You can also flash F1xy kernel if you want more fluidity with still good battery life.
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OTA is the android updater? I'm kinda wants to update like I do with MIUI. Options > Updates > Update > Restart and Done
I don't use much cameras, just on my job tbh. As I said, just want a good battery to use my Linux on background (I already do it all day basically, I would say), and free ads (disabled all of them on MIUI, I think). Like, for example, installed Vanced YT on my Mi A3 in 5 minutes, while I reinstalled 3 times on POCO X3 and still can't log-on.
badadam said:
I´ve had the phone for around 3 weeks now and it´s the first phone in years that I haven´t unlocked and installed custom Roms.
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Not sure if my bank do that... hope it doesn't. Yes, lot of apps are useless and uninstalled already.
I only "game" idle games, which means like 30 mins/day.
Still wondering if I should or not try a ROM. Probably will on weekend since I won't use it.
Oh, and BTW, my night mode is kinda buggy in a few apps, had to disable it on android and use in-app features. Not sure if it's MIUI problem, but never happened on my Mi A3.

badadam said:
The reason is that my bank detects unlocked bootloader and I cannot use Google Pay which I use on a daily basis.
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I've been using magisk hide for banking apps, I still get some random issues with some apps like not being able to register the fingerprint but overall I can use them all, the only app that really gives me any trouble is the sprint drive app.

My phone is arriving today. Do I really need to wait for unlocking the bootloader?

badadam said:
The reason is that my bank detects unlocked bootloader and I cannot use Google Pay which I use on a daily basis.
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With ArrowOS you can use bank apps and google play...
These are enforcing builds. Safety net checks pass out of the box! No need to flash magisk modules, which might in turn break the integrity!
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zpower said:
With ArrowOS you can use bank apps and google play...
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Like I wrote my bank in Denmark detects unlocked bootloaders. So there is no way I can use my bank apps as long as the bootloader is unlocked .
I had problems using ArrowOS on my Redmi Note 8T and called the help service in my bank. When I told him my phone model the helpdesk guy asked me right away if I had unlocked my bootloader which I "admitted" I did. Turns out that the guy knew eveything about custom Roms, unlocked bootloaders and rooted phones. He told me that most banks in Denmark put safety first and do anything to lock out devices with unlocked bootloaders even if Safetny passes without problems.
So I haven´t even tried unlocking the bootloader on my X3 NFC as I use my bank apps and Google Pay everyday.
And I am actually quite satsfied with stock MIUI after debloating and twirking. Looking forward to see how 12.5 will improve the phone.

badadam said:
Like I wrote my bank in Denmark detects unlocked bootloaders. So there is no way I can use my bank apps as long as the bootloader is unlocked .
I had problems using ArrowOS on my Redmi Note 8T and called the help service in my bank. When I told him my phone model the helpdesk guy asked me right away if I had unlocked my bootloader which I "admitted" I did. Turns out that the guy knew eveything about custom Roms, unlocked bootloaders and rooted phones. He told me that most banks in Denmark put safety first and do anything to lock out devices with unlocked bootloaders even if Safetny passes without problems.
So I haven´t even tried unlocking the bootloader on my X3 NFC as I use my bank apps and Google Pay everyday.
And I am actually quite satsfied with stock MIUI after debloating and twirking. Looking forward to see how 12.5 will improve the phone.
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Wow, what a story. Thanks for sharing.

mGrilo said:
Hey there, how are u doing?
I just got my Poco X3 NFC (was using Mi A3), and I kinda feel like pure android is really better to use in general than MIUI (at least for me). Wondering if it's better to change it now, since I don't have much on phone (less than 1 week) or just keep MIUI because 12.5 is about to get there.
Was checking the forum and found a lot of ROMs, but I don't really get if's not "the same" as MIUI, since it's an Android ROM with modifications based on... something they wanted to change. Most popular ROMs seem to be ArrowOS, Ressurection-Remix, and others non official ROMs (LineageOS have Android 11 already). I have NO IDEA what I should be looking in general, no idea what is Selinux, permissive, don't flash with some softwares, etc. Not sure if it affects how I will use it commonly tbh.
I mean, I usually use my phone to access social media, use a lot of spotify/youtube, and I probably will need to root to have a good Linux machine running there for my studies (actually using UserLand), that's why I'm wondering about ROMs. Battery is really important since I run a virtual machine imo.
So, what do u think? Should I change MIUI with another custom ROM or just keep it because XIAOMI upgrades it frequently? Would you recommend some ROM in specific? As I said, just want good battery life and QoL using my apps and Bluetooth connection (phones and smartwatch 24/7).
Never used custom ROMs tbh, but would give a shot. Always loved community based stuff
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Click to collapse
The most sensible answer is if you must ask, you don't need it. You'll likely get over your head, screw up your phone, whine and cry for help, when no one can cuz you're not even sure what, how, when or where you went wrong and don't remember exactly what you did, you'll end up regretting the whole thing, wish you never came to this site in the first place cuz now you gotta $250 paperweight, with no way to get another one. Now your parents are super mad and pretending you don't exist, you've resorted to eating only peanut butter n jelly sandwiches for every meal.. All this cuz you wanted a custom rom... yup

Talysdaddy said:
The most sensible answer is if you must ask, you don't need it. You'll likely get over your head, screw up your phone, whine and cry for help, when no one can cuz you're not even sure what, how, when or where you went wrong and don't remember exactly what you did, you'll end up regretting the whole thing, wish you never came to this site in the first place cuz now you gotta $250 paperweight, with no way to get another one. Now your parents are super mad and pretending you don't exist, you've resorted to eating only peanut butter n jelly sandwiches for every meal.. All this cuz you wanted a custom rom... yup
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Eh, not really. Wasn't everyone like this in the beginning? He'll learn with time if he's new, How about not scaring him?

