this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2026
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DeGoogle Yourself

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Rooting services and/or wiki (keepandroidopen.org)
submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by emotional_soup_88@programming.dev to c/degoogle@lemmy.ml
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Background

Rooting disables OEM updates and makes your device unofficial, so you will probably still be able to sideload apps. Depending on how this shitstorm turns out though, and if there will ever be a need for it, I would love to help people root their smartphones.

Another idea is to collaborate on a wiki that aggregates and documents all rootable versus non rootable smartphones and the methods that work.

Rooting services

We could setup a chatroom on Signal or any other platform that enables voice and/or video chat. People would also be able to send their smartphones to another person that roots it. Or like street vendors, setup a pipe chair and table and do it on scene at festivals and other gatherings.

The wiki

I could host something fresh from my desktop or create a community on some fedi instance. The wiki would aggregate preexisting information but also be open for continuous updates by the community.

Edit: thank you @ChanchoManco@lemmy.zip for posting the repo Bootloader Unlock: Wall of Shame

Question

What does the community think of such an idea? I'm just spitballing here, trying to add something to the opposition.

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[–] Mynameisallen@lemmy.zip 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Honestly if you're going to use Android just use GrapheneOS

[–] FlexibleToast@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

What phones are running Graphene?

[–] YC99@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

google pixels, and I think they'll extend its compatibility to motorola

[–] FlexibleToast@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago (2 children)

I don't really want to give Google money because of this. They've been doing what a lot of corporations do, use open source as a cheat for good will and then change the license.

[–] biofaust@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Geez, everytime this point! Don't you guys have a second hand market? My daily driver is a Pixel 6a with GOS and all apps but one (for which I have a substitute anyway) work perfectly.

[–] FlexibleToast@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

I'll be honest, I also just don't like Pixel devices. I've had 3 of them and every single one of them had terrible battery life. The Pixel 6 was one of those. I didn't have that problem with any of my OnePlus or Samsung phones.

[–] YC99@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

have you also considered buying something like a fairphone with /e/OS on it

[–] PeterLinuxer@lemmy.ml 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I would love to read a wiki about degoogling phones. I am confused about rooting, changing the bootloader, custom ROMs, libre OS ontop of Android, etc.

[–] emotional_soup_88@programming.dev 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Take one thing at a time and give it time. There is a lot to learn, depending on what level of understanding you want to achieve. How about starting here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooting_(Android)

Rooting: making yourself the true owner of your device from a software perspective. You already paid a butload of money to buy the physical device, but the manufacturer doesn't allow you to install and/or remove apps (packages), customize or otherwise tweak the phone to the extent that the underlying operating system would allow.

Unlocking the bootloader: to remove the restrictions that otherwise prevents you from altering (tweaking or replacing entirely) the operating system as implemented by the manufacturer.

Custom "ROM": I don't really have an answer for you here, since I don't understand - and haven't yet looked up - why people call it that. Anyway, people use it to mean "custom operating system", such as Graphene OS or Lineage OS.

Edit: "custom ROM", as I suspected, is a colloquial term and not technically accurate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custom_ROM

Am I allowed to say, I'm rooting for you?