Is it a big deal if my phone hasn't had a security update in 5 years?

My phone still works perfectly fine despite its age and I'm too cheap to buy a new one.

12 points · 8 comments · view on lemmy.world

8 Comments

CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world · 23 pts · 1y

Only if you care about security.

southsamurai@sh.itjust.works · 12 pts · 1y (3 replies)

On a security level, yeah, obviously.

On a day to day level, no

I wouldn't trust it to handle anything sensitive, but that doesn't make it useless. If you can unlock the bootloader and swap in a different rom, that usually solves any problems security wise, as long as there's a recent enough rom available. And even without that, the risks involved aren't 100%, and can be mitigated to some degree.

sbv@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 1y (1 reply)

This. I'd avoid using it for banking or access to a Gmail account that is registered with your bank. Or receiving 2FA texts.

But scrolling Lemmy and making calls? It's probably fine.

halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 1y

So not a primary device.

Make it your secondary phone for the shawtys.

LaserTurboShark69@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 1y

Thank you for the info. I'll see if I can install a different OS

infinitevalence@discuss.online · 11 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Can you run lineageOS on it? My Nexus 7 2013 just stopped getting security updates last year.

LaserTurboShark69@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 1y

I will look into this alternative OS, thanks!

besselj@lemmy.ca · 9 pts · 1y

Short answer: yes

You could give the hardware new life as a Linux phone with PostmarketOS if the hardware is supported and you're willing to do some tinkering

Lembot_0002@lemm.ee · 2 pts · 1y
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