I am on track to using my Pixel 7 Pro again!

[Smithfield]

Because modern Android pissed me off for quite some time, I went back to using Android 7.1 on the HTC ONE M8. It made me realize how great Android used to be until they started ruining Android with Android 9 making call recording nearly impossible. Android 10 then introduced scoped storage which was a royal pain in the ass! Android 12 finally killed Android for good by introducing the PhantomProcessKiller, which makes it impossible to avoid scoped storage by making it impossible to run any Android VMs or do really, anything with your device. That and the fact that the Pixel 7 Pro could not run Yuzu in a vain attempt to make up for all these negative changes made me want to go back to older devices.

 

However, based on advice from @OhioYJ, I rooted my Pixel 7 Pro and installed a Magisk module that disables the terrible PhantomProcessKiller that was introduced into Android 12 without any announcement or warning! It infamously made VM apps made for running older versions of Android completely incompatible (the VMs would run for a few minutes, and then freeze up). It also made Termux users mad as well. Fortunately, with this disabled, I have regained so much functionality already and can already run an Android 4.4 VM with support for Flash!

 

But we are not done. There are still two more things we need to do before my phone will be in fully working order. These are technically optional, as VMs can now run again with no issues, but I would still like to use modern Android with everything that originally made Android great to begin with. The two things I want to address are 32-bit compatibility and scoped storage. While I can now work around these by running an older version of Android inside a VM, I would still prefer to not have to use VMs for these. So what do I do next to make scoped storage history and bring back 32-bit support?

 

With those things fixed, the only thing missing is the ability to run Yuzu, but with this phone's Mali GPU, that is not happening even with root access. However, all of this should make up for my inability to run Yuzu.

 

And thanks @OhioYJ for recommending me to use root access on modern Android to fix its faults!

[Smithfield]

I keep trying to restore 32-bit support, but my attempts at doing so only lead to a bootloop. Why couldn't there just be a Magisk module that restores 32-bit support? But no, you must use a custom version of Magisk that is now outdated! Trying to patch init_boot with the custom version of Magisk and then flashing with fastboot leads to a bootloop. I have no idea what to do next. Can someone please help me restore 32-bit support?

[Smithfield]

There is the MagiskHide Props Config. I installed it and forcibly added support for 32-bit apps. They can now install but they do not start at all. It looks like additional instructions are needed for actually running 32-bit apps.

[Smithfield]

1 hour ago, Smithfield said:

There is the MagiskHide Props Config. I installed it and forcibly added support for 32-bit apps. They can now install but they do not start at all. It looks like additional instructions are needed for actually running 32-bit apps.

Turns out, I needed to also edit ro.zygote and ro.vendor.product.cpu.abilist32 in addition to ro.vendor.product.cpu.abilist. While I didn't use exactly what they did, I still went and editing what they did. I used MagiskHide Props Config to edit all these values according to here:

https://github.com/ThomasKing2014/Pixel7_32bit_helper

However, it is not showing up in AIDA64 yet. It seems I need to edit build.prop some more.

[Smithfield]

11 hours ago, Smithfield said:

Turns out, I needed to also edit ro.zygote and ro.vendor.product.cpu.abilist32 in addition to ro.vendor.product.cpu.abilist. While I didn't use exactly what they did, I still went and editing what they did. I used MagiskHide Props Config to edit all these values according to here:

https://github.com/ThomasKing2014/Pixel7_32bit_helper

However, it is not showing up in AIDA64 yet. It seems I need to edit build.prop some more.

Looks like I underestimated the immense difficulty of re-enabling 32-bit app support on this device. I tried using MagiskHide Props Config to edit build.prop but it just didn't work. There is still no 32-bit zygote process when I run ps -ef |grep zygote, and 32-bit app support is not re-enabled at all. I edited all the values I needed to and I just could not bring it back! @OhioYJ, can you help me with this? As you have experience with rooted Android devices. I cannot keep daily-driving my HTC ONE M8.

 

@OhioYJ, can you also ping other people who root their devices to figure out exactly what to do without flashing the init_boot.img that was patched by a modified, older version of Magisk? Flashing that will cause a bootloop and then I have to reflash the newer patched init_boot.img I obtained from the latest version of Magisk using fastboot. It seems version mix-ups are a big no-no for Magisk.

