The strapline of my Nothing OS 2.0 review mentions “stock Android”, but to this day there’s still no universal agreement on what “stock Android” actually is.
Here’s the definition I’m using: Stock Android = AOSP + (core) GMS. Google hasn’t given the software on its Pixel phones an official name, and it’s unlikely that’ll ever change. To most people, Pixels run “stock Android”, but it’s not accurate or even useful to say they do.
“Stock Android” should simply refer to the base OS + apps that ALL devices running Android have. That’s also why I’m not calling AOSP “stock Android”, as there’s no ambiguity around AOSP and it’s missing the core components that the vast majority of devices have (GMS).
Google Mobile Services, of course, is not a singular bundle of apps. There are a LOT of optional apps & features, many of which I talked about in my Nothing OS 2.0 review, so I limited my definition of “stock Android” to AOSP + the base, the core GMS bundle.
So when you see me talk about “stock Android”, I’m talking about AOSP + core GMS. Anything added on top is custom and needs a different name. Nothing OS 2.0 is AOSP + core GMS + many optional GMS apps + Nothing’s changes. Pixels don’t have a name, but you get the idea.
…If you’re still confused or unsure by what I mean, the GSI + GMS packages that Google publishes meet my definition of “stock Android”. So highlighted above is “stock Android 13 [QPR3]” and “stock Android 14 [Beta 4]”.