Woolworm11 said:
My phone is arriving today. Do I really need to wait for unlocking the bootloader?
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Yeah, Xiaomi implemented a 168 hour wait time for unlocking bootloader in all new devices.

badadam said:
Like I wrote my bank in Denmark detects unlocked bootloaders. So there is no way I can use my bank apps as long as the bootloader is unlocked .
I had problems using ArrowOS on my Redmi Note 8T and called the help service in my bank. When I told him my phone model the helpdesk guy asked me right away if I had unlocked my bootloader which I "admitted" I did. Turns out that the guy knew eveything about custom Roms, unlocked bootloaders and rooted phones. He told me that most banks in Denmark put safety first and do anything to lock out devices with unlocked bootloaders even if Safetny passes without problems.
So I haven´t even tried unlocking the bootloader on my X3 NFC as I use my bank apps and Google Pay everyday.
And I am actually quite satsfied with stock MIUI after debloating and twirking. Looking forward to see how 12.5 will improve the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A couple of years ago or a bit more, I had a problem with a bank app here in Italy. It was possible to install it, it opened but was never able to login to my account with a "generic error". After calling the helpdesk, they did a check and informed me that the app didn't work for ROOTED PHONES...
One week after this call, my new account in another bank was active and fully operative so I moved all my money to the new bank.
If anyone would react in this way, this kind of abuses by banks will end very soon...

Communos said:
Eh, not really. Wasn't everyone like this in the beginning? He'll learn with time if he's new, How about not scaring him?
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No, I wasn't like this in the beginning, like my first sentence says, if you have to ask, it probably isn't for you cuz it demonstrates a few lacking qualities that surely would make this difficult. No offense to OP but I'm being realistic, speaking of going back to the OPs question, he asks whether he should rock a custom rom or not. How can anyone realistically answer that for him? The only one that has that definite answer is the person asking it. No one here knows his skills, amount of knowledge, patience level, whether he can follow instructions or a tutorial well enough, whether he enjoys or tolerates reading, disposable cash, if he funks up a daily driver, can it be replaced, ect.... these are all key in learning and practicing installing roms. Going back to what I said originally if you must ask, meaning that you can't determine this for yourself, it's highly likely there's other things you can't do for yourself. Everyone here knows 99.9009% of this is done independently, reading these threads and trying things out. Plus 99.9999% of answers to questions pertaining to modding our devices are in these threads, yet so many fail to search instead go straight to the questions forum, create a new thread asking same question answered 5x already. So if someone comes here asking a question only they truly have answers to, are they likely to miracoulsly be independent suddenly or someone frequently needing assistance unable to perform tasks themselves? Once again back to my original post, "they've demonstrated this kind of work ethic already."
Yea I know my answer wasn't something some want to hear but I call it as I see it.

Related

A Question About Unlocking 17 Note 3 Pro Bootloaders at Once...

