[Xposed General] chrcol:
Its a shame but it does look like xposed is dead moving forward, of course people dont have to use android 9+, noone says you have to do that but eventually the phones on the market wont support older versions of android, often custom roms only support the latest version of androidat the time they made.

I am going to chime in here on the subject of security tho.

Many custom roms especially on samsung disable selinux regardless if xposed is enabled or if root is enabled. On my S7, I was unable to find a single custom kernel that does not disable selinux which was very disappointing. The reason for disabling selinux is I expect a dev unwilling or unable to create selinux rules to make their product work. e.g. on a custom rom that lets you have extra features, there could be selinux rules needed to be created to allow the code to function properly, but the shortcut would be to simply disable selinux as its 'easier'.

I think of a world on android without root or xposed.

Every app can use the internet whenever it wants. Your only control to stop them is to uninstall the app or disable internet access for the entire device.

Apps that request things like contact list access, you have to allow the access if you install the app.

There could be security vulnerabilities on the device which can be mitigated via xposed modules or an app that uses root access.

In short xposed and root are both good and bad for security.

They good in that they allow the operator of the device to have extra security mitigation's on their phone which are only possible with root and possibly xposed. They almost certainly enhance privacy capabilities.

They bad for security in that a rogue application will be capable of doing more harm if it utilises xposed features, and/or root access.

Note tho just because a phone doesnt have root enabled it doesnt mean a rogue app cannot use a vulnerability to gain root access, it just becomes more difficult.

So what do I use xposed for on my S7, and I may miss on my oneplus6? Over the years I have noticed the xposed modules I use have reduced, either because better alternatives have appeared or the modules themselves stopped working.

Current modules active on my S7 android 6.x

Amplify - very useful, I think this is still an app that requires xposed

Afwall+ - not required for afwall, but prevents some dataleaks - security enhancement

App settings - I use this to change DPI so more fits on my phone and allowing me to use the tablet mode of F1 app on phone, my oneplus6 has some native DPI features, so I may get away with losing this. This app can also do things like force screen to stay on per app basis as well. Very useful.

AppContext - slightly enhances tasker performance, can do without

AppOpsXposed - Not sure if doing anything right now, but I think it allows you to disable permissions for apps post install

Bootmanager - Stop specific apps starting on boot, no idea if non xposed alternative exists

ClearClipboard - enhances security on samsung devices, by making it harder to sniff clipboard contents

DisableFlagSecure - Allows for screenshots in every app, this hurts security, its a conveniance app

GmailAttachmentSize - Allows for larger attachments in gmail, useful potentially if you use gmail

Greenify - enhances greenify efficiency, very useful

Headsoff - not sure if I make use of it

Instagram Downloader - for me very useful, deffo will miss

Installeropt - very useful

Intelli3g - killer app

MinMinGuard - ad blocker, ads can spread malware, needless to say helps security.

noFUDroid - potentially hurts security, removes alerts for untrusted certs

Nomaptips - makes google maps more sane to use

Notifyclean - makes space use in notification area more efficient, very useful

playpermissionsxposed - security enhancement

secure settings - enhances security

snapprefs - greatly enhances snapchat

tesco clubcard no root check - allows you to use clubcard app on rooted phones, if you think rooted phones are insecure it lessens security, if you think they enhance security it strengthens security, clubcard app is not a financial transaction app to be clear tho.

vine downloader - useful

xinsta - downloader for instagram - very useful

xtouchwiz - for samsung roms, extremely useful

zoom for instagram - not as useful as it once was since some features are now in native instagram app but still provides nice benefits

That list is much bigger then I thought it was, to the people who say they happy to ditch xposed, I dont know if they just the sort of people who have no issues with fast moving code development and take the losses with it, or they simply had low reliance on it and as such dont care. But for me, the benefit of android over say iphones has always been the customisation of it, if you remove the customisation of android, the ability to break out of its pre formed shell, then you may as well use an iphone, as an iphone does that better.

In most rom threads I read, hardly anyone ever stays on an old version of android, they just blindly flash rom updates on the motto that newer is always better. If there is regressions such as lack of xposed hardly anyone seems to care which to me is odd, but it seems common in the xda community.

I am unsure what to do here, as android 9 has some nice theming enhancements, although I dont know if any of these apply to havoc os on the oneplus6, I am mighty tempted right now to roll back the phone to a 8.x build of havoc os and get my xposed functionality on the phone.