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Is it a big deal if my phone hasn't had a security update in 5 years? (self.askandroid)

submitted 3 days ago by LaserTurboShark69 to c/[email protected]

8 comments fedilink hide all child comments

My phone still works perfectly fine despite its age and I'm too cheap to buy a new one.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 days ago

Only if you care about security.

[–] southsamurai 10 points 3 days ago (2 children)

On a security level, yeah, obviously.

On a day to day level, no

I wouldn't trust it to handle anything sensitive, but that doesn't make it useless. If you can unlock the bootloader and swap in a different rom, that usually solves any problems security wise, as long as there's a recent enough rom available. And even without that, the risks involved aren't 100%, and can be mitigated to some degree.

[–] sbv 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

This. I'd avoid using it for banking or access to a Gmail account that is registered with your bank. Or receiving 2FA texts.

But scrolling Lemmy and making calls? It's probably fine.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

So not a primary device.

Make it your secondary phone for the shawtys.

[–] LaserTurboShark69 2 points 3 days ago

Thank you for the info. I'll see if I can install a different OS

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Can you run lineageOS on it? My Nexus 7 2013 just stopped getting security updates last year.

[–] LaserTurboShark69 1 points 3 days ago

I will look into this alternative OS, thanks!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Short answer: yes

You could give the hardware new life as a Linux phone with PostmarketOS if the hardware is supported and you're willing to do some tinkering