Alright, well I hope I haven't buggered up here.
I'm doing some work for a business that needs no less than 17 new smartphones for their sales team. They wanted something that had a decent sized screen, awesome battery, and fingerprint reader. I immediately thought of the Xioami Redmi Note 3 Pro. I showed them my Note 2 and they were impressed and said they would be keen on the Note 3 with the fingerprint reader for the price. I thought it was a no-brainer. I knew MIUI would confuse the existing sales team (they use Nexus 4's and 5's currently) so I figured CM12.1/CM13 would be the way to go, and I did notice that there was a bootloader unlock process required. I didn't think much of it at the time.
Now I realise there is a somewhat painful bootloader unlock code application process. Hmm. Would I experience difficulties getting unlock codes for this many devices? Luckily I only ordered one so far to test, but I am worried whether Xiaomi will be happy to hand out codes like candy. If they reject me, I'll be holding the bag and be required to get them a different phone, probably something like a Nexus 6p, which is more than three times the price and doesn't have as great battery life.
If anyone has some insight to this process and how it would play out if I tried to get a heap of codes that would be great.
Tell them to use MIUI.
Firstly, you shouldn't replace a stable STOCK ROM with a development AOSP ROM like CyanogenMod, which usually has undocumented bugs and issues. Companies usually prefer security and stability over "the look of vanilla android". I don't believe people cant learn to use MIUI. Why? Because MIUI is still android, just with CUTER icons and a different launcher. If you are so worried about the launcher, force all of them to use google now launcher or Nova Launcher. Confusion due to different launcher is never a good excuse to sacrifice security and stability.
Secondly, unlike MIUI, which pushes stable updates every 1 or 2 months for security patches, CyanogenMod updates are not guaranteed, worse still, CM updates are never extensively tested and are released almost every god damn day (along with randomly added experimental features/changes, which might suddenly break something, or randomly removed features/changes, which again, might break something). You can't expect them to update today, find out there's a bug, update again tomorrow, OMG BUG NOT FIXED ? Patch again the next day. OMG bootloop from bad update / bad flash? OMG OMG OMG ! What to do? OMG OMG OMG WTF Another bad flash? No signal, no wifi? What to do? Wait til next update? See the problem here? Not everyone knows what to do with a ROM that needs that much tinkering. Then, there's another problem, what if somehow the maintainer call it quits? The ROM gets abandoned. What happens then?
Conclusion, for work use, NEVER EVER flash AOSP ROMs or whatnots, always stick with stock for security, stability and support from the OEM. Also, it saves you the trouble when **** happens, imagine a bug causes the whole team to miss a meeting or screw up an email which causes business loss, the management would certainly like to know whose idea it was to unlock a secured bootloader, replace a stable MIUI stock ROM with an unstable ROM.
EDIT : Extra info : I am using CM13 now, it has a lot of weird bugs, like GPS not working for some devices (depends on region) and some people have random "no signal" issues, or no data, or sim not detected. And after flash, some of us needs to edit files it root directory to get capcitive buttons working again, otherwise menu key wont work properly. Some get random reboot. Some get bootloop after update. So on. Seriously, DO NOT FLASH FLASH CM FOR OFFICIAL WORK USE IF THE PEOPLE USING THEM ARE NOT TECH SAVVY PEOPLE WHO KNOWS HOW TO DO A LOT OF ANDROID ****.
I totally get where you're coming from, but I think you're overreacting and ROM stability or updates isn't the problem here. This isn't going to happen for a couple of months at least, and I would use one as my own device and make sure there isn't any bugs before giving it to anyone else. I'd be handling updates manually as well. You make it sound like stock ROMs don't have bugs either, and they get updated forever. Lol.
Really not sure I'm sold on MIUI though. It is quite a departure from AOSP. I tried it for a week and I couldn't really stomach it, but this was about a year ago now. I feel I'd get complains for sure. I also don't see development for CM13 stopping anytime soon either.
Even if I did use MIUI, I'd need to flash a modified stock ROM via fastboot, which again would require an unlocked bootloader. I sure as hell am not going to sit around and setup 17 phones by hand, so let's get back to the original question. Is getting bulk bootloader unlock codes a problem?
Bulk unlocking won't be a problem, since you only need to get the permission for a MIUI account.
Basically,when you get the permission, you can unlock any number of Mi phones linked to your account.
Although I would recommend sticking to the stock MIUI since it is much more stable and supported because in your use case, stability would be paramount.
Hire me too, and I'll unlock for them. :highfive:
Via mi tool and getting official authentication to get unlock code? Yes it's a problem because xiaomi will only allow to unlock one device per month using same mi account, you'll need different mi accounts to get codes at a time...
