OnePlus will promote custom ROMs for EOL devices, open a Bug Bounty program, and expand its developer program

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Earlier this year, OnePlus held an Open Ear Forum in India dedicated to hearing the thoughts and concerns of the Developer Community. Since custom development is still really popular among a large number of Indian tech enthusiasts, it’s no surprise that OnePlus is expanding its support for this fanbase. Other primarily-online smartphone brands with large Indian market shares are slowly catching on, but none have yet to match the level of support that OnePlus is offering. Just what are they now promising?

As OnePlus’ India Community Specialist Joel Jacob outlined in the OnePlus Forums, the company is pledging to do the following:

Kernel sources to be released on time for all builds including Open Beta build. We will introduce a Bounty Program for reporting security vulnerabilities. We will be promoting custom ROMS on OnePlus forums and Social Media for EOL (End of life) devices. Concerns about apps getting killed in the background due to aggressive battery optimization – to be fixed in upcoming updates. We will make sure that devices are seeded quicker to developers in the program after the launch of a new device. We will be expanding the existing device seeding program to include more members. More OnePlus community meetups to be organized around our developer community.

Each of these commitment points is notable in their own regard.

Starting with the kernel source code commitment, many device makers eventually release kernel source code for the software builds they ship on their smartphones, but few continue to upload updated kernel source code for each new software build they release.

OnePlus has had its share of security vulnerabilities, some of which we reported directly to PR, but soon anyone who comes across a vulnerability can submit a report to OnePlus on their own. Huawei and Samsung both have their own bug bounty programs, so we’re happy to see OnePlus join in. We hope that the company will pay users fairly for the vulnerabilities they disclose.

Next, OnePlus will start promoting custom ROMs on their forums and social media channels for devices that have reached end-of-life. The company still supports devices as old as the OnePlus 3, but once that generation of devices reaches end-of-life you’ll have to turn to a custom ROM to continue receiving software support. OnePlus already went above and beyond by offering Android Pie for its 2016 smartphones, but there’s no chance that the 3/3T will get an official build of Android 10. Fortunately, Android 10-based custom ROMs are already in the works.

In order to further custom ROM development for newer devices, the company will make sure that devices get sent more quickly to developers. The company will also expand the device seeding program to include more developers. There was a brief scare that the company would shutter its developer program, but it’s back and stronger than ever.

Lastly, the company will address complaints that OxygenOS is killing apps in the background. I’ve personally not had any issues with this, though I have had issues with OxygenOS delaying notifications from apps like Discord, Hangouts, and Slack, so I assume that’s what’s being referred to here. OnePlus is ranked poorly on dontkillmyapp, a website that rates smartphone device makers by how aggressively their software handles memory management. HMD Global, the makers of Nokia-branded smartphones, recently announced they’ve stopped using app killing services, so we hope that OnePlus following suit is just the start of other Chinese brands solving their memory management woes.