DivestOS.org Obituary and Divested.dev Birth Announcements

DivestOS Obituary

It has been almost nine months since the sudden death of DivestOS (archive today) was announced. Tad [Redacted], without formal warning, stopped work on DivestOS ROMs and associated Android applications on about December 23, 2024. The writing was on the wall predicting financial failure long before a desperation fundraising plea in early 2024, however. Personally, I was saddened but not surprised to see DivestOS lurch to sudden death. I invested a not insignificant amount of money, and a significant amount of time, promoting DivestOS and unsuccessfully trying to get Tad [Redacted] to collaborate and find ways to succeed.

a more private and more secure aftermarket operating system --Tad

The writing was also on the wall predicting quality failure due to insufficient staffing and overwork of the lone developer. Commenters like "fossys" at F-Droid forums accurately predicted the inevitable demise as early as June 2020, saying "with this quantity [of supported devices] the quality must inevitably fall by the wayside". Others were more optimistic, but "fossys" was right. By October 2021, after testing DivestOS on several phones, "fossys" also accurately predicted financial problems when unsatisfactory answers about donations, funding and lack of formal organization were given by Tad [Redacted].

a mobile operating system divested from the norm --Tad

When DivestOS support was dropped like a hot potato, most associated infrastructure was quickly removed from public access, although associated domains remain owned leased by Tad [Redacted]. Divested.dev (Archive) in particular continues serving web pages.

a vastly diverged unofficial soft fork of LineageOS --Tad

Lack of planned exit was demonstrated by SkewedZeppelin (aka Tad [Redacted]) in FairPhone forums recommending FP2/FP3 users to switch to DivestOS on November 8, 2024, less than two months before the demise of "long term support" for DivestOS ROMs.

a more private and more secure aftermarket mobile operating system --Tad

DivestOS was symbolically birthed from SpotCo.us, a failed Communications or IT services company in Florida, USA. DivestOS, publicly, was approximately a four to five year effort by Tad [Redacted] to popularize and make a living from donations from users of DivestOS Android-alternative ROMs for dozens of phones. Before that, Tad [Redacted] said DivestOS was "my personal project for 6 years". It ended on what Tad apparently considered the tenth anniversary of beginning work on it.

My personal project with zero obligations dictated only by what I find fun in my free time --Tad

Other websites hosted at the same server as SpotCo.us included tntsvces.com apparently for TNT Janitorial Services, with a Tad [Redacted] as Manager in the same area in Florida where DivestOS' Tad and SpotCo were located.

expounding solutions to enhance user freedom --Tad

Birth of DivestOS was publicly announced at F-Droid Forums (archive). The initial tag line was "an aftermarket system" on Jun 12, 2020. This was changed to "long term device support with enhanced privacy and security" on August 1, 2021. Uncertainty about goals of Divested and DivestOS was reflected in the different tag lines used by Tad [Redacted] at different places and times.

I originally planned to have it as a "name your price" for downloads --Tad

Other efforts to publicize DivestOS were at XDA Forums, Reddit, PrivacyGuides, E Foundation forums, Wikipedia, and other places. They suffered banning at E Foundation forums and Reddit.

Not involving money make it less obligations for me --Tad

DivestOS, similar to Murena's /E/OS, was a "soft" fork of LineageOS. Project accomplishments include making ROMs for many older phones, removal of firmware "blobs" while retaining phone functions, partly automated CVE kernel patcher, and extensive hosts file internet blocking.

DivestOS technical struggles and frustrations included inability to progress from Android 13 (LineageOS 20) to release Android 14 (LineageOS 21) version ROMs, long after competitors CalyxOS and GrapheneOS already had, and were releasing Android 15 (LineageOS 22).

I want to remind everyone to ultimately have fun, and not forget to enjoy our short lives on this ball hurling through space. Thank you. --Tad

DivestOS developer Tad [Redacted] was recipient of the much deserved 2022 award for "Outstanding New Free Software Contributor".

