Google has decided to end support for two crucial open source applications, linked to the AOSP (the Android Open Source Project). This decision could have a significant impact on custom ROMs for Android, such as LineageOS, ArrowOS or OmniROM.
Endgame imminent for the Android Open Source Project’s open-source Phone and Messages apps. Supported until now by Google in the same way as the AOSP, on which they depend, these two applications will soon be abandoned, reports Android Authoritywho was able to verify this directly by searching the Android Code Search directory.
Google lets go…
” This application is not actively supported and the source is provided for reference only. This project will be removed from the sources manifest in the future “comments Google soberly on the pages dedicated to Phone applications (Dialer in English) and Messages from the AOSP.
Note that this change will probably have no impact on the majority of Android smartphone users. Smartphone manufacturers most often use their own Telephone and Messages applications, or use those that Google offers, among other things, on its Pixel devices, the source code of which is not public.
That said, this end of support announced for these two AOSP applications will be a problem for users of Android Customs ROMs (such as LineageOS, ArrowOS or OmniROM, to name a few), but also and above all for their developers. This decision by Google is also part of the recent policy of the Mountain View giant, which tends to gradually reduce the importance of the AOSP to strengthen, conversely, its proprietary applications and services.
…and custom ROMs may suffer
Anyway, to continue to offer Phone and Messages applications, essential on a smartphone, the developers of ROM Customs will probably be forced to develop their own applications… or to use old versions of those of the AOSP . A solution that could only be temporary, however, for obvious security reasons, but also because future versions of Android will no longer support them.
Another collateral damage of this cessation of support: Generic System Images (GSIs). These system images intended for testing and validating services before their deployment on Android could also suffer from the load shedding announced by Google.
Source : Android Authority
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