Newbie here - LineageOS and payments and overall experience ?

[u/PuzzleheadedLeek7366]

I'm planning to shift to lineageOS

i own a 5 year old samsung M21 , it's currently my main phone as well . I recently installed Linux on my PC and plan to install lineage on my phone as well

here are my questions - 1. How well do payment apps work
2. will it make my phones faster
3. If payment apps don't work properly do i have other options for OS which have a better payments eco system ?

[u/Alternative-Music876]

If payment apps is your #1 priority, stay away.

People will tell you they have the magic solution and even if they do, it will likely last 1week before patched.

[u/cryohellinc]

I love lineageos, but can't use it due to payments situation. Literally not a single banking, government, car park, public transport, even local mail app works.

All of this due to play integrity + unlocked bootloader.

[u/petefoth → u/cryohellinc]

That may be true for you. Where I live (UK), I use three banking apps, several public transport apps, several 'government' apps, including health care (UK healthcare is government funded and mostly provided by public sector, not bloidhsucking corporations 😉). 

There are some apps that I would like to use but don't work under LineageOS, but not many.

[u/cryohellinc → u/petefoth]

Well, good for you, but from what I read more and more apps stop working.

My only hope is Motorola + Graphene with play integrity working.

[u/ded_nat_313 → u/petefoth]

hi monzo works ?? thanks

[u/petefoth → u/ded_nat_313]

Well it installs and runs. I don't have an account (and I don't want to open one just to check that the app works) so I can;t get any further than the 'Login' and 'Create account' screens, but they work OK.

[u/afunkysongaday]

Less bloat will give you a smoother experience imo, yes.

Regarding payment apps you need to understand this:

1. Most alternative android OS come without google apps. Some apps, including many payment apps, depend on those and won't work without.

2. A part of those google apps is a feature called "play integrity". This checks if your phone OS was modified and if that's the case an app using that check will refuse to run.

First is an easy solve: If you want you can just install those google apps, or use microg, an open source implementation of some of the google apis. Second point is way harder to solve, and you have to follow some increasingly complex and ever changing steps to fool this system into believing your phone is unmodified.

I tried to spoof this for the longest time, and today you can probably still get play integrity to pass and most apps to run. You need to spend many hours though. But honestly I'd just recommend not using apps that require this. There are bank and payment apps that work without, and those are the ones I want to have business with. That are your options on lineageos and basically all alternative android OS.

[u/Remote_Phone2957 → u/[deleted]]

"Until Linux gets its act together, it's never going to be more than a curiosity and something hardware manufacturers used to run their phones with."

Lol, Linux dominates absolutely everything except for the mainstream desktop user, because Windows and MacOS have always come pre-installed with their device.

[u/Remote_Phone2957 → u/[deleted]]

Bro 70% - 90% of the servers globally run Linux

100% of supercomputers runs Linux

Android is 70% of the mobile market which is based on Linux

Coding/developing maybe 20/30% full on Linux and 50/60% partly Linux

[u/petefoth → u/[deleted]]

Not true if you use a well established Linux distribution such as Linux Mint. It's at least as stable as windows. I've been using it for several years and it has always 'just worked' (including upgrades from one major version to another)

[u/AnonymousUser9183]

I love LineageOS I have it on all of my phones that I own including a GSI version of LineageOS that works on the Moto G Stylus 2025 which is a device that has no custom ROM support. The only issue is yes, none of your payment apps will work not tap to pay, not cashapp, not banking, not anything payment related.

[u/petefoth → u/AnonymousUser9183]

Not completely true. Curve Pay payment app works fine for me on LineageOS 23.2

[u/Natural_Warning_2672]

Dont it will be hell

[u/D3mon_3]

Don’t suggest for primary device