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I have seen some threads for kids apps. I am interested in finding/building a kids ROM.
My child has a prepaid SIM card and RAZR to be used for certain situations. I would want to be able to let my child carry the phone all the time but restrict what numbers could be called.
So my idea, which can't be an original one, is leverage Android power to install a rooted ROM but run in user mode when I give it to my child. User mode could restrict calling to the phone book only or restrict wi-fi/data access; basically anything that you wanted to restrict or remove. Maybe there could be a ROM builder.
I have many scenarios in mind but maybe they could all be solved by software apps instead of getting into a custom ROM? I'm tech savvy, but haven't ever done a ROM. If the answer is to develop a custom ROM, what device should I choose that would get the most community support? I figure it would be a low end phone, since the point is to make a children's rom.
May I ask how old is your child?
[Sig] dId you know? If you Insert a Coin on your Desire, then it levels up to HD, Z or S :[/Sig]
i was thinking of my son when you mentioned this, it is a great i dea, and i also thought if the original att kid's phone that was out a few years back. it was revamped and it sucked. but good luck on either building one or have some one make one ( put a bounty on it?)
Phones and ROMs
My child is 8 years old. I figure in a few years that it would be fine, but it seems like there would be more of a market for this.
I would put up a bounty for it but I'd prefer to make this a community effort too.
So I will change tack here and ask what the best ROM might be for me to start with and what phones might be recommended? I'm figuring that CM would be easiest to start with, generically?
Thoughts?
I think that is a very good idea.
A good part of that could be accoimplished with a kids theme on an existing ROM.
im sorry but the RAZR is a dumb-phone! it doesnt support 3rd party modding. im afraid you are mistaking the word 'ROM' and actually don't know what it means! You will have no luck finding such ROM for the RAZR... A bootloader of any sort does not exist!
You need a smartphone if you want such a job done, but it requires a investment into a smartphone which are generally more expensive and not intended for 'kids'
I understand...
@olyloh6696: Thanks for looking in on the thread!
You misunderstood what I was explaining. She _currently_ has a RAZR. I want to figure out what the best GSM _android_ phone would be to do the project I'm describing would be. I would of course have to get the new phone; I do understand that the RAZR does not support android (dumbphone).
Any thoughts on phone model or something out there like this already?
rykerwilliams said:
@olyloh6696: Thanks for looking in on the thread!
You misunderstood what I was explaining. She _currently_ has a RAZR. I want to figure out what the best GSM _android_ phone would be to do the project I'm describing would be. I would of course have to get the new phone; I do understand that the RAZR does not support android (dumbphone).
Any thoughts on phone model or something out there like this already?
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hi
well i guess the best option for a relatively cheap phone (that has android) is the zte blade (in my sig) it is a british phone, but gsm, so i think it should work in the us. if you read reviews for it, it has specs of the desire, nexus one, etc in a cheap budget range. read some revies on it! it also cost £100. Not sure what your budget is though. before you set out to buy the phone, you may need to look up a rom that supports the requirements you want, or you could request one/build your own.
good luck
Unrelated, but the RAZR does support modding lol. Back in the day, pre-Android, I used to hack the hell out of my Razr. There's even a hidden feature called Club Lights that uses the phone's microphone to detect music and make the lights on the phone go with the beat. Youtube it.
That's a great idea... it would be great on a tablet too.
I'm always worried that my son is going to click around in the market and download tons of apps without know it.
Remove Dialer.app, replace with custom Dialer.app
Is the source for the Dialer.app known, i.e. part of the main trunk of the Android sources? I was just thinking that it might not be too hard to just modify that original source to limit it only to the "contacts" tab, that way you can only call the contacts tab.
Another feature I thought of is using some kind of Dynamic DNS client to be able to dial in to the phone.
I was thinking that there could be a "phone home" app that would call home and report the currently used minutes and GPS coordinates, or similar.
Just trying to get the features set worked out and find out if there is existing apps that do this stuff.
2018, quick google search for Kids Custom ROM.... dead thread no progress. There is definitely a market for this, since it's easy to shove a phone into an OtterBox like case and let them have at it with safe guards. My kid has had an Ipad since age 2 without issue. Now she asks for my phone on occasion (years later). It would be easier to just take a custom ROM shove it on a cheap device and give it to her.
Sure, I am a minority, definitely but I can't consider myself the only person who would want to do this.
This is what I'm looking for my child. I'm a software engeneer but I've never works on Android. I think it's not a great works for an Android developer.
I'll follow this post for news.
digging this one up again. anyway to take something like at Nexux 5x and put a totally stripped down version of android on it to achieve something like the lightphone?
nvrpunk said:
2018, quick google search for Kids Custom ROM.... dead thread no progress. There is definitely a market for this, since it's easy to shove a phone into an OtterBox like case and let them have at it with safe guards. My kid has had an Ipad since age 2 without issue. Now she asks for my phone on occasion (years later). It would be easier to just take a custom ROM shove it on a cheap device and give it to her.
Sure, I am a minority, definitely but I can't consider myself the only person who would want to do this.
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Per capita, there are very few people that actually root or flash custom ROMs, the number of kids that could/would use such a ROM is even less than that, this means it is not worth a developers time and hard work to build a ROM for this purpose, especially considering the plethora of different devices out there in the world. There would not be enough kids using "this" or "that" device with "this" or "that" custom ROM. To be as convenient for kids as what you are asking about, there would have to be a "kids ROM" for a large number of devices. This is not a reasonable expectation by any standard.
