February 14, 2024

Non-standard Android operating systems

The Casa app is officially compatible with Apple iOS devices and stock Android devices. You can find the links to download the Casa app here.

While the app is optimized for those platforms, it will run on alternative Android operating systems, such as:

• GrapheneOS
• CalyxOS
• LineageOS
• ...and more!

These alternative, or "non-standard," Android operating systems can offer some benefits to advanced users, such as increased device privacy and customization that is not otherwise offered in the standard Android OS.

Does Casa offer official support for non-standard operating systems?

While the Casa app will work with most Android devices that are able to download apps that are "mirrored" from the Google Play store, they are not officially supported by Casa, and they are not tested extensively by our team.

Using the Casa app with a non-standard operating system should be done at your own risk, and there is a critical security point to keep in mind when you consider doing this regarding the mobile key and Pay key.

Mobile and Pay key backups

When the Casa app creates a mobile key for a 3-key or 5-key vault, and when the Casa app creates the Pay key on Android devices, the app is designed to leverage Google Drive on the device. Normally, the key is created in the Casa app, and a backup of that key is automatically encrypted and backed up to that cloud service.

Because alternative Android devices are often "de-googled," in the sense that one does not sign in to a Google account in the system settings of the phone, the mobile key and Pay key on these operating systems are NOT automatically backed up. There are, however, some alternatives for the auto backup in Google Drive:

• You can still use the mobile key as one of the signing keys for your vault, and you can still use the Pay wallet, but it will be necessary to back their key(s) up manually. Use QR code backups that can be printed out or otherwise saved for future use should you lose, damage, or upgrade your phone. It is very important that you take steps to save these backups.
• For 3-key vaults only, you can opt out of using the mobile key in your setup entirely. As an alternative, you would use two hardware devices, along with the Casa Recovery Key.

See our article Supported platforms and hardware device firmware for more details on what we officially support.