December QPR and Security update
CalyxOS 4.4.0 - December 2022 Quarterly Platform Release and Security update is now available for the Pixels 3 - 7, and the Fairphone 4
Changelog
- CalyxOS 4.4.0
- December 2022 Quarterly Platform Release and Security update
- Clock: Fix alarms, remove PHONE permission. Our apologies for the inconvenience.
- Calendar (Etar): Fix crash when creating new event.
- Double tap to sleep is temporarily broken, will be available again in the next update
- Allow Chromium (and many other browsers) to use autofill
- Fix work profile apps occasionally missing in recents for profiles created going forward
- A fix for some of the existing work profiles with the same bug will be avaiable in the next update
Clock app
- In the previous build (4.3.1/4.3.2), we merged some improvements to the AOSP Clock app, which led to it asking for the PHONE permission, and crashing when not given.
- This also resulted in alarms being broken for those who didn’t open the app at all, or opened it and denied the permission. They worked fine for those who opened the app and gave the permission.
- For this build (4.4.0), we have reverted the changes entirely, thus taking away the PHONE permission. This should fix alarms.
- Going forward, we will take further care to make sure that something like this doesn’t happen again. Both the permission, and alarms being broken.
Background
- The AOSP Clock app, like most other AOSP apps, doesn’t really receive any updates.
- LineageOS does a lot of improvements to this app, and thus we’ve been shipping with those to provide a better experience.
- The AOSP Clock app has always had the PHONE permission, however it was restricted to older Android versions.
- A recent update bumped the
targetSdkof the Clock app to the latest, Android 13 / API 33. Part of this required making the PHONE permission required again. - It was used to detect if a call is ongoing during an alarm, and if so, play a different, less loud tone. It wasn’t used for anything else at all. That can be reviewed in it’s removal below.
- If the permission was denied, the app crashed, thus making it unable to play the alarm
- Google’s proprietary Clock app somehow detects phone calls without needing this permission, however we haven’t been able to figure out how just yet.
- Going forward, we’ve decided to simply remove the permission.
Note
- Over-the-air Updates: CalyxOS updates are delivered over-the-air (OTA) automatically, without any manual intervention needed. However, if you'd like to manually update your CalyxOS install, see OTA.
- Security Updates: The Pixel 9 Pro Fold, 9 Pro XL, 9 Pro, 9, 8a, 8 Pro, 8, Fold, Tablet, 7a, 7 Pro, 7, 6a, 6 Pro, 6 contain the full security patch, as they are still being updated by Google.
- Security Updates: The Fairphone 4, 5, Motorola moto g32, moto g42, moto g52 stock OS follows a different security update release schedule, which usually lags behind by a month or two compared to Pixels. The CalyxOS releases for it only contain the latest fixes to the open source components, such as the OS code and the Linux kernel. Proprietary components such as the bootloader, modem firmware, and other firmware get updates as soon as the stock OS update is available.
- End-of-life: The Pixel 5a (5G), 4a (5G), 5, 4a, 4 XL, 4 are no longer being updated by the manufacturer, so the CalyxOS releases for these devices only contain the fixes to the open source components, such as the OS code and the Linux kernel. Proprietary components such as the bootloader, modem firmware, and other firmware no longer get updates.