Add to that, the fact that rooting devices and flashing ROMs can quickly go bad if the user is not familiar with certain aspects of using a device that is rooted or flashed with a custom ROM, this makes for some rather difficult issues to solve due to user error, ignorance and inexperience of the user.
If you want a "safe" or "basic" ROM for a device, you'll have to learn how to build it yourself because I can promise you that no developer is willing to put that much time and effort into building ROMs that will only be used by a small number of users.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk
I know xposed does not exist for the Verizon version of our galaxy s6 and rooting is not possible for vzw phones running 5.1.1. Im wondering if there is any way or anyone who could develop a module for any of us stuck on rooted 5.0.2 or if there's an issue blocking it? Reason asking.... It was a great tool and I think we might be stuck without root for a long time.....
I, like many here, have the same question. If you haven't seen this post http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=62884922&postcount=1073 it has what I read as descriptions of some of the more technical challenges to meet regarding Xposed. Additional descriptions can be found by this post by rovo89 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=58949255&postcount=3 I interpret the two problems as described by @wanam in the following way: (Please note that while I am an engineer I am not a software engineer or developer so I apologize for any inaccuracies of my understanding)
Lack of a unified ART by Samsung for 5.0 - This sounds to me like an solvable problem for those with the technical ability as @arter97 but an INCREDIBLE amount of work. Given my professional experiences and the fact that usually when I'm asked to estimate the effort required to accomplish something, it is greater than what the requester expects; In this case I'm not willing to hazard a guess, especially since these folks tend do this as more of a hobby and are either students or have other jobs to pay the bills. I always hope for, but never expect, further work because of this.
Compressed Odexes - This seems in some ways more significant to me and my understanding is results in needing a deodexed ROM, which is doable but Custom ROM = Trip Knox.
The whole thing makes me want to become a proper software guy and try my hand at it myself, but I should probably get back to the lab and do some research. At this point, the most hopeful path may just be waiting for 6.0 and crossing our fingers that there are enough changes that one of them allows a root exploit to slip through for us.
I haven't said anything anyone else hasn't already, but I had spent some time running through these forums in search of understanding of all the above and thought given your post, maybe enough other people have the same questions that there would be value in providing all the links to the info in a centralized place.
- JasonVaritekMVP
JasonVaritekMVP said:
I, like many here, have the same question. If you haven't seen this post http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=62884922&postcount=1073 it has what I read as descriptions of some of the more technical challenges to meet regarding Xposed. Additional descriptions can be found by this post by rovo89 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=58949255&postcount=3 I interpret the two problems as described by @wanam in the following way: (Please note that while I am an engineer I am not a software engineer or developer so I apologize for any inaccuracies of my understanding)
Lack of a unified ART by Samsung for 5.0 - This sounds to me like an solvable problem for those with the technical ability as @arter97 but an INCREDIBLE amount of work. Given my professional experiences and the fact that usually when I'm asked to estimate the effort required to accomplish something, it is greater than what the requester expects; In this case I'm not willing to hazard a guess, especially since these folks tend do this as more of a hobby and are either students or have other jobs to pay the bills. I always hope for, but never expect, further work because of this.
Compressed Odexes - This seems in some ways more significant to me and my understanding is results in needing a deodexed ROM, which is doable but Custom ROM = Trip Knox.
The whole thing makes me want to become a proper software guy and try my hand at it myself, but I should probably get back to the lab and do some research. At this point, the most hopeful path may just be waiting for 6.0 and crossing our fingers that there are enough changes that one of them allows a root exploit to slip through for us.
I haven't said anything anyone else hasn't already, but I had spent some time running through these forums in search of understanding of all the above and thought given your post, maybe enough other people have the same questions that there would be value in providing all the links to the info in a centralized place.
- JasonVaritekMVP
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The second point concerning XZ compression is now supported on my latest unofficial Xposed for 5.1.1, it should be the same for 5.0 FWs.
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
So no xposed? What's the final answer here
The community was full of talented developers and modders that would put their all into it. Even when a update was in testing developers was still able to get us a copy so that we didn't have to wait for the carrier dragging their feet. We had guarantee root and unroot methods. People would answer questions when asked. Threads would always got comments no matter the topic. I don't know what happened to this great community. Almost seem like people don't care to much anymore. I come here almost every day and it's no new activity. Could it be this device or did xda-developers really change?
It's this device. Unless we get a bootloader unlock, you'll see the same activity pretty much every single day. If you check out the Exynos version of this device, activity is splendid and dev support is pretty well. Many of us knew that this device would stay locked, and you as well should have known before purchasing this device.
xWolf is 99% right.
Our devices are locked down, not a lot you can do when the bootloader is encrypted. The old days of leaked keys and hacked bootloader's are pretty much over.
The other 1% is the communities attitude. We have people running full stock down talking people who want to root. We have people who don't read and flash things that were never meant for their device. Then there are the people who attack developers for not doing things how they want... that's just in the T-Mobile S7 edge forums.
