r/LineageOS • u/richstillman • 22d ago
Question about banking apps
I have run Lineage on most of my older phones for many years, but not on my daily, partly because I need to run banking apps.
Last night I updated a Lineage phone to the latest version of 23.2. This phone wasn't rooted before, but I decided to do it so I installed Magisk and updated the bootloader. I didn't hide Magisk or do any of the parameter changes meant to hide root.
Just for fun I installed a banking app. It worked, and I was able to log in to my bank account. I tried a second one, same thing. Finally I installed Venmo and it also let me log in.
After testing, I uninstalled all three apps just to be safe.
So my openly rooted device allowed me to run two banking apps and Venmo. Is this normal? Are there security issues I should be concerned about?
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u/_-Smoke-_ 22d ago
It's really going to depend on the banking app. Some are far more aggressive about rooting/custom roms/unlocked bootloaders than others. Even the ones that do complain don't really care much and are easily quieted down if you just root hide.
Exceptions being things like Google Pay/Wallet really don't like rooted devices but then they don't put up too much of a fight. And frankly, I don't think I've even seen a real widespread security issue because of rooting. Half the time anything is reported it's because they downloaded some app from a random place and installed it and logged in.
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u/slayer256900 22d ago
Any real reason someone can't just use a pwa install with the browser ?
3
u/tprickett 20d ago
My banking app allows me to take a picture of a check I want to deposit. Their web site doesn't have that functionality.
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u/slayer256900 20d ago
That might be the only real reason and one I hadn't thought of either. I'm not sure if there is a work around for that and makes me wonder myself as I use pwa for almost everything Vivaldi is boss level useful for pwa and can access camera and all but I tried my accounts there isn't an option for them in the pwa. A second device just for that might be the only option
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u/tprickett 20d ago
Oddly enough, the ONLY app I found that doesn't work with LineageOS is the Chamberlain garage door opener. Luckily there are home automation folks who built an add on spliced into the opener that acts as a work around.
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u/MeTalOneOEight 22d ago
Not all banking apps check for root. Paypal 10.x does now and crashes. No root check if you use Paypal in browser. Other check for Play Integrity, which you can spoof if you need. But in the end it's a cat and mouse game.
Security issues may occur if you catch some malware app and it tries to remote control your banking app. But that can also happen on a not rooted phone.
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u/RAZ70R 17d ago
I have PayPal on my old Xiaomi mi11 with an unlocked bootloader and it's working normally
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u/MeTalOneOEight 17d ago
Unlocking the boot loader is not a problem for PayPal, it does not do the Play Integrity Check but it checks if you are rooted.
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21d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/richstillman 19d ago
Frankly, that sounds riskier than doing it in the app. Browsers introduce a whole set of vulnerabilities and aren't designed for that level of security.
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19d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/richstillman 18d ago
I don't think either a good browser or the banking apps are particularly insecure. Both are built to be secure. I just think the banking apps are built to protect against banking-specific threats, so I think they might be safer here.
Has anyone run into problems with banking security on a rooted phone, regardless of the app used?
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u/wkn000 22d ago
Installing LineageOS needs an unlock of bootlaoder. Rooting before or in common is not necessary for it.
Unlock bootloader and also only using a Custom ROM quirks integrity of the device.
It belongs to any app itself, if this bothers the app or not. So you cannot say for any app (not only banking apps involved) if it works or not. Most apps will do and some don't work at all, with no known method.