Customization has always been considered one of the main advantages of Android over iOS. Thanks to the openness of the mobile OS from Google, users could independently make changes to it, adjusting the interface and functionality – as they say – for themselves. This could be done in different ways. Some made root for this and made changes directly to the program code, others installed third-party firmware, and still others, without looking for complicated ways, customized the operating system to a minimum using software from Google Play. However, such fun can be dangerous both for the smartphone itself and for its owner.
Customization is not something you should be doing
Customization Android – namely, the revision of the operating system, as a result of which its appearance, functionality or performance changes, is an extremely undesirable procedure. This is the conclusion reached by experts in the field of cybersecurity company F-Secure. They analyzed several smartphones with different add-ons and came to the conclusion that such changes undermine the reliability and security Android, threatening the loss of user data.
Why customization is dangerous Android
Making any changes to the operating system is unsafe
The original operating system is created self-sufficient, and the introduction of new functions, mechanisms and even interface transformations of Anroid can conflict with the elements of the OS. This, in turn, can lead either to the emergence of new vulnerabilities, or to the limited operation of their own security systems Android. After all, if smartphone manufacturers often neglect checks and debugging, what can we say about third-party developers who often work on enthusiasm and are generally not interested in optimizing something.
A very illustrative example of the negative impact of such changes are third-party applications and services that distributors install on regional versions of smartphones at Android. If they can provoke the emergence of certain problems, what can we say about forced customization, when not the outer shell of the operating system is changed, but its insides. This leads to the separation of the two components of the software basis of the smartphone, which can no longer function correctly with each other, because they are simply not designed for this.
Why clean Android is better
In this sense, the software shells of smartphone manufacturers are clearly inferior to pure Android. Not only do they completely rework the original operating system, often replacing the standard mechanisms with their own, they also install mountains of third-party software, which will be different for each region. It is clear that with such a scale, it is almost impossible to debug, since often manufacturers have a rather indirect idea of what applications the distributor will install and what other changes he will make to the platform.
Do not change Android even if you think it would be better. It's a delusion
Despite the fact that I usually prefer to seek a compromise in everything, suggesting ways out of a particular situation, in this case everything is not so. Customization – even partial and superficial – is the real harm that is done to the operating system, device and puts you at risk. Therefore, if you are faced with a choice whether to customize your smartphone or not, I would strongly recommend giving up this venture, since it will not bring you anything but temporary aesthetic satisfaction.
True, you need to understand what is customization and what is not. If you install a camera application that has shutter speed, aperture and resolution settings, this will not be a customization, since the operating system does not change. The same applies to any software from Google Play. But if you interfere with the operation of the OS itself, for example, by making changes to the design of the interface or the system device of the platform, then this is customization, and it is better not to do this.