I have multiple phones. Some my daily driver like the s7 are mostly stock running the U firmware, but my G3 is still being developed I have Nougat on my G3... my S4 is still developed, and my s6 is slow but there are a few dedicated folks doing stuff. I have been part of XDA for about a decade soft and hard bricked more than a few phones working with devs to test things and the last few years the community has been flooded with people who don't deserve the time and effort these devs put into their work.
Sorry rant over...
Sent from my SM-G935U using XDA Premium HD app
problem is things like samsung pay which are awesome. As we switch to a smartphone taking over PC's for standard users development like this will die. I miss the old days too. I just wish I could overclock my cpu/gpu on my S7 and still have samsung pay. Not having to carry my wallet is nice.
This isn't specific to the T-Mo forums, unfortunately. Though there does seem to be more virtual foot-traffic in the AT&T realm (I'm an AT&T user), it essentially amounts to the same level of traction.
I concur with what others have said, and honestly - I don't care about root at this point. Phones do most everything that I want (custom launcher, etc), but the one thing that drives me insane is the lack of ability to do a nandroid backup. I cannot stand that - after all this time on Android - Google has not made this a possibility without root. Light users don't and won't care, but then again they aren't on XDA in the first place. Those of us that are want to be able to backup things in a "snapshot" type of way, so we don't have to start from scratch. Helium, and similar apps only go so far (not nearly far enough, IMO) to band-aid this.
This phone isn't geared toward the "XDA user" in the first place. 99.9% of people who use this device have no idea what a nandroid is and how it benefits them. And honestly, on a stock device, I also fail to see the utility of snapshot backups. I get why they exist but how often does the casual user wipe their device to make it worthwhile? Also, space is still pretty limited on mobile devices. Google will never bring this functionality to Android, but I would not complain if they had a backup utility similar to Apple's iTunes, which restores everything from a computer. That actually makes sense, and I am surprised that Google has not made something similar.
That being said, there are plenty of excellent devices that offer you what you want. Everything is a trade-off.
Kingaries79 said:
The community was full of talented developers and modders that would put their all into it. Even when a update was in testing developers was still able to get us a copy so that we didn't have to wait for the carrier dragging their feet. We had guarantee root and unroot methods. People would answer questions when asked. Threads would always got comments no matter the topic. I don't know what happened to this great community. Almost seem like people don't care to much anymore. I come here almost every day and it's no new activity. Could it be this device or did xda-developers really change?
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Come to the V20. You have to follow the hardware to play you cant go with what has the best hardware all the time.
To all our Samsung Nougat Rootless users. We thank you dearly for journeying with us into being the first modularized external-OEM-based theming system. You guys have been wonderful and although there have been many ups and downs, our team would like to thank each and every one of you!
Now come Android Oreo for Samsung users, we have to unfortunately state that we will no longer be supporting Nougat’s Sungstratum Addon as they are running on a completely different theming system. As we have BIG plans with Andromeda, we plan to keep it updated even when users upgrade to 9.0.
Instead of maintaining multiple complex projects just to end up abandoning support on an Oreo version of Sungstratum, would cause more code hiccups and potential bugs. So we decided that we would drop the price of Andromeda at a 50% discount for the next 4 days - STARTING ON FEBRUARY 15TH 00:00GMT, TO THE 19TH’s 23:59GMT!
Again, we know to those who are disappointed, we would definitely want to help but our redemption codes are limited to 500/quarter, which would be reserved for upcoming, more frequent giveaways! To our current dedicated substratum users on Huawei, OnePlus, Samsung, Essential, Honor and the like, with Oreo, we would like to thank all of you!
We understand many people would not be content about this, but also if we made amazing changes for andromeda and people from samsung gets the crappier end of the deal, it would be even worse. The idea of andromeda - comes from the idea that everyone is part of the same galaxy now, and it is universalized.
We would like to clarify that the addon for Nougat support is NOT dead and the addon will keep working as long as you are running Android Nougat - as the addon advertised since day one in the description.
Well said @sykopompos ! It will be much better to have everyone on the same page
I'm not gonna pay again for something I've already paid for
Before making such harsh decisons users opinion should be taken in consideration
I'm not gonna pay for another app
You guys should play fair for those who have alreadg purchased the app should get the app free rather than paying for it again
sykopompos said:
To all our Samsung Nougat Rootless users. We thank you dearly for journeying with us into being the first modularized external-OEM-based theming system. You guys have been wonderful and although there have been many ups and downs, our team would like to thank each and every one of you!
Now come Android Oreo for Samsung users, we have to unfortunately state that we will no longer be supporting Nougat’s Sungstratum Addon as they are running on a completely different theming system. As we have BIG plans with Andromeda, we plan to keep it updated even when users upgrade to 9.0.
Instead of maintaining multiple complex projects just to end up abandoning support on an Oreo version of Sungstratum, would cause more code hiccups and potential bugs. So we decided that we would drop the price of Andromeda at a 50% discount for the next 4 days - STARTING ON FEBRUARY 15TH 00:00GMT, TO THE 19TH’s 23:59GMT!
Again, we know to those who are disappointed, we would definitely want to help but our redemption codes are limited to 500/quarter, which would be reserved for upcoming, more frequent giveaways! To our current dedicated substratum users on Huawei, OnePlus, Samsung, Essential, Honor and the like, with Oreo, we would like to thank all of you!