Also, it takes quite a long to get unlock code from xiaomi around 2-3 weeks, if unlocking is mandatory for you, I'd suggest you to manually unlock those devices.. search mi forum or Google, you'll get process to manually unlock your device...
But still, i don't think it'll be a good idea...
Unlocking device and installing custom rom for personal use or experiment? it's really good.
But for bulk or commercial use? I still don't think it'll be a good idea... best of luck anyways.. happy unlocking!
Alright, cool. I thought that would be the case - pretty annoying. Not keen on the manual unlock method, it seems like a good way to brick a device via an OTA update.
The only other way I could use MIUI is if:
- I could disable all the MI services such as Mi Account, Mi Message, Mi Cloud, and any other junk / optimiser apps that might be preloaded
- I could pre-load around 20 user apps (some which need to be pre-configured with data, such as launcher) that would be needed
- I could disable the stock launcher permanently and have it replaced with Nova launcher
- I could install some kind of AOSP theme
- I could improve the RAM utilisation somehow
If I could do all of that, and clone this configuration to 17 devices without unlocking the bootloader, then I might be able to stick with MIUI... otherwise it's gotta go, or I gotta pick a different phone.
Edit: Had another look at the unofficial unlock method. It appears that as long as you aren't on a MIUI base, it should be fine. Looks like I might not have to unlock official after all.
1. MIUI has bugs too, yes, but usually minor + documented. It doesnt break GPS nor does it randomly make major capabilities of the phone fail. This is where CM falls short, sometimes. You'll never know when CM will change something because they think it will work, which winds up giving you bugs or bootloops.
2. MIUI won't get updated forever, but it will certainly be supported for a longer time than other OEMs. Look at how many phones will be getting MIUI 8 soon. Also, let's not forget, CM won't be updated forever either. Sometimes, it even gets abandoned. Then there's the part about CM where some (well most, but i don't blame them) maintainers are like "logs or it didnt happen" when it comes to bug reporting, and there arent that much people using CM, so, less likely they will get logs. Some even give you the middle-finger by saying "can't reproduce LOLL you're on your own." ***By no means am i implying that the maintainer/developer for RN3 CM13 is an asshole.
3. Aside from launcher, MIUI is not that different from other "flavoured" android UIs like touchwiz or whatever-LG-calls-their-UI. Mainly, icons are different, that's about it. The "not sold on MIUI" is not really a solid reason to use a ROM that isnt stable/secure. Just change the launcher then, use themes. Humans can adapt. With time, users will adapt to it. The same goes to iOS-->Android or Android-->iOS, that's why it's not very common (but not exactly rare either) for users to switch, because within a week or two, they give up, swap back.
4. Flashing using MiFlash with locked BL you mean? Hmm, perhaps you could try using adb reboot edl. This sends the phone into emergency download mode (only for qualcomm version), which allows you to flash fastboot ROMs, but only STOCK fastboot ROMs. Never tried on a modified ROM version, but i don't think that would work.
Note : I am not advocating for/against MIUI nor am i here to argue with you. I am just trying to help you make a decision clearly. By looking at security and stability. Not by judging how lamely cute MIUI is (which i agree, looks childishly weird, it's like an iOS reject made out with touchWiz and gave birth to a mutated UI).
By the way, sometimes xiaomi ignores unlock requests, sometimes they reject them cuz you account doesnt have enough "posts". Plus, you'd need like 17 accounts. Personally, i would suggest getting another phone, one (or 17 ) that looks closer to Vanilla and is friendlier to the Open Source Community (which obviously, xiaomi isn't, they dont walk the talk) as this would greatly reduce bugs and problems on ROMs like CM, should you choose to go there. But at its price range, RN3 is just about the best. Other phones are like 2x more. The next best thing would be Nexus 5x. 6P is too expensive.
Why not suggest Nexus phones. I wouldn't use Xiaomi phones if I had to support them afterwards?
Price and battery life mainly. They're just so hard to beat for the money.
Good points. The thing that I really want to focus on is the user experience though. The extra "features" will definitely cause some headaches. Sure, they can adapt, but I'd probably have to train them which isn't what I want to do. I've setup devices with CM ROMs for people in the past with great success (setup quite a few K3 Notes earlier this year on CM12.1) as they have been cleaner, faster, and much easier to use than the stock ROM. I figured I could do the same thing on Xiaomi devices. I also want to create training videos for them and I was hoping that if I could use CM it would apply to those who still have Nexus devices as well since they will look and feel the same.
It's a classic case of awesome hardware (with snapdragon SOC) at an awesome price held back by irritating software. The K3 Note was similar until CM12.1 was stable - the stock ROM was really bad.
I'll have to think long and hard about whether I would want to continue or if I should just start looking at other devices. I just can't think of anything else under 250USD that will fit the bill.
Others have said you can only unlock one device a month per account.

