Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2020 September 7

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September 7

installing a new operating system on old mobile phones

I read somewhere that it's possible to install a recent / up-to-date operating system on old Android mobile phones (1 Samsung S4 mini, 1 Samsung S5 mini... and potentially an old Motorola), just so they can continue to be used although Android has long since stopped their software support. (With their old operating systems, they don't really work anymore, e.g., the S4 mini does not recognize most security certificates for websites anymore, won't download most apps, etc.)

Most of all: Do (rooting & installing) ROMs really allow me to install a more recent operating system (= beyond what Android usually provides) on an old phone? = Does this have a chance of success? :-) (or are there other ways to do this?)... and if so: Can you direct me to where I can read more about the topic? Especially, where can I find trustworthy and reliable ROM providers (for these old mobile phones, i.e. ROMs not needing a lot of resources)? Am I right in understanding ROMs to be more like little hacks that allow me to install (e.g.,) a different operating system... or at least download further updates from Android...? Am I right to assume that ROMs will allow for updates etc., similar to other OS? Do you know where to find step-by-step instructions (for users with no prior knowledge)? Anything else I should know, or alternatives to consider? - Thanks. Thanks. Thanks for answering (talk) 20:08, 7 September 2020 (UTC)

Unfortunately old phones do not have anywhere near the amount of flash storage to put modern software in. Also if you install a custom ROM do not expect there to be automatic updates. You would likely have to keep updating the custom software yourself. It is not that Android has stopped supporting them, what has happened is that Samsung is not customising the newer Android versions to go in the older phones. Motorola seems to supply more versions of Android for their updates, but still after a few years they stop. My results have been poor with trying to update a Motorola via USB, although it could boot, it was very likely to crash. I have had better results putting an .apk file onto a device where the Play store refuses. (and the app actually does work). But still those modern apps are much huger than they used to be in the past, so your old device may not be able to fit them. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 23:37, 7 September 2020 (UTC)

Hi @Thanks for answering. Depends on the phone, I know Samsung devices are well supported by the ROM community, so yes you can try. I'd highly recommend LineageOS, which is VERY well supported and can get your S4 and S5 up to version 16.0 or 17.2 (latest), based on Android 9 and Android 10 (the latest release of Android) respectively. Don't forget to flash Open GApps using your recovery or ADB if you want Google apps, such as the Play Store, Google Play Services, and other things. Ed talk! 17:18, 8 September 2020 (UTC)

To give some elaboration on the above answers, "Android", which is owned by Alphabet Inc. (Google's parent company) doesn't "support" any devices directly. They just put out software, and then device manufacturers license the software and install it on their devices. Any official "support" comes from the manufacturer, in your case Samsung. Once they stop supporting a device, you're on your own. Android is based on an open-source software core, so people can take those parts and do what they will with them, hence the "unofficial" open-source Android distributions. The big catch is that the Google Play Services/Google Mobile Services are not open-source, and those are what provide a lot of what people associate with Android, like the Google Play Store, though apparently there are some "unofficial" ways to use them. The other challenge is old hardware just won't have the "horsepower" that more recent stock Android versions expect. You can buy lower-end used Android phones for not much money; if you can afford one, I'd just go with that unless you're doing this for fun/learning. --47.146.63.87 (talk) 04:38, 9 September 2020 (UTC)

Thanks, yes, I was starting to read about LineageOS. Would there be anywhere a step-by-step manual, telling me when to delete what or where to copy which files and how to open them, etc.? - What's OpenGApps about?
(Fun/learning wouldn't be a bad incentive, but I'm mainly doing it because I consider it utter (ecological) nonsense to buy / produce technology for a lifetime of 2-4 years... and I have my doubts that the next phone will fare any better in 2-4 years...) Thanks. Thanks. Thanks for answering (talk) 21:45, 10 September 2020 (UTC)

@Thanks for answering: Open Gapps is so you can access Google apps, like the Play store and YouTube. Here's some video tutorials, while they're not the best, they should do:

Installing LineageOS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuF2gG2agac

Installing OpenGapps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrEA6ny1_nU Ed talk! 17:08, 11 September 2020 (UTC)

There are replacements for PlayStore, YouTube and a bunch of other stuff on non-Google app markets like F-Droid. 93.136.17.85 (talk) 17:37, 11 September 2020 (UTC)

And as others have mentioned, most apps can be "sideloaded", which just means installing them "manually" rather than through an "app store" package manager. --47.146.63.87 (talk) 19:47, 11 September 2020 (UTC)