We understand many people would not be content about this, but also if we made amazing changes for andromeda and people from samsung gets the crappier end of the deal, it would be even worse. The idea of andromeda - comes from the idea that everyone is part of the same galaxy now, and it is universalized.
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Definitively unfair. People like me who supported you by purchasing your app are the ones who are getting hurt. Asking us to pay again for a new app with "50% discount" sounds to me like you could care less about your loyal customers and only care about getting more money in your pockets.
You can give promo codes, make the app free for a few days, convert the old app into a license key to unlock the new app, etc. Anything to be fair to us instead of ignoring us.
Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk
I think everyone complaining about how they have to pay twice isn't understanding just how much work it took to make Andromeda. It's not just a few more lines of code, they had to completely redo how theming worked. The way it's implemented in Nougat vs Oreo couldn't be more different.
Not to mention, it's $3. You guys are really complaining about $3? Skip your morning coffee or better yet, just don't use it. Nobody is forcing you to pay $3. Want to use Substratum for free? Root your phone. Don't have root and don't want to pay? Go make your own, then you'll really see how much work it is. In fact, I'll bet you won't be asking for $3 afterwards. Maybe more like $50. It's open source, after all, so go crazy and have fun.
xDark_ said:
I think everyone complaining about how they have to pay twice isn't understanding just how much work it took to make Andromeda. It's not just a few more lines of code, they had to completely redo how theming worked. The way it's implemented in Nougat vs Oreo couldn't be more different.
Not to mention, it's $3. You guys are really complaining about $3? Skip your morning coffee or better yet, just don't use it. Nobody is forcing you to pay $3. Want to use Substratum for free? Root your phone. Don't have root and don't want to pay? Go make your own, then you'll really see how much work it is. In fact, I'll bet you won't be asking for $3 afterwards. Maybe more like $50. It's open source, after all, so go crazy and have fun.
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I really dislike people like you. Honestly it could been a $1.. I m more than welcome to purchase. But it's the principal of me purchasing a key already. It's like if the dev of sdmaid or other Debs that has keys sent an email saying we are having another key, and the pervious that you paid for wouldn't work.. That's not a proper way to do things and I know I'll get heat for saying that (which I don't care). I understand how much went to it, trust me I wanted to switch my phone to opo to just use substratum... But saying stuff is just $3 that's not how things should work especially if I helped out already
xDark_ said:
I think everyone complaining about how they have to pay twice isn't understanding just how much work it took to make Andromeda. It's not just a few more lines of code, they had to completely redo how theming worked. The way it's implemented in Nougat vs Oreo couldn't be more different.
Not to mention, it's $3. You guys are really complaining about $3? Skip your morning coffee or better yet, just don't use it. Nobody is forcing you to pay $3. Want to use Substratum for free? Root your phone. Don't have root and don't want to pay? Go make your own, then you'll really see how much work it is. In fact, I'll bet you won't be asking for $3 afterwards. Maybe more like $50. It's open source, after all, so go crazy and have fun.
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I dislike users like you with your mindset. <Mod Snip> It does not matter how much it is. It could be $0.99 for all I care. I am NOT paying for another app when I already paid for the Samsung Substratum add-on. The developer could easily give those users a free promo code but they would rather have them pay for another app again so they could increase their revenue. That's not fair from the end user's point of view.
A Reddit user put it best: "Sorry, just buy our other app! And in 6 months we'll make a newer, better one! You also need to buy that one too."
milojoseph said:
I really dislike people like you. Honestly it could been a $1.. I m more than welcome to purchase. But it's the principal of me purchasing a key already. It's like if the dev of sdmaid or other Debs that has keys sent an email saying we are having another key, and the pervious that you paid for wouldn't work.. That's not a proper way to do things and I know I'll get heat for saying that (which I don't care). I understand how much went to it, trust me I wanted to switch my phone to opo to just use substratum... But saying stuff is just $3 that's not how things should work especially if I helped out already
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No, the SD Maid analogy doesn't work. But here's one that does:
Google goes ahead and completely revamps how the file system works in Android 9.0, thus breaking all apps that use the filesystem, like Solid or SD Maid. The dev(s) takes weeks and months rewriting the code so it works on 9.x and when they're done, they've pretty much recoded the entire app.
So you're saying because you and others paid $1 for the app in 2016, they should get nothing in return for weeks of work?
If the dev updates the app it could potentially break functionality for people on lower versions. If they make it a separate app but use the same license key app as their older version, they're still not getting any money. $1 is a bag of chips. Rent isn't $1. Utilities aren't $1. Hell, $1 doesn't even start to cover how much work the dev had to do to get the app running again. Not to mention that means the dev now has to maintain two codebases and two sets of users, all off your one dollar.
And don't give me BS about "oh why not just add a donate button" because everyone and their mom's know damn well no one clicks that shxt.
So, why did I use that particular example? Because that's what the Substratum devs had to do. Do me a favor: go to the Sungstratum GitHub and the Andromeda GitHub and compare how many lines of code are different and the same.
So tell me, how are things supposed to be done?
Would you prefer it to be free and have them show ads?
Or maybe you would've preferred it to be 100% free so the devs get very little to no tangible support for their efforts?
(Which, BTW, that option exists - root your phone and you don't need Andromeda.)