And while we're at it, will scoped storage just go away automatically with root access?

Edited December 2, 2023 by Smithfield
Added more detail about my rooted Pixel 7 Pro experience

[OhioYJ]

Are you using the original MagiskHide Props Config by Didgeridoohan (this is what I still use) or the newer fork?

 

Do you flash the init_boot.img on your device? Coming from Samsung and OnePlus devices, I believe init_boot is a pixel thing. Flashing boot.img would be normal for my devices. I've even had some where it was recovery. What you flash will be device specific, as it depends on the partition layout.

 

[Smithfield]

1 hour ago, OhioYJ said:

Are you using the original MagiskHide Props Config by Didgeridoohan (this is what I still use) or the newer fork?

 

Do you flash the init_boot.img on your device? Coming from Samsung and OnePlus devices, I believe init_boot is a pixel thing. Flashing boot.img would be normal for my devices. I've even had some where it was recovery. What you flash will be device specific, as it depends on the partition layout.

 

Yeah, I am using the original Didgeridoohan variant of MagiskHide Props Config. Also, yes, there is an init_boot partition as well as a boot partition on the Google Pixel 7 Pro.

[Smithfield]

Okay, I got 32-bit app support back! I had to use a modified build of Magisk made specifically for this purpose. That modified build was more up-to-date than I though. I simply patched both boot.img and init_boot.img with the custom Magisk build. The 32-bit zygote process can be found again and AIDA64 reports that my phone can now run 32-bit armeabi and armeabi-v7a binaries. So much for "the first 64-bit-only Android smartphone". What I did will not work on the Pixel 8, so make sure to buy the Pixel 7 Pro instead.

 

With the PhantomProcessKiller also gone, there is only one last thing that needs to be done. I need to figure out how to never deal with scoped storage ever again! I have the root access. I wonder if that is all I need. @OhioYJ, you said that you made scoped storage history by rooting your phone. Do you just not deal with it again or do you give root access to applications that need filesystem access?

 

And what file manager is best for using with rooted devices and can extract all kinds of archives that are common on the internet?

Edited December 3, 2023 by Smithfield
Asking for a file manager.

[OhioYJ]

Recently I've been using Solid explorer, it seems to open at least zip files, haven't tried to open up much else.

 

With root access apps should be able to write where they need to, however they need to be designed to do that. 

[Smithfield]

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1545235-magisk-module-to-basically-make-scoped-storage-history/

So I finally did it! I am now going to put my SIM card back into my Pixel 7 Pro and finally be able to enjoy 5G again! I have finally addressed the three main things bothering me with this phone: PhantomProcessKiller, 32-bit compatibility, and scoped storage! Now that I have defeated those obstacles, I can use my phone like normal again!

 

Honestly, to the few of you who even reads this thread, thanks! Thank you for taking your time to read this thread and I hope it helps at least one person in at least a minor way.

 

One last thing to note, if I ever decide to buy another phone, it will be OnePlus from here on out. It will be whichever OnePlus phone is the last one to have a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, at least until an emulation solution comes out for 32-bit compatibility. The OnePlus 11 was what I should've bought instead of the Google Pixel 7 Pro, as it is almost as developer-friendly as the Google Pixel series, but their latest phones have a chance at actually running Yuzu, allowing for some "modern" gaming.

Edited December 4, 2023 by Smithfield
Telling everyone that I may buy OnePlus phones in the future.

[Smithfield]

Okay, scoped storage is still an issue. I am still working on it. However, it looks like I can go into /system and delete anything. I have no idea how much success I actually have with all this.

 

Also, I finally got around to completely uninstalling the only bloatware that the Pixel 7 Pro comes with, the official YouTube mobile app, and the official YouTube Music mobile app. They are actively terrible to use, so I replaced them with NewPipe. My HTC ONE M8 didn't even come with them thanks to the OpenGApps including a "nano" package that then allows me to install only what I need from Google Play.

[Smithfield]

By the way, the module I used to disable the PhantomProcessKiller was this one: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/HardcodedCat/termux-monet/master/ppr/PhantomProcessRetainer-main.zip

 

Obviously, use caution when installing Magisk modules. This one works like a charm and I got both VMOS and Termux to work normally. I post this now because me and other users may find a direct link to the module helpful.