I’m sure many of you out there have installed a custom ROM before. Now when you install custom ROMs that are based on AOSP, you have to install the ROM along with GAPPS, or else you’ll be without the Play Store, Gmail and many other Google apps. Way back when CyanogenMod was first getting it’s feet wet with custom ROMs, they were including GAPPS in their ROM, but they were not able to legally, because they are proprietary apps. This can be pretty frustrating, because when you are installing a ROM you have to remember to download and flash the GAPPS as well. Now Paranoid Android have announced on their Google+ page that they have released official 0-day GAPPS.
The team did also state that they are entering a “legal gray area”. They then go on to state that they are hoping “Google decides to turn a blind eye on this let us at least do them the courtesy of making sure the original Google experience isn’t broken or adulterated.” What’s probably more important here is that Paranoid Android is promising these GAPPS will work on ALL ROMs.
The Google Apps that are included will be unmodified and always up to date and complete. The package will also include all the necessary dependencies and libs, the ability to survive ROM updates and that on Paranoid Android, since they do OTA updates now. Paranoid Android is also mentioning how “you won’t find a cleaner offering with that level of maintenance no matter which ROM you run.” The Paranoid Android team also has a thread going on over at XDA”s forums, in addition to their Google+ page. The thread includes a bit more detail on these packages as well as links to download them. There are also a few different choices like the full complete package, full modular package, mini modular package and add-on modules.
Pretty interesting step from Paranoid Android. It will be very interesting to see what Google does, or if they just leave it alone.