Again, don't like it? The app itself is open source on GitHub, so feel free to make your own implementation that's free. Hell, I'm sure the devs would even encourage you to.
haloali said:
I dislike users like you with your mindset. <Mod Snip> It does not matter how much it is. It could be $0.99 for all I care. I am NOT paying for another app when I already paid for the Samsung Substratum add-on. The developer could easily give those users a free promo code but they would rather have them pay for another app again so they could increase their revenue. That's not fair from the end user's point of view.
A Reddit user put it best: "Sorry, just buy our other app! And in 6 months we'll make a newer, better one! You also need to buy that one too."
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So don't. Who's forcing you to? Substratum isn't SystemUI, you don't need to buy it or else you can't use your phone.
And I've already addressed the "I already paid for it!" argument above.
So I'll offer the same challenge to you: look at the source of Sungstratum and Andromeda and see how many changes were made.
Well I bought the Sungstratum add-on so I deserve this 'Andromeda' app for free
Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app
xDark_ said:
So tell me, how are things supposed to be done?
Would you prefer it to be free and have them show ads?
Or maybe you would've preferred it to be 100% free so the devs get very little to no tangible support for their efforts?
(Which, BTW, that option exists - root your phone and you don't need Andromeda.)
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You're not thinking. They made an app that users paid for that they expected to work for the whole time that they had it. If you pay for an app, you EXPECT the developer to update & continue to make it work with newer versions. These devs are just making a new app and saying, "Oh, sorry guys! You have to buy this new version which works with the new system updates."
That's like a car manufacturer saying, "Oh, sorry. This car you bought last year is not able to be driven on highways any more. You have to buy this new car to be able to drive on the highway now. Don't like it? Go build your own car." It's the stupidest **** I've ever seen and users like you are arguing FOR this. I just don't understand your logic.
I expect the developers to let the users who already paid for it upgrade to the new version for free. It's what the customers are expecting. Anything else is retarded.
haloali said:
You're not thinking. They made an app that users paid for that they expected to work for the whole time that they had it. If you pay for an app, you EXPECT the developer to update & continue to make it work with newer versions. These devs are just making a new app and saying, "Oh, sorry guys! You have to buy this new version which works with the new system updates."
That's like a car manufacturer saying, "Oh, sorry. This car you bought last year is not able to be driven on highways any more. You have to buy this new car to be able to drive on the highway now. Don't like it? Go build your own car." It's the stupidest **** I've ever seen and users like you are arguing FOR this. I just don't understand your logic.
I expect the developers to let the users who already paid for it upgrade to the new version for free. It's what the customers are expecting. Anything else is retarded.
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Did you read what I wrote? Samsung changed how theming worked so much from Nougat to get in line with how every other OEM would implement overlays on Oreo. This meant Sungstratum was pretty much worthless and pretty much had to be completely rewritten. Not to mention, Andromeda isn't Samsung-specific. It works for most, if not all, devices on Oreo.
It would be more akin if the US government decided to put regulations on self-driving cars, saying they had to have certain software installed and third-party hardware checks before they could be used out on the road, around the same time the Tesla Model 4 was released. Unfortunately, Tesla's Model 3 and lower with autopilot don't meet these standards set by the US government and Tesla can't upgrade older vehicles to meet those standards (remember autopilot v2?) due to logistical and money reasons. This means that Tesla will have to disable autopilot on all 3's and lower - it can still drive normally, but just no autopilot.
This would make you angry, yes, but it's necessary. Tesla isn't going to give you a brand new Model 4 for free nor are they going to upgrade your existing car. But now that there are known regulations in place, future Tesla vehicles won't have this issue. But that means in the short term, Model 3 and lower users are screwed. And what's Tesla gonna do? Probably give you $5,000 off a new Model 4 or something, or they may do nothing at all.
It's a similar thing with Samsung. Google and OEMs have decided to finally implemented a standardized way to installing overlays on Oreo. However, the new implementation is incompatible with Sungstratum. And for the mean time, Sungstratum users are screwed. But now that OEMs have decided on a proper way of doing overlays, this means that Andromeda will work for the foreseeable future and not a hacked up solution like Sungstratum/Samsung's Nougat implementation.
Not to mention, this money helps fund Substratum development. Ya know, the base app that can theme apps? The one that's free? That isn't free to them - servers, developers, they all cost money. If Subs goes, theming goes.
But if you really do want to use Andromeda for free, just root your phone.
Meh
Well paying $1-3 isnt the problem the problem is that it isn't my headache that what the developers have to do. I paid for something and i need support for it you just can't abadon a project and leave all user fustrated cuz a team of devs wants to make money every 6 months of so. That ain't fare to the users and in google play terms. All devs are transfering keys and i don't see them crying
Solution to combat the issue
Make the app free for 24 hours
Make the previous a key for this app to work then only users that have bought the app can access the new app and you guys will still get new users
Ask for a donation rather than imposing one i will happily donate but if you devs plan to use cheap tricks to get a new app that ain't happening
sykopompos said:
To all our Samsung Nougat Rootless users. We thank you dearly for journeying with us into being the first modularized external-OEM-based theming system. You guys have been wonderful and although there have been many ups and downs, our team would like to thank each and every one of you!
Now come Android Oreo for Samsung users, we have to unfortunately state that we will no longer be supporting Nougat’s Sungstratum Addon as they are running on a completely different theming system. As we have BIG plans with Andromeda, we plan to keep it updated even when users upgrade to 9.0.