Just bought a 6P (Europe). Anything particular I should know?

So my LG G4 finally decided to exhale its last breath. I had a blast with it and learned all the basics about flashing custom ROMs; I unlocked the bootloader, flashed TWRP and installed various CM based ROMs and I had to solve some bootloops too.
Eventually I grew tired of having to install custom ROMs in order to experience the "pure Android experience": first of all I voided the warranty and secondly I lost the full camera's functionality.
That's why I decided to buy a Nexus 6P (Pixel phones are too expensive, I don't like the Moto Z's design and the OP3 is out of stock).
Is there anything I should know about my new 6P?
Will 7.1 be on its way soon (out of developer preview)?
Let's say I'll decide to try out CM14.1, will that void the warranty? Are there risks of bootloops caused by software flashing? Are there ways to return to stock and to relock the bootloader? Does unlocking the bootloader void the warranty?
Thanks guys, take care!
Welcome to the 6P forum dude, I'll try to answer all your questions
1-We should get 7.1 like a week or two after it's out (I mean the OTA) and the factory images *should* be available the same day of the release. Or at least that was how it worked until now, we'll have to wait and see what happens now that the Pixel phones are out.
2-If you flash a custom ROM, yes it will void your warranty, but you can always flash a factory image and then relock the bootloader and have your phone 100% stock, and I'm not sure if this makes you recover your warranty but I'd say yes it does. I would wait for other people's posts to be sure about this though.
3-Yes, there is risk of bootloops if you flash the wrong stuff or if you don't follow each ROM/KERNEL/Whateveryoureflashing.zip instructions. But as long as you flash stable roms I don't think you'll have any problem, and in case of you having a bootloop, just flash another rom or a Google factory image, as easy as that.
As long as you return your unit with full stock (complete stock rom, locked bootloader), your warranty is still valid. And due to European law, they cannot deny fixing the phone even if it has been tampered with. (but as i said, return it with full stock)
ShooterLight said:
Welcome to the 6P forum dude, I'll try to answer all your questions
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Mgrev said:
As long as you return your unit with full stock (complete stock rom, locked bootloader)
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Thanks very much for your answers!
Yesterday I've been doing some research here on the forums and on the Android Developers' website in order to avoid questions that have been answered in other threads already!
Everything about the 6P seems easier compared to the G4 (let alone the fact that there's no way to relock the bootloader on it - voiding the warranty for good).
The last doubt I have is this one: let's say I flash a custom recovery (TWRP for example) and then I decide to return to stock with a factory image... Will I be able to "get rid" of the custom recovery or will I have to do additional stuff to overwrite it with the stock recovery?
Thanks again and sorry if my last question has been answered elsewhere already.
The factory image includes the stock recovery so no problem there either. When you flash a factory image it resets everything to stock except for the bootloader, which will keep unlocked, but can be easily locked back through ADB.
P.S: Unlocking/Locking the bootloader wipes all data on the device (That includes internal memory) so if you plan to unlock it consider doing it before installing your apps and setting everything up if you haven't already. And also, flashing a factory image will wipe everything too, so keep that in mind.
ShooterLight said:
The factory image includes the stock recovery so no problem there either. When you flash a factory image it resets everything to stock except for the bootloader, which will keep unlocked, but can be easily locked back through ADB.
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Thanks again for your assistance!
At this point I can't wait for the device to arrive at my doorstep, I'm kinda impatient XD.
I have one last question if I may... I was wondering about encryption. Does the phone come encrypted out of the box? Does installing CyanogenMod (13 or 14.1) mean that the phone will be encrypted after the installation itself? Does decryption involve flashing a custom kernel or can it be achieved simply by flashing a factory image?
Thanks, have a nice evening. I won't ask for more, I promise XD.
corrx said:
Thanks again for your assistance!
At this point I can't wait for the device to arrive at my doorstep, I'm kinda impatient XD.
I have one last question if I may... I was wondering about encryption. Does the phone come encrypted out of the box? Does installing CyanogenMod (13 or 14.1) mean that the phone will be encrypted after the installation itself? Does decryption involve flashing a custom kernel or can it be achieved simply by flashing a factory image?
Thanks, have a nice evening. I won't ask for more, I promise XD.
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The phone is stock encrypted. If you want it to not be you have to flash a non enforcing kernel and do a full wipe of data and storage. I'm sure there's plenty of guides on this. Encryption has little impact on the phone from what I've seen. And I've ran unencrypted most of the time I've had it and just recently went to encryption because I couldn't find a non encrypting when I installed the 7.1.1 beta. Factory images do force encrypt so I would flash the non encrypt before booting. I don't know if cyanogen encrypts or not, I haven't messed with it, I just run custom stock.
corrx said:
Is there anything I should know about my new 6P?
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Click to collapse
only one, the best phone there is and will be i guess?
i have had used Samsung phones before (s2 which was one of my favourite, and i often used aosp/cm based roms on it because pure android feel is the best) and i had the s5/note4 both were exynos which had ****ty support for CM , later on i went to get a snapdragon based s5 just for CM!
but then i decided to give a pure android phone a go, thats when i bought a Nexus 6 (but unfortunately it came with a banding in the display ,but i still used it without problems for 9months) and then i got myself the Nexus 6P and i can say this is easily the best phone i have used.
i look at other phones, i take them from the hands of my family members e.g the S7 Edge / Iphone 7+ when i used them for a bit compared to the 6p they are so meh.
i am so used to pure android phones now, plus you get a ton of roms to choose from and there are very good custom kernels and we are getting 7.x nougat.
you chose the right phone !!!!
one thing i would like to ask you, how long did the Lg G4 last you ?
Bluemgt06 said:
The phone is stock encrypted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much. Well that was the last thing I had to know .
leondestiny said:
one thing i would like to ask you, how long did the Lg G4 last you ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The G4 lasted me about a year. Now I'm stuck in a bootloop caused by a hardware issue and sadly my warranty is voided. But you know what, I'm kinda happy my G4 died... I've always had iPhones (say what you want about iOS and Apple, but excellent build quality on the hardware side), then I bought a Galaxy S6 (outstanding hardware and build quality, but ****ty TouchWiz) and sold it to buy the G4. The G4 satisfied me because I could flash CyanogenMod and so I was able to experience a smooth and clean UX, but its plastic construction always disappointed me (I am so used to metal and glass...). So, yeah, I decided to go for the 6P to have a "premium" build quality and to experience Android "as it was meant to be experienced".
I could've bought a Moto Z or a Pixel but both were too expensive for my pockets.
Take care!
I was in the same boat. I still had a Note 3 and was waiting for the Note 7, but we all know how that turned out. Then I was baffled by the price of the Pixel and still wanted a phone without bloatware for once, so I bought the 6p and it's not dissappointing so far.
I tried running stock first, but after 3 minutes I was already fed up with all the advertising being thrown towards me, so I went looking for root and a nice Rom.
I ended up with the PureNexus Rom and EX kernel. systemless supersu with suhide and rootswitch (don't even know if suhide is still doing anything), but I'm passing Safetynet checks, so all looks well so far.
Any special reason you want to go for CM? I have been doubting, but since most ROM's are stock based, I didn't see the need to go to CM, but I'm easily convinced by other people's good experiences to give it a try
corrx said:
Thank you very much. Well that was the last thing I had to know .
The G4 lasted me about a year. Now I'm stuck in a bootloop caused by a hardware issue and sadly my warranty is voided. But you know what, I'm kinda happy my G4 died... I've always had iPhones (say what you want about iOS and Apple, but excellent build quality on the hardware side), then I bought a Galaxy S6 (outstanding hardware and build quality, but ****ty TouchWiz) and sold it to buy the G4. The G4 satisfied me because I could flash CyanogenMod and so I was able to experience a smooth and clean UX, but its plastic construction always disappointed me (I am so used to metal and glass...). So, yeah, I decided to go for the 6P to have a "premium" build quality and to experience Android "as it was meant to be experienced".
I could've bought a Moto Z or a Pixel but both were too expensive for my pockets.
Take care!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To help you out with your g4. Try to warm it up in some way. I repair phones and we had a boot looping g4 that booted after we heated to maybe 180°F it managed to boot and we were able to keep it on long enough to recover the data from it.
Blindfold_NL said:
Any special reason you want to go for CM? I have been doubting, but since most ROM's are stock based, I didn't see the need to go to CM, but I'm easily convinced by other people's good experiences to give it a try
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well the only reason I wanna go for CM is that I've been a CM user for the last 14 months on my LG G4. I've tried various AOSP based ROMs but I felt like CyanogenMod was the more stable and cohesive. I'm sure other ROMs have more 'hardcore user-friendly' features but I don't need them... So I guess I'm fine with a simpler and more stream-lined ROM.
Also: what's the best solution to avoid ads on the 6P? I used to install AdAway on my LG G4. Are there better options?
Bluemgt06 said:
To help you out with your g4. Try to warm it up in some way. I repair phones and we had a boot looping g4 that booted after we heated to maybe 180°F it managed to boot and we were able to keep it on long enough to recover the data from it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try to do that as I've seen in some videos... The thing is I don't have any data on it (luckily). Also I've read it's not a permanent solution!
corrx said:
Well the only reason I wanna go for CM is that I've been a CM user for the last 14 months on my LG G4. I've tried various AOSP based ROMs but I felt like CyanogenMod was the more stable and cohesive. I'm sure other ROMs have more 'hardcore user-friendly' features but I don't need them... So I guess I'm fine with a simpler and more stream-lined ROM.
Also: what's the best solution to avoid ads on the 6P? I used to install AdAway on my LG G4. Are there better options?
I'll try to do that as I've seen in some videos... The thing is I don't have any data on it (luckily). Also I've read it's not a permanent solution!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. It is only a temporary solution.
corrx said:
Well the only reason I wanna go for CM is that I've been a CM user for the last 14 months on my LG G4. I've tried various AOSP based ROMs but I felt like CyanogenMod was the more stable and cohesive. I'm sure other ROMs have more 'hardcore user-friendly' features but I don't need them... So I guess I'm fine with a simpler and more stream-lined ROM.
Also: what's the best solution to avoid ads on the 6P? I used to install AdAway on my LG G4. Are there better options?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, understandable reason. I have to say Purenexus so far is very stable with some useful options, so you might want to give that one a try as well.
For me Xposed has the best anti ad apps, so until that's released for Nougat, I'm also using Adaway and it's doing fine. Xposed has addons to also eliminate ads in Youtube and other apps, so this will work until then.
Have fun with your phone!
New 6p user here! 6p is a good phone, that's no doubt,
see you around mate!
I had a G4, I was so happy when I finally got rid of that thing. I went from a Nexus 4 and 5 then for some stupid reason bought a G4. Now I've got a N6P and am loving it. Easily getting 6+ hours of screen on time with Nitrogen OS + Kronic kernel.
Blindfold_NL said:
Yeah, understandable reason. I have to say Purenexus so far is very stable with some useful options, so you might want to give that one a try as well.
For me Xposed has the best anti ad apps, so until that's released for Nougat, I'm also using Adaway and it's doing fine. Xposed has addons to also eliminate ads in Youtube and other apps, so this will work until then.
Have fun with your phone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see, thanks! I guess I'll use AdAway too until better options arise for Android N then.
Jason123420 said:
I had a G4, I was so happy when I finally got rid of that thing. I went from a Nexus 4 and 5 then for some stupid reason bought a G4. Now I've got a N6P and am loving it. Easily getting 6+ hours of screen on time with Nitrogen OS + Kronic kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
6 hours? That's really nice! I'll give the ROM and kernel a try then, since the phone will arrive on monday (what a painful wait).
corrx said:
6 hours? That's really nice! I'll give the ROM and kernel a try then, since the phone will arrive on monday (what a painful wait).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah that is a long wait lol
Make an EFS back up using twrp recovery, save a copy of the backup file on your phone and on your desktop computer/cloud storage. You most likely not gonna need it afterwards but you'll regret not backing it up when you do.
Sent from my Nexus 6P

