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  • How to port new features to pixel 4a

Hi, i would like to somehow get the features of the currently supported devices (like pixel 8) for my pixel 4a. I will only use it for testing and messing around so im not concenerned about the missing security patches. How would one go about achieving this? Could i just trick the 4a to install a grapheneos version for a newer device? I dont have any experience with stuff like that but willing to learn. Thanks

    Dmf943
    I mean, putting aside the fact that I'm pretty sure you can't install a different version of GrapheneOS from the device you're using, I assume by "features of pixel 8" you mean things like MTE? Naming some of the features you're looking to use would be helpful. Either way, features like MTE are hardware based and require the newer Pixel 8/9 hardware. You will not be able to use MTE on a Pixel 4a.

      I meant things like duress pin

      As far as I know Pixel <6 support is over, at least Android 15 won't be.

      Dmf943 I'm not sure you understand how this works. It's not possible with devices that are end-of-life, no longer receive firmware or driver security updates, and receive extended support from GrapheneOS via a legacy branch based on Android 13 (4a) and 14 (4a 5G) with only the Android Open Source Project security backports, certain other security patches, and other minimal changes to keep them working. You can't just simply "trick" an old device to use features that are only supported on newer devices...

      https://grapheneos.org/faq#device-support

        Dmf943 Could i just trick the 4a to install a grapheneos version for a newer device?

        It is possible to do that, but the result would be that the device would permanently not boot, because the firmware and kernel and device drivers would all be wrong for the hardware. This is why the installers check for this and refuse to do it.

          Dmf943 You would have to port it to current Android 15 GrapheneOS which would be difficult and would cause a lot of breakage. You should just get a used Pixel 7a and you could develop more useful things without having to invest a substantial amount of time to get anything working.