Instead of maintaining multiple complex projects just to end up abandoning support on an Oreo version of Sungstratum, would cause more code hiccups and potential bugs. So we decided that we would drop the price of Andromeda at a 50% discount for the next 4 days - STARTING ON FEBRUARY 15TH 00:00GMT, TO THE 19TH’s 23:59GMT!
Again, we know to those who are disappointed, we would definitely want to help but our redemption codes are limited to 500/quarter, which would be reserved for upcoming, more frequent giveaways! To our current dedicated substratum users on Huawei, OnePlus, Samsung, Essential, Honor and the like, with Oreo, we would like to thank all of you!
We understand many people would not be content about this, but also if we made amazing changes for andromeda and people from samsung gets the crappier end of the deal, it would be even worse. The idea of andromeda - comes from the idea that everyone is part of the same galaxy now, and it is universalized.
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xDark_ said:
Did you read what I wrote? Samsung changed how theming worked so much from Nougat to get in line with how every other OEM would implement overlays on Oreo. This meant Sungstratum was pretty much worthless and pretty much had to be completely rewritten. Not to mention, Andromeda isn't Samsung-specific. It works for most, if not all, devices on Oreo.
It would be more akin if the US government decided to put regulations on self-driving cars, saying they had to have certain software installed and third-party hardware checks before they could be used out on the road, around the same time the Tesla Model 4 was released. Unfortunately, Tesla's Model 3 and lower with autopilot don't meet these standards set by the US government and Tesla can't upgrade older vehicles to meet those standards (remember autopilot v2?) due to logistical and money reasons. This means that Tesla will have to disable autopilot on all 3's and lower - it can still drive normally, but just no autopilot.
This would make you angry, yes, but it's necessary. Tesla isn't going to give you a brand new Model 4 for free nor are they going to upgrade your existing car. But now that there are known regulations in place, future Tesla vehicles won't have this issue. But that means in the short term, Model 3 and lower users are screwed. And what's Tesla gonna do? Probably give you $5,000 off a new Model 4 or something, or they may do nothing at all.
It's a similar thing with Samsung. Google and OEMs have decided to finally implemented a standardized way to installing overlays on Oreo. However, the new implementation is incompatible with Sungstratum. And for the mean time, Sungstratum users are screwed. But now that OEMs have decided on a proper way of doing overlays, this means that Andromeda will work for the foreseeable future and not a hacked up solution like Sungstratum/Samsung's Nougat implementation.
Not to mention, this money helps fund Substratum development. Ya know, the base app that can theme apps? The one that's free? That isn't free to them - servers, developers, they all cost money. If Subs goes, theming goes.
But if you really do want to use Andromeda for free, just root your phone.
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ITT: Not developers.
Let's compare this to Microsoft and their Office line of products. Let's say you bought Office 2010 back in 2011 and have used it for around a year or 2. Then, Office 2013 came out. Why was it okay for them to charge an upgrade fee/new license fee for that upgrade? Even then, however, 2010 still worked.
This is akin to Sungstratum still working on Nougat. Do you want the upgrade or do you want to stay on an old version?
Just buy the thing or don't theme...
chfreak said:
Well paying $1-3 isnt the problem the problem is that it isn't my headache that what the developers have to do. I paid for something and i need support for it you just can't abadon a project and leave all user fustrated cuz a team of devs wants to make money every 6 months of so. That ain't fare to the users and in google play terms. All devs are transfering keys and i don't see them crying
Solution to combat the issue
Make the app free for 24 hours
Make the previous a key for this app to work then only users that have bought the app can access the new app and you guys will still get new users
Ask for a donation rather than imposing one i will happily donate but if you devs plan to use cheap tricks to get a new app that ain't happening
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Did you read any of what I typed or...? Cuz I've addressed this argument twice now.
You guys have to realise that you bought an add-on, that in its description EXPLICITLY states that it allows the user of Substratum on Samsung Nougat (7.0/7.1.1). Nowhere did it say that it was guaranteed to support Oreo (8.0), or any future versions of Android.
The reason why Sungstratum can't be updated for Oreo support is because on Oreo, a different system of theming is used (OMS) than Nougat (RRO).
This isn't a question of personal greed, it's a question of system limitations. Heck, they are putting this add-on on sale to make it cheaper for not just migrating Sungstratum users, but anyone to hop onto the Andromeda train right now.
Now, some of you might ask, why can't they just update Sungstratum to clone Andromeda on Oreo? Well, this would create unnecessary work, and waste time for the Substratum developers by maintaining two branches of development for Andromeda and Sungstratum Oreo, instead of consolidating it into one project, and this also helps to reduce confusion, making sure which add-on you will need for Oreo.
So please, step back and have a think about why it has to be this way. Don't jump to conclusions.
Sent from my Samsung SM-G955F using XDA Labs
haloali said:
I expect the developers to let the users who already paid for it upgrade to the new version for free. It's what the customers are expecting. Anything else is retarded.
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You do realize how software development works right? When you buy software, the developers give you a list of features and guarantee that it will do those features. If it doesn't, they'll fix it. There is NO guarantee of getting new features or an upgrade with the package you purchased; they are free to do so at their discretion but they are not obligated to. We have never stated that Sungstratum will be supported on Oreo.
So please, stop using our software. You clearly don't care how much time and effort we put into developing and supporting it.
