To my fellow Android custom ROM enthusiasts, I highly advise you uninstall and stop supporting @projectelixiros

Welp_im_damned@lemdro.id to Android@lemdro.id – 244 points –
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context: the devs of Project Elixir have paid features in their ROM. If you try to bypass it , they will wipe your internal data and esim EDIT: the devs response

33

So, it seems it gets triggered by just using ADB shell???

https://x.com/TheNotesOfJosh/status/1791738816362848517

I cannot open that, it shows a login page. Could you post a screenshot of what this is supposed to contain?

thx and wtf.
How can people even use android without adb shell?

What do you use ADB for?

Since adb backup has been deprecated, I don't see much use for it. Only for recent Android versions which disallow installation of apps targeting low API, as that can be bypassed using ADB.
Or maybe for apps like scrcpy.

I guess adb backup was before my time. I did use adb to transfer my apps when I last restored a twrp backup. In perhaps a similar manner to what that did, going by the name. But I did use adb root for that.

Otherwise, I use it to set a lot of otherwise inaccessible settings, like making the back gesture a lot thinner than intended because my touchscreen can handle it, or forcing 120Hz everywhere. I can also set my dpi there without anoying apps.

And ofc I use it to uninstall system apps I don't need.

After initial setup I do all of that in a root bash session in termux admittedly, but if I hadn't rooted my device I would still want to do most of that using an adb shell, as most of it doesn't require root (besides maybe the restoring backups part).

I also use shell environment to semi-automatically transfer media files for certain processes, though I'll probably move that over to syncrhing at some point.

The main remaining advantage is the ability to automate things on my phone from my pc, I don't see a lot of those as replacable unless my rom installs kde connect as a system app and they add an immense amount of functionality

From the ROM website's footer:

A custom ROM based on AOSP, which offers a minimal UI enhancement & close to stock pixel Android ROM with great "Performance", "Security" and "Stability".

I see now why they "quoted" stability :P

Oh, and just using ADB is enough to trigger the code to wipe the data. But that's fine according to the developer because "its just a format data, not like your phone gets destroyed"

What makes this even funnier is that on their website they say that the ROM is great and all (with very poor grammar and odd phrasing), but they don't say what they actually changed. The closest thing I could find was their screenshot gallery where they show some new icons and AI-generated wallpapers

Also corporate memphis art everywhere because why not lol

I feel sorry for anyone who was using this ROM, but this whole thing is hilarious

Who is this for really though? Any person installing roms is clued in and knows what they want. This “stable” author’s custom-rom credentials should be drop kicked into the sun.

holy shit their site has a lot of ads

Sounds like they may have set it up to wipe for security paranoia, and maybe not to be jerks?

It's hard to trust software that places this little trust on me.

I’m a iOS developer just lurking here but, are paid features in custom ROMs common? Since they’re all downstream of AOSP, wouldn’t it be possible to bypass anything like that fairly easily by just commenting out the paywalls and building the ROM yourself?

No not really. Maybe the early access is paywalled. But that's usually it.

Interesting, it appears they archived the github repos on may 19th after that tweet.

More ironic about them wiping your data considering they credit other ROMs!

I'm pretty sure no one uses this so it doesn't matter. However, I'll keep it in mind.

I've never even heard of it. Anyway, use Graphene if you have a Pixel, and ideally DivestOS if you don't