Quick preamble note: This is a long read, but it's because it's been a long time since I touched a V30. So it's hard for me to put a TLDR synopsis at the bottom like I would normally do.

Hey all. It's been a while since Ive been in this part of the cell-iverse and I'm hoping you current V30 users can catch me up , please and thanks!

So a few days ago, one of my old posts in here got a little traction and it made me nostalgic, so I busted out the old v30 and started playing around with it. And if it were still 3 years ago, I could do no wrong to my trusty V30. Brick it? NBD! I can fix it... But a pandemic and few phones later I'm rusty and behind with all things Root / Magisk etc and even having a tough time remembering why I installed X module or disabled Y module and so on.

Maybe you're wondering, why bother messing with your old device? Well I had forgotten how many features Google had blocked between ol Android 8 and 13, and it turns out I really missed some of those and want to mess around with them. But, since updating or installing anything current could mean death for my 30, I'm hoping I can post my current Magisk config here and some kind folks will alert me as to what I should and shouldn't do / update / upgrade.

Specs:
Sprint (not currently connected to any network, and disabled anything I could think of to avoid getting hit by a TMo or Google Update)
LG-LS998
Android 8.0
security patch January 1 2019
build # OPR1.170623.026
SW: LS99827a

If anyone has a suggestion for what I need to disable to be sure it won't shadily get nerfed by Google, please let me know (auto updates/ota updates should be disabled still, but only by whatever standard we were using 3 years ago)


So first biggie is: Can I update Magisk? Currently I'm running 23.0 and its recommending an update to 25.2

Anyone know if this is going to be a compatibility issue?

As it stands, my Magisk Hide ft. seems to be working for everything i had it set up before. But I did install an old copy of an old APK and hide it, and Play is kinda having a fit about it and sending me notifications even after hiding it. (I dont think Im allowed to use the name of the app here, so I guess all I can say is Google has always tried to ban it and it's the same version as before but now they can see its installed somehow)


Ok, so let's talk modules....

Currently only looking at one possible update. That's for the dialer framework for the Google Phone. Now I know Google has opened up availability to their dialer to most phones now, maybe all of them. But I don't know if it's backwards compatible all the way to 8. I also don't know if updating the dialer framework will actually make it work. So any advice there is welcome.

Modules loaded & their status :

Abd & fastboot for Android NDK. Enabled.
Seems to be working fine. Or at least not causing an issue. I haven't run any log cats yet though. (Prob should , will do soon)

Anxious V30 v324 / Disabled.
I do remember I loved her mods that she was putting out. And then I remember a bunch of people giving her a hard time and she stopped releasing them which was a shame. But I don't remember why I disabled it so for now it's staying disabled unless someone has some info for me.

App systemizer (terminal emulator) / enabled
Seems to be running fine, but I completely forget how to actually use it and I'm going to have to read up on that again. But if anyone has any notes for me like that it doesn't work anymore please feel free to give me a heads up.

******

Okay well I just realized there's like 19 more of these and this is already so long I don't know if anyone's going to care to read it LOL... So I'm just going to stop here for now and see if this post gets any kind of traction or if anyone has any kind of insight before I take the time of writing out the rest of these. Or at least wait to edit this till I'm on a computer and not just my phone. But a definitely need some info on things like APP OPS, which is no longer working for me, & things like Riru & SUI which I just read up on a little but am not sure will work on OS 8.

But for now any insights anybody has are welcome. Would love to hear from any of you that have been active in the last few years to now.


Personal Throwback Note: I love that all of my wifi scanners actually work now, I can review and diagnose my own network and the apps on my own phone and what their sending and where.. And that I can share files, cast, beam, and just about send anything anywhere I want, like the old days.

It's amazing how badly Google nerfed all of these things since back then.

Are you planning on connecting this to a carrier, or just using it on Wifi or something?

