[Q] Android Pay and S4 - What's permitted?

[WhosAsking]

I'm going to take this question in a different direction from deke997's thread so that I can perhaps draw a different set of replies.

My current situation: I'm rooted and use a customized Android ROM. As many of you are aware, that means Android Pay doesn't work for me. And since Google will appear (under threat of the credit card companies) to only get tighter on this as time passes, we may need to find ways to deal with this. I'm tempted to try out a different, even a stock, ROM if this means AP will work, but I want to find ways to push back without being too aggressive. So here are some questions:

1. Apart from a straight stock TouchWiz ROM, are there other less-customized ROMs out there that seem to pass Google's acid test?

2. I know custom system ROMs are out, but what about custom recoveries? I may be willing to forgo things like Titanium Backup if I can at least maintain Nandroids, which something like TWRP will let me do.

3. How meticulous is the system used to check the integrity of the system? I ask this because one reason I like to keep root is for AdAway, but I may be able to work around this using a symlink from /etc/hosts to someplace user-editable. Would it detect this kind of alteration?

 

[OriginalGabriel]

I'm going to take this question in a different direction from deke997's thread so that I can perhaps draw a different set of replies.

My current situation: I'm rooted and use a customized Android ROM. As many of you are aware, that means Android Pay doesn't work for me. And since Google will appear (under threat of the credit card companies) to only get tighter on this as time passes, we may need to find ways to deal with this. I'm tempted to try out a different, even a stock, ROM if this means AP will work, but I want to find ways to push back without being too aggressive. So here are some questions:

1. Apart from a straight stock TouchWiz ROM, are there other less-customized ROMs out there that seem to pass Google's acid test?

2. I know custom system ROMs are out, but what about custom recoveries? I may be willing to forgo things like Titanium Backup if I can at least maintain Nandroids, which something like TWRP will let me do.

3. How meticulous is the system used to check the integrity of the system? I ask this because one reason I like to keep root is for AdAway, but I may be able to work around this using a symlink from /etc/hosts to someplace user-editable. Would it detect this kind of alteration?

No, yes, yes.

 

[WhosAsking]

So, to clarify:

1. No other ROM will work, not even a Google Play Edition ROM?

2. Yes, I can use a custom recovery safely as long as /system is left alone?

3. Yes, it can detect an edit to /etc and will flag it as unclean?

 

[OriginalGabriel]

So, to clarify:

1. No other ROM will work, not even a Google Play Edition ROM?

2. Yes, I can use a custom recovery safely as long as /system is left alone?

3. Yes, it can detect an edit to /etc and will flag it as unclean?

Yep; regarding the recovery however, a custom recovery will make Android Pay not work.

 

[WhosAsking]

I wonder why a GPE ROM won't work given it's an official Google ROM and therefore would be about as vetted as you can get. What prevents a GPE ROM working?