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chrneu 3 hours ago

It's relatively easy. It's basically a command for each step you want to do and it tends to fail gracefully nowadays.

If you can install a linux distro you can flash a custom rom on a well-supported phone.

If it were more mainstream I could see GUI apps to manage all this for people, if they don't already exist. Idk I just use adb.

paulryanrogers 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It's also high risk. I've bricked two phones doing it.

a456463 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I flash phones almost every other week. And tablets. I have been flashing since Androids came out. But never bricked. But maybe that is why I don't have any problems.

Markoff 9 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

it's pretty much impossible to hard brick phone, you can almost always recover it

I'm running custom ROMs for the last 15 years

Onawa 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I've been flashing phones for over 2 decades and have never bricked a phone. How did you manage that?

brnt 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Same here. Just follow the LineageOS steps.

user3939382 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Are you seriously implying that flashing phones doesn’t risk bricking them or you’re not aware of that risk are you serious?

luz666 an hour ago | parent | next [-]

I am seriously unaware of the risks and also flashing brand new phones :)

wolrah 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> Are you seriously implying that flashing phones doesn’t risk bricking them or you’re not aware of that risk are you serious?

Yes, that is generally the case. As a general rule with an Android phone reflashing the OS itself or the bootloader carries no risk of bricking the device (meaning making it impossible to recover without specialized hardware and/or opening up parts that were not intended to be opened).

There are plenty of ways to "soft-brick" a device such that you might need to plug it in to a computer, and adb/fastboot can definitely be a pain in the ass to use (especially on Windows), but if you have a device with an unlocked bootloader it's very rare to be able to actually brick the device while doing normal things.

Now, if you're doing abnormal things like reflashing the radio firmware you can absolutely brick some devices there, but you don't have to do that just to boot an alternative OS and generally shouldn't be doing it without very good reason and specific knowledge of exactly what you're doing.

I'm not going to say there are no devices where the standard process to flash an alternative OS is dangerous, but none of the relatively common ones I've ever owned or used have been built that way because OEMs don't want their own official firmware updates to be dangerous either.

tl;dr: It is sometimes possible to brick a device by flashing the wrong thing incorrectly, but the risk of doing that if you are just installing an alternative OS through a standard process is basically zero.

crtasm 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Potential for a brick varies massively depending on phone model, doesn't it?

eldaisfish 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

That describes relatively easy for you, but not for the average person who can’t even be bothered to change the default ringtone.

keyringlight 2 hours ago | parent [-]

The challenge I've found when looking for instructions for flashing one of my old phones is the assumption of knowledge some rom builders have, or perhaps an assumption about their audience. This seems like it has the potential to bit someone in the ass because if they're relying on other sources like the lineageOS wiki or forum posts elsewhere for example there's no guarantee it'll stay available, complete, or relevant to their variant over time. It's an added burden for what is a gracious volunteer role, but it's a handicap if they want more people using the fruits of their labor.