With the Android Oreo update, Google continues to polish the Android experience for all users. The update notably brings picture-in-picture mode support from Android TV, the Autofill Framework which replaces the need for password managers’ laggy accessibility services, and notification channels for more fine-grained control over your notifications. In addition to these changes, some previously root-only tweaks such as theming your device no longer require root, so there are less reasons to root your phone. Still, for those of you who do root your devices, you now have another tool at your disposal: access to the Xposed Framework for Android Oreo (8.0/8.1).
Back in October, XDA Senior Recognized Developer rovo89 released an update to the Xposed Framework which brought support for Android Nougat (7.0/7.1) devices. At that point, Android Nougat was well over a year old, and Android 8.0 Oreo was also recently released. Thus, while many users owning devices with Android Nougat were ecstatic about the release, others felt the update was a bit late since they had already moved on to Oreo.
But after teasing the release last month, the Xposed Framework has now caught up to the latest Android release. This means that any newly released Android Oreo devices such as the Google Pixel 2 & Pixel 2 XL, the Sony Xperia XZ1 series, or the Huawei Mate 10 series can finally try out Xposed. Plus, devices upgrading to Android Oreo (either officially or unofficially) can also now try out the venerated Xposed Framework and its many modules.
Install Xposed Framework for Android Oreo
Since this is the very first release of Xposed for Oreo devices, rovo89 is treating this release as a beta. That means it could be buggy, things could crash, certain modules may not work, or other issues could arise. He says that it has been stable enough for him on his daily driver (the Google Pixel), and other developers such as XDA Recognized Contributor / Developer wanam have tested it as well, but your mileage may vary. Fortunately, since a prerequisite to installing the Xposed Framework is rooting your device, that means you should be able to make a backup before installing. If you need to uninstall, please use xposed-uninstaller-20180108-*.zip as it cleans up some additional files.
Furthermore, rovo89 says that he’s aware of a few app crashes happening from time to time, though he claims this hasn’t impaired his user experience and an updated beta will address the issue once the root cause is found. For now, rovo89 also requests that you only report reproducible bugs (i.e. consistent app crashes or bootloops triggered by certain applications or actions), given that random crash occurrences are harder to capture and narrow down.
The installation process is simple, as always. All you have to do is install the latest Xposed Installer (v3.1.5) that is attached to rovo89’s forum thread. You will also need to flash the latest framework zip onto your device. The framework zip can be installed by flashing it through a custom recovery such as TWRP. Users running Android 8.0 Oreo will need to install the SDK 26 framework, while users running Android 8.1 will need the SDK 27 framework. The source code for the updated framework will be published once it’s cleaned up and Xposed for Oreo leaves its beta stage.
Download Xposed Installer v3.1.5 (See Attachment)
Download Xposed Framework Installer ZIP for Android 8.0 Oreo
Download Xposed Framework Installer ZIP for Android 8.1 Oreo
Conclusion
Android Oreo is still a fairly new release, so it’s great to see that the Xposed Framework already supports it. Some of the most popular Xposed Modules, such as the battery saving module called Amplify and the Swiss Army Knife of customization modules called GravityBox, were quickly updated to support Xposed for Android Nougat.
Amplify Xposed Module
GravityBox Xposed Module
With the release of the Xposed Framework for Android Oreo, we expect modules such as these to be updated with support for the latest framework, as some modules might need adjustments. For example, rovo89 states some modules might face challenges given they can no longer use XSharedPreferences in the system_server process. However, module developers should be able to find workarounds — in this case, modules could load their preferences in initZygote(). And hopefully, with every modern Android release now supported by Xposed, we hope to see more module development in the near future.
Do you want to support the Xposed Framework project? If so, then consider donating to rovo89 to support the work that he does.
Looking to download Xposed Modules? We recommend following our Xposed Framework Module subforum or downloading the XDA Labs app and browsing our collection of Xposed Modules.
Keep in mind that many modules may not work currently, so be prepared to wait until your favorite modules are updated. We will be following the progress of existing modules and release of any particularly interesting new ones, so be sure to follow the Portal too if you are itching to try out new Xposed Modules.
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