LineageOS, a widely used custom ROM for Android devices, has a brand new section in its settings app called “Trust,” dedicated to informing users with various security information about their device. Specifically, Trust is now available in LineageOS builds starting with its recently released 15.1 builds. Those are the Android 8.1 Oreo builds of the ROM. By bringing the statuses of all of Android’s core security features under one U.I., the developers behind the ROM hope to help users become more informed. That, in turn, should help users maintain a better focus on and understand where their handset is and is not private and secure. As part of that, the interface also shows separate security patch level readouts for both the Android Framework and “Vendor” security patch level.
Beyond displaying statuses, the new interface also explains to users what each of those statuses means and informs them when settings are not secure. Lastly, the more general interface included with the ROM now includes icons that appear when actions are taken, such as those that instantiate dialogue boxes. If the Trust icon appears in the notification shade, the dialogue should be legitimate. A second icon will show any time an app actively access root for further protection. Setting that aside, accessing the new tool is relatively straightforward. As mentioned above, users first need to navigate to the settings app in LineageOS and then to the “Security and Privacy” section of the app. The new Trust interface will be located there.
Those features are already bound to be useful in terms of keeping user’s safe since the behavior of some Android OEMs has forced Google to enforce its Security Patch policies more stringently. Some of those policies have even been reworked as part of the Android certification program requirements. In fact, that seems to be among the driving forces behind the new Trust interface since ROMs can be easily installed on devices from so many OEMs. By incorporating a deeper interface-based explanation of a given user’s device, those users should be able to keep themselves much safer. However, the company also plans to continue filling Trust out with new features and functionality going forward. So the version of this interface that arrives with Android P should be even better.
