For those who ask themselves which device to get to give LineageOS a try, I try to automatically compile a list of recommended models from the project's structured data that underpins its wiki. The list lives at https://johannes.truschnigg.info/tmp/lineageos_device_toplis... and is updated daily.

I myself have been a happy user since when my daily driver phone had a 320x480px screen, 512MB RAM, and ran CyanogenMod with some alien skaterboi mascot ;)

This may seem silly but step 0 of every alternative ROM install is always what? "Backup your phone." But they never tell the user how. If you're really going to target "non-tech savvy folk" you can't just leave important steps at "you figure it out."

GrapheneOS is way better if you can get this hypothetical "non-tech savvy" person to install it + play services.

I'm not sure why the author thinks Lineage is easy enough for a non-tech savvy person to install...I mean, if you've got this guy to do it for you then you're good I guess.

Does anyone know what is the cheapest (refurbished) smartphone this OS can run on?

Until your banking or ID app doesn't work as you need Google Play services, or WhatsApp notifications don't work, etc.

I like LineageOS but for the privacy-minded I prefer the de-Googled fork: https://e.foundation/about-e/ (launched by the guy behind Mandrake Linux, for people old enough to remember that distro)

I was expecting to trash the idea of custom roms for the laymen, but this is actually a really smart idea. In this case, "minimal" means "as close as possible to a dumb phone", which means uninstalling everything that's not the phone app. I'm not sure how much longer society will tolerate somebody with a phone that can only call, but for those who truly only need to be able to call and text I think it's a brilliant solution.

i tried LineageOS, shortly after i also wanted to try e/os (..because of my proprietary banking app...) and was amazed how easy the e/os flashing+setup was. Also with e/os you have way more control over features like e.g GPS where you can not only enable/disable GPS but you can also provide fake GPS data for apps which force you to turn it on.

Even with Google Play Services working, there's a much more difficult underlying issue that makes for a rather unpleasant user experience with banking apps: SafetyNet Attestation/Play Integrity/CTS profiles/whatever other names there are for it.

I remember that ages ago I had to use Magisk and a finnicky Xposed module on my phone to be able to get past the root protection my banking app had. I'll be honest, these days I just don't have the mental energy for those sorts of fights anymore.

MicroG has a LineageOS distribution, they build for all the supported devices by upstream Lineage: https://lineage.microg.org/

That should cover at least the notification side. If I can't bank on a mostly open-source mobile OS than I would rather just not bank on mobile at all. Banking on stock ROM is not an option for me.

I've been using LineageOS for 2 years now since my 2020 phone started to slow down due to bloatware. From the moment I installed it, the phone became fast again. Regarding notifications, I haven't had any problems with WhatsApp or any other messaging apps. As for my bank, I downloaded the app from the Play Store (I use microG) and I haven't had any issues either. I think it depends on your bank and the restrictions they place. In my personal experience, LineageOS has allowed me to continue using a phone that would have otherwise been thrown away due to planned obsolescence by the manufacturer.

I'm amazed this didn't come up yet as a part of the DMA because everything related to the play services and integrity are a blatant antitrust violation.

TFA says that the intended user does not care about having banking apps on that phone.

Also, there is nothing stopping you from just keeping an old phone around just for the banking app. It's not like I really need to do banking on the go, and the app is nothing more than a glorified 2FA app for when I do home banking, on my actual computer.

Agreed - this is a good solution for people that don't want or need any of that stuff. You'd be surprised how many people out there don't do any form of internet banking at all and simply manage their money in the bank branch or over the telephone directly to the bank. For the elderly, it's a great idea to remove their internet banking (or not give them access to it in the first place) and protect them from scammers.

This is covered in the linked post.

On my phone, using crDroid (no official lineageos support), I can use Google Pay without problems. This wasn't possible when it was still rooted, so I think root access is what prevented that from working before.

As for Google Play, you can just install those right after installing Lineage. Or you use MicroG or something if you don't like the closed source Google services client.

I've been daily driving Lineageos with MicroG on a cheap Motorola and have had no problems with Whatsapp at all. (Thankfully I've been able to avoid banking or ID apps so can't chime in on that)

You can use Google Play services on Lineage os. IIRC they are installed by default though there are ways to use it without them (doing that right now). About banking apps idk.

Fire your bank if they don't respect your boundaries.

which is why LOS is exactly not for non-tech savvy folks. he probably proselytized his priorities until his family members couldn't hear it anymore and just surrendered. i hope he has a lot of time because exactly the points you mentioned plus all his "advantages" will come back to haunt him.

having said that i love anything anti-google but i'd be careful to advertise it to others.

Do you mean root detection? Because running Google apps on lineage OS devices is probably more common than not.

Yeah we have extensive use of eID here in Sweden and they all require device integrity. https://wiki.lineageos.org/quirks/snet/

It's kinda funny that device integrity is so important to them, implying evil maid attacks, but the most common attack on eID is simply stealing someone's code or convincing them to use their eID over the phone.

Of course, with the evil maid attack enabled stealing someone's phone would become much more common, rather like stealing someone's credit card.

Yeah, that's a really big problem for any Android enthusiast who wants to have a root and tinker with the device.

I ended up with 2 phones because of that and my second is an iPhone mini, because of the shitty financial apps that didn't work properly on Android. The upside of a walled garden I suppose is that the bank would test it properly on a more consistent iOS.

If you use those apps, you're part of the problem.

Yeah, look for a bank that does not require you to have a smartphone.