My 3-day bullet-point review of iodé OS on the Samsung Galaxy Note 9

General
#1

I was looking for a suitable replacement ROM for my Samsung Galaxy Note 9 after official LineageOS 17.1 support for the device was recently dropped, and then I stumbled across the xda post about iodé. The combination of LineageOS, microG, and a system-wide ad-blocker instantly caught my eyes. After doing some research and comparing iodé and the recently released LineageOS+microG ROM for the Note9, I decided to give iodé a shot.

In conclusion, the ROM is not perfect, but I am very happy with it.

The good

  1. Native microG
  2. Native F-droid and AuroraStore with privileged extension
  3. Useful tweaks to LineageOS that make the adoption process accessible and user-friendly (OpenBoard instead of AOSP keyboard, hardened FireFox as default browser, QKSMS, etc) instead of adding unnecessary bloat
  4. The freedom to uninstall default apps
  5. Smart Charging
  6. The iodé blocker that easily visualizes all the requests made by each app
  7. An active and freindly team that actively responds to feedback and tries to communicate with their users (as evidenced by this community page)
  8. Support for various devices including my beloved Note 9, not limited to just Pixel devices, like other privacy ROMs such as CalyxOS or GrapheneOS

The bad

  1. The iodé blocker app is not fully open-source (yet)
  2. The update frequency is bi-monthly instead of monthly (so far)
  3. The iodé blocker app lacks features such as black-listing specific requests that are not blocked natively by the app (ex: graph.facebook.com from Spotfiy)
  4. The splash screen of the boot-up animation screen is very white and somehow seems to be a bit low-resolution
  5. The iodé blocker app is also very white and lacks options for dark mode, unlike the iodé news app, which comes in dark mode

All in all, the good outweigh the bad by a significant margin, and I am sure the OS will only get better with time. I think iodé is doing a wonderful job in creating a private ROM that is easily accessible for the masses, and I really appreciate all of the hard work that has gone into this project. I will continue to use, support, and speak high praises of the OS. Thank you for this wonderful project!

#2

Thanks for your feedback!
About The good:
You should remove n°8 as we don’t spport Pixel devices :slight_smile:
About The bad:
3. Exactly, we are at the moment working on the iodé blocker to provide more customization. We will add options in the next release
4.& 5. Yes, we plan to add dark modes. But we prioritize our dev on the iodé blocker and privacy settings over cosmetic changes so not sure when we add these

1 Like
#3

You’re right, my wording was very confusing. I edited my post to make it more clear, but with #8, I meant that I love how iodé supports various devices (especially my beloved Note 9!) and how it is not limited to only Pixel devices, which is the case for the major alternative privacy ROMs such as CalyxOS and GrapheneOS.

#4

Bonjour et bonne journée @Antoine,

I’m not the only one who is very fond of your iodéOS. I’ve already installed it several times for friends on their devices Xiaomi Mi9, Sony Xperia XZ2, Samsung S9, S9+ and A5 2017. We like not only the features (compared to LineageOS and LineageOS-for-miroG), but also the look. The iodéOS design has that certain something.

That the further development ‘inside’ needs more time and know-how is clear to us. The 2-month update cycle seems endlessly long. A monthly update, at least the usual Android security patch level update on the 5th of each month, would be a clear signal to the outside world to show users and interested parties - Hey, we’re on it. Stay with us. I’ll definitely stay tuned and continue to promote your project. Salü.

1 Like
#5

Bonjour et merci pour votre intérêt pour iodé,
As you may know, iodé’s income comes from the sale of smartphones. But as it is not financially viable yet, our dev team doesn’t work full time on the project. Thus we can’t guarantee a planning with monthly releases just yet. Take April for instance, we had unexpected personal events that led us to postpone our coming beta update by one week or so…
I agree monthly security patch level are important, & hope we are able to provide a better sight on updates soon, that will depend on how quickly things move.

Updates for supported devices
#6

Bonsoir tout le monde!
What can I do constructively for your team, except recommend your project and install iodéOS to friends and acquaintances?

#7

Your efforts are mich appreciated.
The friends over at /e/ have nice contribute system I feel. Small packages where we can support them financially. Helps a bit to understand what level of contribution will help to keep iode up and running.

Love your system so far greatly! Thanks