One of the strong arguments I would bring up during friendly iOS vs Android banter with my friends is how Android is a very open operating system. The ability to radically transform an Android shell through custom ROMs was baffling when I first found out about it back in 2013 thanks to my Galaxy Y GT-S5360.
The death of Android custom ROMs
Fast forward to 2017 with the Xiaomi Mi A1, high on dopamine with a slight hint of restlessness, and seeing the Custom ROM boot up with its custom animation, was all I needed back in the day. However, it looks like those days are now long gone with custom ROM developers canceling or abandoning their projects, or limiting support to a smaller group of devices.
As an Android lover, I often wonder where Android modding or Android in general is headed. So let's dig deeper into the current state of custom ROMs and their future.
Custom ROMs are pretty easy to understand. The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is a simple Android shell over which user interfaces such as Pixel UI, Hyper OS and One UI are built. Since AOSP is free to use, anyone can take the code and start building their own Android operating system and the features they need.