Generally speaking, I would recommend moving to the latest US998 ROM, as it seems to be the most cross-compatible and capable. UNLESS you're going to put it on a carrier, like VZW, in which case you would want the VZW ROM instead, to allow VOLTE/VOWIFI to work. I think other carriers may not be as tricky about these, which is why US998 should work, but I'm not sure myself (I'm a VZW MVNO user).

As for Magisk, the last I heard was that you can update it after you've installed it. In other words, you can't install newer versions via TWRP, but if you install 18.x (whichever it was - I forget, check the WTF thread) then you can let the Android manager update it. Last I think I did was to 22 or something. Basically, give it a try and see what happens - worst case, drop back into TWRP, use the Magisk remover, and then reinstall the old 18.x... it should recover with that.

I'm not sure of modules. I didn't use too many... I found Magisk modules to cause lots of problems, so I stopped using them. That may be why you disabled Anxious' module... because it's out of date now anyway.

I'm curious, what are you "missing" from the newer Android versions? I'm curious... because I don't mind it much. Things have moved. Some things have been "automated"... but that happens with every OS... change is part of the game.

schwinn8 said:

Are you planning on connecting this to a carrier, or just using it on Wifi or something?

Generally speaking, I would recommend moving to the latest US998 ROM, as it seems to be the most cross-compatible and capable. UNLESS you're going to put it on a carrier, like VZW, in which case you would want the VZW ROM instead, to allow VOLTE/VOWIFI to work. I think other carriers may not be as tricky about these, which is why US998 should work, but I'm not sure myself (I'm a VZW MVNO user).

As for Magisk, the last I heard was that you can update it after you've installed it. In other words, you can't install newer versions via TWRP, but if you install 18.x (whichever it was - I forget, check the WTF thread) then you can let the Android manager update it. Last I think I did was to 22 or something. Basically, give it a try and see what happens - worst case, drop back into TWRP, use the Magisk remover, and then reinstall the old 18.x... it should recover with that.

I'm not sure of modules. I didn't use too many... I found Magisk modules to cause lots of problems, so I stopped using them. That may be why you disabled Anxious' module... because it's out of date now anyway.

I'm curious, what are you "missing" from the newer Android versions? I'm curious... because I don't mind it much. Things have moved. Some things have been "automated"... but that happens with every OS... change is part of the game.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the info! This will definitely give me a starting point Tomorrow as I will be attempting to reload my most recent back up and get back up and running. (Yes, I have been smited by the update gods)

I was planning to keep it as a network testing device and not activate on a carrier. But that was a shortlived dream.

As for what's missing since the older versions, I can only give vague examples due to my own level of non-expertise in these areas... But the short answer is connections, ports and just overall access and compatibility within the devices itself and with other products. My current device (Samsung s22 ultra) can barely cast to my tv. While my V30 when it was working well, could basically cast or connect to any device in my home. Plus full dlna access. I could also use the old versions of my network apps to see every piece of data coming and going on my network. (This is possible today with apps that do so by acting as a VPN, but back in 2019 it was accessable by any app that could put out a "get" command). And there was more customizable settings for things like GPS (remember when we could choose between 3 different versions of location access?)


I should also say that I prob misspoke by blaming the os versions. After having my V30 nerfed out of root in under 2 hrs of usage, I'm now pretty sure the features I was referring to have been removed with security updates and not full os updates.

I tried, unsuccessfully, to block play services from installing a 550mb "security "update that they claimed was going to ensure my VOLTE would work after January 1st 2022. (Even though my VOLTE was already enabled and working fine as far back as 2019). I took a screenshot that I need to get off the device before re flash. I was trying to pull the update file so I could dig through it, but not install. Things went poorly lol.

But anyway, stay tuned, as I know that was a half ass answer and poor explanation, but when I have some time tomorrow, I'm going to reply here with a full write up on the differences, screenshots, and whatever else I can come up with.

I'm sure this will prob only be interesting to about 4 of us, so this is mostly going to be for my own curiosity and I don't expect to really achieve much, but please feel free to jump in with any questions or comments or point out anything I get wrong, as I'm happy to have company on my tinkering through tech time journey.