I am not a mental health professional, just someone who has always found it interesting. --Tad

In addition to interests in high performance computers, new and old phones, and car maintenance, DivestOS developer Tad [Redacted] enjoyed dumpster diving and posting on internet forums using aliases from children's books. DivestOS ROM is survived by newer "Saturday" projects by Tad [Redacted]: udderance.app - for when "speaking is difficult or impossible", eeyo.re - Eeyore's Quiet Corner sayings, and kairoscope.org - "private" mental health screeners. Donations in honor of DivestOS Divested.dev and other projects are requested, as Tad [Redacted] says, "to ensure I stay around".

Divested Birth Announcements

It appears Tad [Redacted] took about five months off from some app developing, blogging and "tooting", for self-reflection and investigation of communication ailments and mental illnesses, as reflected in new websites and apps.

for when the aliens take your moo box --Tad

An XMPP public channel formed when DivestOS dissolved, DivestOS Refugees, continues the DivestOS Offtopic tradition with a mix of sillyness and mostly shallow discussions of Android ROMs, other software, and other random topics, with a handful of active participants and several dozen lurkers.

self-awareness, privately explored --Tad

Tad [Redacted] also continues developing "non-mobile" software under the "Divested.dev" umbrella, has added a blog and shorter form "roll", and continues occasional posting on Mastodon and various forums including PrivacyGuides, F-Droid and Hacker News.

At least one app dropped by DivestOS, Google Maps Webview Wrapper or Gmaps WV, was picked up by prolific developer "Woheller69" and continues distribution at F-Droid, but it is in danger of being dropped again if Google insists on registering gratis app developers with real IDs.

Unfortunately nicknamed AxPOS ROM - Advanced Experience - was forked from DivestOS, for a smaller number of devices, and carries on with different features and goals. The official community channel uses Matrix. Explanation by "SteadfasterX" of the process of automated kernel CVE patching shows a lot of manual steps were also required.

Tad/Tavi continues promoting GrapheneOS and directing people to the ROM comparison they helped write with other GrapheneOS fans. Tad [Redacted] started using an iPhone before dropping DivestOS, and wrote a mixed review and settings recommendations.

If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there. --Lewis Carroll (paraphrase)

Although critical of FairPhone for not having a good plan, Tad [Redacted], generally speaking, historically shares this flaw.

Concluding Remarks

I am just some random software developer. I have no actual experience in this field. --Tad

Only days ago, Tad [Redacted] wrote a very long post describing learning about, purchasing, and playing with a radiation detector, or "Notes on Geiger Counters" (archive.ph). Many corrections of misconceptions were made based on Reddit comments.

I have always wanted a geiger counter since I was young. --Tad

TL:DR. Was this the long-awaited announcement of an open source, "privacy respecting" app being released, for using phone camera sensors for radiation detection?

My requirements are: can actually detect radiation, but no need for real accuracy; pocketable; ... --Tad

Proprietary phone scintillation detector apps have been available for years, including for the University of Wisconsin DECO: The Distributed Electronic Cosmic-ray Observatory.

My Choice: I ultimately ended up purchasing the Radiacode 102 for its higher sensitivity and broad featureset. --Tad

Even iPhones can do it? It's not like reputable sources didn't cover it, like NIH? Or more popular media (NPR) or LiveScience. DuckDuckGo web search has more.

It's great seeing Tad [Redacted] having fun expanding hobby interests into new areas, and learning a little along the way. Here's hoping an open source phone radiation detector app is written soon. But, I'm not holding my breath. Maybe next life. Happy trails, and good luck, Tad [Redacted]. So long, and Thanks for all the bytes.

Notes:
 
spotco.us Creation Date: 2013-04-06
divestOS.xyz created before: 2018-09-03
divestOS.org Creation Date: 2019-05-23.
tntsvces.com Creation Date: 2019-07-29
divested.dev creation date: 2020-11-24
konvers.me Creation Date: 2020-05-07
eeyo.re created circa: 2024-05-16
kairoscope.org Creation Date: 2025-05-29
udderance.app launch announced: 2025-06-10 

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