convince me to root my S9+?

So usually the first thing I do with all of my phones, is install a custom ROM ( and root obviously ). The newer the phones get the less reasons I find to void warranty and root it. Can someone give me a few good reasons to root my S9 plus, or tell me the reasons as to why you did it.
Thanks, Andrew.
Necessity to root, install ROMs has become less compared to earlier days with latest smartphones. But I flashed a custom ROM ( Resurrection Remix using TWRP) on the G-965F recently to stay away from samsung services and to get out of midrocre batterytime of the stock Firmware. Performance is out of the world and batterytime is solidly extended with it. Camera portrait mode doesn't work with Google hdr+ camera yet and that's a trade off should work in future.
Sobertooth said:
Necessity to root, install ROMs has become less compared to earlier days with latest smartphones. But I flashed a custom ROM ( Resurrection Remix using TWRP) on the G-965F recently to stay away from samsung services and to get out of midrocre batterytime of the stock Firmware. Performance is out of the world and batterytime is solidly extended with it. Camera portrait mode doesn't work with Google hdr+ camera yet and that's a trade off should work in future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the reasons I like also, I've always had loads better battery.
I bummed up, and let my phone reboot after OEM unlock, and now its disappeared for 7 more days again
I rooted all my phones for years, haven't felt the need on the S9+. Package Disabler Pro did everything I needed, and battery life is great (I did a 13 hours shift yesterday with lots of Facebook, photos, video recording, all on intermittent signal on both mobile and wifi, and battery went from 98% at 7am to 58% by 7.30pm.
I really don't know how you'd get much better life, other than a Mate 10 Pro, but they have their own issues...
HellDiverUK said:
I rooted all my phones for years, haven't felt the need on the S9+. Package Disabler Pro did everything I needed, and battery life is great (I did a 13 hours shift yesterday with lots of Facebook, photos, video recording, all on intermittent signal on both mobile and wifi, and battery went from 98% at 7am to 58% by 7.30pm.
I really don't know how you'd get much better life, other than a Mate 10 Pro, but they have their own issues...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have noticed that battery life seems to be a hit and miss for people, some get really good, some get really bad.
Mine is mediocre, I feel like it could be better but it's not the worst in the world.
aussiesausage said:
That's the reasons I like also, I've always had loads better battery.
I bummed up, and let my phone reboot after OEM unlock, and now its disappeared for 7 more days again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Be careful next time mate.
Sobertooth said:
Be careful next time mate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I tried to the first time, ah well these things happen haha.
rooting is a little more than just battery life, things like titanium backup still needs root, and if one decides to remove 'bloatware' (i.e. apps that one don't use) be it that they are sometimes nuisance with all the auto updates unwanted notifications, root is still needed
I rooted my galaxy s9 plus for various reasons. First to greatly enhance the audio by viper4android, and with dolby atmos also on at the same time it completely redefines the sound coming from it. Another reason for me was to use L speed, i have to say it actually makes a difference in performance and battery but not that much. And the third reason is to use substratum, i just love it.
So after all of this you think I am trying to convince you to root, but I don't actually recommend rooting this device specifically. Why? I really don't see the need of rooting it. It has everything that I wanted, but because of my childish brain I couldn't control myself so I went ahead and root it. After all, don't root it.
Debloating stuff which improves battery and performance, and a lot of other tweaks. As for me I use it with my ps4 controller using an app requiring me to root. Now I have my own retro console
This is my first phone I have used that includes NFC payment. So I have started to really enjoy the Samsung Pay feature. Are there anyways of still using this after rooting the phone?
Also can someone give a list of things to disable with 'Service Disabler'? I think Package Disabler Pro has been removed from the play store so I can't get it anymore
After having had a lot of Phones where I felt the need to root them, I can agree on what some others said before me, and that is that the S9+ is the first Phone I haven't felt the need for rooting it. It has basically everything I want that root could give me before, the only thing I am yet wanting is Viper4Android and TitaniumBackup, but there is Samsung Cloud for backup (it even works for gamesaves), and then the built in Equalizer is really good compared to any other from other OEM's. There are however downsides from rooting it, like not being able to use Samsung Pay for example, or Google Pay, or (if you're a fan of it, I dislike the game but whatever) Pokémon GO. Basically any app that uses SafetyNet will stop working (Magisk isn't 100% safe either and can fail). As Samsung gives me the option to theme my Phone to dark like I used to do with Root, and overclock it for Games using the GameTuner, and other things I did with root, I see no reason to really root my S9+ for now, maybe when it reaches it's EOL but currently it is better not to root it.
for me s9 plus need to be rooted, it depends what you use the root for
rom, kernal, games, backup, full control of your system
my head into stuff like this
for normal user i doubt it they even know what root can do
i rooted all my phones before the s9 plus this one waiting for it to be rooted
Sobertooth said:
Necessity to root, install ROMs has become less compared to earlier days with latest smartphones. But I flashed a custom ROM ( Resurrection Remix using TWRP) on the G-965F recently to stay away from samsung services and to get out of midrocre batterytime of the stock Firmware. Performance is out of the world and batterytime is solidly extended with it. Camera portrait mode doesn't work with Google hdr+ camera yet and that's a trade off should work in future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is it possible to install ressurection remix without root. or. to be clear. have banking apps, netflix and everything working? with the mi mix 2. this never was an issue when i installed a custom rom (xiaomi.eu rom)
MadSilence said:
is it possible to install ressurection remix without root. or. to be clear. have banking apps, netflix and everything working? with the mi mix 2. this never was an issue when i installed a custom rom (xiaomi.eu rom)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ironically, you need to have magisk to get those apps to work. If you have magisk, you can change your device fingerprint using a modue called magisk hide props.
Will This Interfere With My Cell Phone Plan
The only reason I am hesitant to root my Galaxy S9 , is that I'm not sure of all of the negative impacts of rooting. here is my question. If I root my phone will i get to keep my cell phone plan? and will i be able to trade in my phone in the future?
I've had a lot of phones, all of them was rooted, even my S7, but the S9+ is my first that I haven't felt the need to root or anything else.
It's just a great phone.
skalembeatz9090 said:
The only reason I am hesitant to root my Galaxy S9 , is that I'm not sure of all of the negative impacts of rooting. here is my question. If I root my phone will i get to keep my cell phone plan? and will i be able to trade in my phone in the future?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You will keep your cell phone plan as that's based on the Sim card. And trade in depends on region I think. But factory reset with original recovery and everything should mean you can trade in unless your telecom company doesn't like it

