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NelsonMinar parent
Android's ability to run binaries outside of the Google Play Store is a key differentiator of their product vs. Apple's. Or at least it used to be.
jajuuka
I think this is another thing that has changed in time. Custom ROM's used to be the defining feature of Android but over time less and less people used it. I think sideloading has gotten to that point as well. Where it's a power user feature that most people don't touch. So Google feels confident in nixing it since it only affects a small group of people.
fluoridation
Fewer people use custom ROMs not necessarily because they don't want to, but because manufacturers began putting hardware on the phones that only they have the firmware for. I have a Samsung phone that I replaced as my daily driver because the phone speaker broke from sweat. Other than the speaker it works literally perfectly. I'd love to use it to try different alternative OSs, but AFAIK, even though it's only from 2021, not a single project supports it.
jajuuka
Phones with unlock able boot loaders still exist. Samsung phones outside the US that use Exynos, Pixel, OnePlus, Motorola, etc. The features people made custom rom's for have just become part of Google Android or part of other OEM versions. Even though these popular phones do have unlock able boot loaders there just isn't a large interest in custom rom's. The interest in custom roms and more locked boatloaders happened in parallel.
const_cast
Its the other way around - these aren't less popular because people want them less now so we kneecap them - they're less popular BECAUSE we've spent the last decade kneecapping them.

Custom roms would be more popular if every app dev and Google weren't doing everything in their power to make their software not work on custom roms.

That's intentional. It didn't used to be that way.

jajuuka
I don't think so. There are still plenty of devices and apps that can be unlocked and run custom roms on. But there is barely any developers working on it. Custom roms were always a power user method to give themselves more functions. What functions are missing from modern OEM roms and launchers?
const_cast
1. There is exactly one device sold in the entirety of the US that can have the bootloader locked on a custom rom - ironically, the Google pixel.

2. Bootloader locking matters because many (most?) apps will just refuse to run.

3. Why? Because Google built up the attestation API which severely handicapped those 99.9% of devices from running custom roms.

4. Even on the 0.1%, the Google pixel, it won't pass full attestation - so some really picky apps like banking won't run. Only stock android untouched will run those apps.

It didn't use to be this way 10 years ago.

zrobotics
I mean, the epic games lawsuit specifically involved sideloading. There's still ongoing litigation in one of those suits. Playing fortnite isn't exactly a niche or power user thing.
mrheosuper
If OEM stop working so hard to prevent user from flashing their own ROM(and use it like stock ROM), custom ROM would still be active.
Workaccount2
It's ironically also why they were ruled a monopoly and Apple wasn't. Yeah, try and wrap your head around that.
GZGavinZhao
Still is, all of those Chinese ROMs/phone manufacturers thriving because of this. The Chinese phone market would literally be non-existent if it weren't for the ability to run binaries outside of Google Play.
MrDresden
I beg to differ.

Most Android users choose that ecosystem due to the price point, as most of the world can not afford iPhones (even second hand ones).

Only a tiny fraction of the billions of Android users out there, chose it for its more open aspects.

mrheosuper
I Disagree, You could find an iPhone at any price brackets. even $100 you could get an iPhone 7, which is still useable for basic task like light web browsing or streaming media.
emptyfile (dead)
RadiozRadioz
Unfortunately, it's not a differentiator at all in the market. Not to enough consumers that it remotely matters. For our niche nerdy subculture it's extremely important, but essentially nobody in the grand scheme of things even knows that binary is a thing that exists.
gck1
I wonder if, as newer generations grow more tech literate, the demand for this will rise and every OS maker will end up shooting themselves in the foot.

At least one can dream.

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