Sent from my Google Pixel 2 XL using XDA Labs
I'm not here to argue.... I don't want this thread to be clean... But point blank if purchase a key, the key should work forever.. I purchased so many software keys.. App keys.. Ranging from titanium backup to Microsoft words to adgaurd... I don't mind supporting a dev. But to tell me a key is no longer working ehh...
No one is taking anything away from anyone, Sungstratum will still work just fine on nougat. Andromeda is another app altogether and the devs have put in many many hours of work on it, so everyone would be able to theme Oreo. I can't believe people are crying so hard over a couple of dollars.
haloali said:
I dislike users like you with your mindset. <mod snip>. It does not matter how much it is. It could be $0.99 for all I care. I am NOT paying for another app when I already paid for the Samsung Substratum add-on. The developer could easily give those users a free promo code but they would rather have them pay for another app again so they could increase their revenue. That's not fair from the end user's point of view.
A Reddit user put it best: "Sorry, just buy our other app! And in 6 months we'll make a newer, better one! You also need to buy that one too."
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Andromeda was created with the unification of all OEMs in mind. Unlike Sungstratum, Andromeda is a utility app with a full suite of desktop apps made specifically for Oreo devices and above. Ever since the start, the Samsung addon explicitly stated that it would only support 7.0 and 7.1.1. Nowhere in the description has it ever said it would support Oreo because we can never ensure that it will be supported the same way with the hack we used. In Andromeda, we planned to stick with official Google documentation and access grants, with a plethora of new features coming down the line (was meant to be after we formally decided about the Samsung integration.)
As stated in the original post, there are only 500 codes per quarter. There are way more than 500 users on sungstratum.
We would like to clarify that the addon for Nougat support is NOT dead and the addon will keep working as long as you are running Android Nougat - as the addon advertised since day one in the description. We have not dropped support on Substratum side and the next build of subs will have a lot of build optimizations done specifically for Samsung Nougat.
Please keep in mind that we are working BEYOND the sandbox of a typical Play Store app or root app. We aren't SDMaid or Nova Launcher that will just work as long as you have root or simply, a way to install apps (third party launchers).
People said on Reddit that we could have just migrated people over to Oreo through a duplicate flavor in gradle. If they actually read the OP, it clearly stated that we would like to refrain from doing that as we are not only destroying the unified experience of Andromeda but also when we decide to give Andromeda many more features that were already in the works, Sungstratum users will DEMAND that they get the same treatment.
You're not buying "another Samsung addon" if you bought Andromeda. You can even hop on over to Huawei and rock your purchase there. You bought a Samsung addon for Nougat, you got the product that was advertised.
So in Sungstratum add-on description there is statement "An add-on to enable Samsung mode for Samsung devices (Nougat 7.0 - 7.1.1)" and in Andromeda description the statement is "An add-on to enable rootless mode for stock Android Oreo devices (8.0+)". What happen if Android 9.x release? There would be another add-on and so on and so forth every Android version
Hello everyone. I decided to start this thread so we would have a new outlet to discuss root, not having it, and anything else that pertains to rooting the US Snapdragon variant (or any locked bootloader Snapdragon for that matter).
I for one do like root on Samsung devices. I feel that the services, logging, etc that Samsung puts on these phones is at best excessive, at worst, a violation of privacy. I use root o disable these services and anything that I don't believes warrants running in the background.
I also like to use host level ad blocking which can only be done with root (AFAIK).
So, the poll asks the question...
Do you want root?
Feel free to discuss anything root related in this thread.
Please be respectful of others opinions!
I personally love flashing custom roms on my android devices and that's the main reason I want root on this device. There was a thread before but it got locked, apparently we only have like 1 person working on root and that was then - don't know if that has since changed. I personally don't know much about the process and don't even know where to begin learning how to accomplish something like this. I offered help before but was quickly informed there was nothing I can do to "help" without vast amounts of this type of knowledge.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vq567mIA11gv4Ovp1RZo1rpCesrueqCr/view?usp=drivesdk
Can this be related to any type of exploit for root?
215Aphillyated said:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vq567mIA11gv4Ovp1RZo1rpCesrueqCr/view?usp=drivesdk
Can this be related to any type of exploit for root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Google Drive
You need permission
Want in? Ask for access, or switch to an account with permission. Learn more
You are signed in as scott...."
Can you make the document public?
Kcrick said:
I personally love flashing custom roms on my android devices and that's the main reason I want root on this device. There was a thread before but it got locked, apparently we only have like 1 person working on root and that was then - don't know if that has since changed. I personally don't know much about the process and don't even know where to begin learning how to accomplish something like this. I offered help before but was quickly informed there was nothing I can do to "help" without vast amounts of this type of knowledge.
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Yeah, I would really like to build a ROM. Its been couple years and I got that itch to optimize my phone.
Scott said:
Yeah, I would really like to build a ROM. Its been couple years and I got that itch to optimize my phone.
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Since your a recognized developer you just might be the person we need. If you have the time that is. I wasn't really into rooting this phone but now I have the itch too. Lol
Nope, the only reason I used to root on all my phones was to get rid of the ads. Now with apps available to do the same, I don't feel the need to root.
I want root for xposed and/or magisk.
Otherwise to disable packages I use adhell 3 (no root needed) as I don't want to trip Knox yet...