P20 Lite Custom Roms/ Root

Just throwing this out there, I recently picked up a P20 Lite here in Canada through a carrier deal, admittedly it is a downgrade from my last phone regardless not the point of my post. I have never owned a phone that I didn't unlock the bootloader, root and install a custom ROM, until now (I'm too cheap even for the $5-$10 it costs to unlock.
Here's my question. With the state of custom roms for this phone is it really worth it? I have the 9.1 update, remove all the bloatware through ADB, install a decent launcher, happy with the camera and battery life. I do miss the familiarity of Lineage/Cy but can live with it. Am I missing anything earth shattering, again it goes against my core not to hack, but also to pay ?.
Saint613 said:
Just throwing this out there, I recently picked up a P20 Lite here in Canada through a carrier deal, admittedly it is a downgrade from my last phone regardless not the point of my post. I have never owned a phone that I didn't unlock the bootloader, root and install a custom ROM, until now (I'm too cheap even for the $5-$10 it costs to unlock.
Here's my question. With the state of custom roms for this phone is it really worth it? I have the 9.1 update, remove all the bloatware through ADB, install a decent launcher, happy with the camera and battery life. I do miss the familiarity of Lineage/Cy but can live with it. Am I missing anything earth shattering, again it goes against my core not to hack, but also to pay ?.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is that a question?
asmOne said:
Is that a question?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, is there a stable custom ROM that brings something to the table that I'm not seeing? Again, I'm familiar with the stability of official Lineage builds on OnePlus devices but am new to anything for the Huawei phones.
Saint613 said:
Yes, is there a stable custom ROM that brings something to the table that I'm not seeing? Again, I'm familiar with the stability of official Lineage builds on OnePlus devices but am new to anything for the Huawei phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Official p already OTA and You better stick to stock because this is not a flagship device and looks like moderators are already give up.

Question Daily driver custom ROMs?

Hi, I'm interested in picking up a BC62 but are any of the currently available ROMs stable enough for daily driving?
I'm still living in the last decade and prefer the fully custom experience, but I suppose just getting root and bootloader unlock may be sufficient nowadays...
Apologies if this question is an easy one or frequently asked, I couldn't find much.
as you see, there is no supported custom roms for this device. You can try GSI roms.
unfortunately price too high and community not enough for devs
Well technically there's one custom ROM...but idk if it's still gonna be supported...i may try to build some now that the guides are up tho
I see there are a few abandoned ones under development but there's little talk about living with them. Guess nobody really does, ha.
Circumstances are just pushing me to switch carriers (and therefore phones) and it's hard to part with the custom ROM life. At least Sony OEM software is decent and root/unlock is actually supported.
I look forward your future projects, @Ainz_Ooal_Gown !
Stormwing said:
I see there are a few abandoned ones under development but there's little talk about living with them. Guess nobody really does, ha.
Circumstances are just pushing me to switch carriers (and therefore phones) and it's hard to part with the custom ROM life. At least Sony OEM software is decent and root/unlock is actually supported.
I look forward your future projects, @Ainz_Ooal_Gown !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im using GSI a11 on xq-bc72. Everything works fine battery life is pretty good.
Im debating if I should go back stock but im trying to build 13
bountyman334 said:
Im using GSI a11 on xq-bc72. Everything works fine battery life is pretty good.
Im debating if I should go back stock but im trying to build 13
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And how it works?
i just tried GSI a12 rom and camera didn`t work, ambient display didn`t work, autobrightness didn`t work. Back to stock
I used the Lineage ROM that's here ( https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/rom-11-unofficial-lineageos-18-1-for-xperia-1-iii.4431701 ) for a few months. Unfortunately it comes with an outdated VideoPro app that can't be updated due to missing libraries (Theoretically you can if you mod a newer APK, but I'm not very experienced in coding and wasn't able to make it work). Also this meant Sony-specific apps like 3D creator, etc... won't install or update without modding them.
The only other problem I noticed was 5G NSA didn't work, just LTE with carrier aggregation at best. This wasn't a big problem personally since 5G NSA isn't reaaaallly an improvement all else being equal.
There were a couple other bugs / differences. The assistant button wouldn't function even with the Xperia+ app, and using the camera button to open the camera app behaved differently in a way that I didn't like. Probably a couple smaller things I'm forgetting about that I just lived with without issue.
Not being able to update or install Sony-specific apps was the deal breaker eventually. If I knew how to mod APK's to install/update them, I'd still be on that ROM today. It was actually really good. My battery life was noticeably better (probably mostly due to lack of 5G), I had no stability issues, the ROM was light and fast and I got all the customization that comes with Lineage out of the box.
i get it why there arent custom roms. what i dont get why arent any debloated stock rom either. sony does not have bloatware ?
Fytdyh said:
i get it why there arent custom roms. what i dont get why arent any debloated stock rom either. sony does not have bloatware ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because there's no value in doing this.
Just get a root uninstaller and yeet the bloat.
As someone who tried a lot of roms, just don't. They all have serious demerits that are just not worth it.
Honestly it's quite jarring coming from Xiaomi/Samsung where custom roms are extensive are necessary or a worthwhile alternative respectively. I hoped we wouldn't need the size of community for this phone as everything is supposedly open source (or provided), but experience tells us otherwise. The phone is just too expensive -> phone doesn't go to eastern (read: eastern-europe and SE asia) developers and development just never takes off.
Sakuma_Eitarou said:
And how it works?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it works pretty good. i dont care for 5g camera works. its pretty fast. thev only thing is camera from lockscreen and reverse wireless charrging

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