Ask HN: Options for Android phone no longer getting security updates?
Yesterday’s epic thread about blue and green bubbles, which of course branched off into a comparison of iPhones and Androids, made me think about my own phone more than usual. It’s a Moto G Power (2020) running Android 11 that received its last security update in April.
I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t realize this, or realize that this is Motorola’s policy (one version upgrade and two years of security updates) until yesterday. I admit that this has given me a new perspective on paying $500 for an iPhone SE that might receive updates for 5+ years vs. $200 for a budget Android phone that might get less than 2 years of support from my date of purchase.
Anyway, I’m otherwise perfectly content with the phone. I bought a budget phone in the first place because I’m not a heavy phone user, which makes the thought of buying a new phone that much more painful. My options seem to be:
1. Stick my head in the sand and don’t worry about the lack of security updates for another couple of years. I’m obviously in good company with millions (billions?) of other Android phone owners, but how foolish would this be?
2. Replace it now with a new phone.
3. Maybe go down the rabbit hole of LineageOS or other custom ROMs? Is this viable for a daily driver that I don’t use much but needs to work when I need it? How mature are these compared to, say, the major desktop Linux distros?