---------- Post added at 02:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:43 PM ----------
I want root for xposed and/or magisk.
Otherwise to disable packages I use adhell 3 (no root needed) as I don't want to trip Knox yet...
Yes... I want to have control over the device. for privacy, customization, optimization, TWRP/Titanium backups, remove silly warnings, extend device life post mfg support, etc
Imagine buying a car and not being able to open up the hood........................................ total BS........
IndDoc said:
Nope, the only reason I used to root on all my phones was to get rid of the ads. Now with apps available to do the same, I don't feel the need to root.
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This is the main reason I want to root my phone, do you mind mentioning which apps you're using to block ads at the host file level?
Almightystef said:
This is the main reason I want to root my phone, do you mind mentioning which apps you're using to block ads at the host file level?
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Adhell 3. Look it up on google, can't discuss it on xda.
lightninbug said:
Why not make a thread for people who want a million dollars too? Of course we all want root! However, I am no longer working on it, which now leaves ZERO Devs working on it. They/We have all left the device. It's looking rather bleek guys/gals.
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Hey Guy, please don't post nonsense in my thread. You have no clue who is working on what. You pretend like you some sort of developer and you know how to crack this system but when I asked you what you accomplished or even looked at you didn't really seam to have a clue. Also, someone working on root doesn't talk about it... They just do it.
All of your posts in that thread were atrocious. You are a very rude, ill mannered person that lacks any communication skills.
So please... Stop posting rude, unneeded comments in this thread!
Scott said:
Hey Guy, please don't post nonsense in my thread. You have no clue who is working on what. You pretend like you some sort of developer and you know how to crack this system but when I asked you what you accomplished or even looked at you didn't really seam to have a clue. Also, someone working on root doesn't talk about it... They just do it.
All of your posts in that thread were atrocious. You are a very rude, ill mannered person that lacks any communication skills.
So please... Stop posting rude, unneeded comments in this thread!
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Just because I'm telling you want you don't want to hear, doesn't mean I'm being rude. Did I call you any names? No I did not. I have been EXTENSIVELY working on rootting our device. Me and several (14) others started in telegram about a week or two after the device was released. Over time people left for Exynos, gave up, or went for other devices, leaving it to just me. And now I have moved on.
I'm letting you know that there are NO KNOWN BIG Devs working on rooting the snapdragon S9+. Is there someone working on it silently, that isn't known to this community/others, or has no previous exploit releases? I can't speak for that. I can speak for myself and others who were working on it, we are on to other projects now.
We put well over 200+ hours into it. Again, there's no way to fully "write up" what we all tried....We did all the OBVIOUS, and MORE. I have more important things to do with my time, than to write you a report as to what we did. Be glad you got this much of an explanation. The root was that much of a concern to you you would have been in the boat (telegram chat) since the beginning. Good luck on root, and good luck finding any andvanced developers to work on it for you.
TLDR: Keep praying for "Joe Schmo" to release root for you guys. There are absolutely zero WELL KNOWN developers working on it. SORRY IF IT'S BLUNT AND NOT WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR.
And to OP.. Prove me wrong.
Scott said:
Hello everyone. I decided to start this thread so we would have a new outlet to discuss root, not having it, and anything else that pertains to rooting the US Snapdragon variant (or any locked bootloader Snapdragon for that matter).
I for one do like root on Samsung devices. I feel that the services, logging, etc that Samsung puts on these phones is at best excessive, at worst, a violation of privacy. I use root o disable these services and anything that I don't believes warrants running in the background.
I also like to use host level ad blocking which can only be done with root (AFAIK).
So, the poll asks the question...
Do you want root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For Which devices US S9s.
Sent from my SM-G965U using XDA Free mobile app
Son Rise said:
For Which devices US S9s.
Sent from my SM-G965U using XDA Free mobile app
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Any variant. Its just a discussion about root despite what some of the more rude people on XDA think. Its just a place to talk about it.
I use Samsung Pay as my primary means of payment on a daily basis so much that if it wasn't for needing a physical drivers licenses I would just leave my wallet at home at this point. If Root breaks Samsung Pay then it's not something I would want.
DaPoets said:
I use Samsung Pay as my primary means of payment on a daily basis so much that if it wasn't for needing a physical drivers licenses I would just leave my wallet at home at this point. If Root breaks Samsung Pay then it's not something I would want.
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Thats a real good point! I feel the same way. I have been thinking alot about a digital D/L that would be stored on your phone. If that could happen, I would no longer need a wallet. I think all but one of my credit and debit cards are on Samsung Pay.
I do really love rooting most specially for blocking ads, since non root adblocker used VPN to omit ads which compare to root can be easily add via hosts file without additional software/task (which obviously draining additional battery). also my wifi tools can be run via root only. and wanted to do more and it is only possibe via rooted phone.
though there is a rooting method already in here but seems i cant keep up on that much besides I cant use any pc for now. is rooting like flashing zip file possible as what older devices can be easily did? or way more easier rooting method than currently in here is way much better.
thanks
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S9+ using XDA Labs
Root is a must! Phones these days are like computers and when I pay $$$ for a flagship phone, I expect I get "full control" over my device. Samsung Pay is "nice to have" but Viper for audio, Adaway, Titanium backup, TWRP are a must to enjoy my device to its full extent.