What is Stock Android, Vanilla Android & Pure Android | Benefits

If you are an Android fan and are using Android phones from a long time then you must have heard few terms like Stock Android or Pure Android or Vanilla ROM. A thought must have been clicked in your mind that what is this stock ROM or pure Android. Then we will clear all doubts in this article. First make it clear that Stock ROM or Pure Android ROM or Vanilla ROM are almost same, therefore in this article we will use the word “Stock ROM or Stock Android” for all these words. Stock Android is created, developed and provided by Google and is the base of all the OS that comes pre-installed in any Android phone.

What is Stock Android?

Stock Android is the pure version of Android that is directly provided by Google without any modifications and are available for Nexus devices, which means that all the Nexus devices comes with Stock Android by default. It means the OS that explains how Android OS should be. In simple words, stock Android represents the Android as a whole. The latest version of Android is Android 6.0 Marshmallow which comes by default in Nexus 5x and Nexus 6P and is also available for many other eligible Nexus devices.

Stock Android comes with only the important applications and tools that is needed to run the OS or which Google thinks are important for the Android users, which means that Stock Android does not come with any bloatware and skin over it. Other than Nexus devices, all the smartphones comes with skinned Android OS, for example, Samsung devices comes with TouchWiz, HTC devices with Sense UI and so on. These manufacturers use the Stock Android as their base and brand it according to them.

Images from Stock Android from Nexus 6P (Android 6.0)

Benefits of Stock Android

• Very fast as compared to any other skinned or customized Android ROM.
• No bloatware are included, which means more internal storage.
• Fastest updates as they are ready to use and no further customization are required. This makes the Nexus to get the fastest updates as compared to other Android devices.
• No battery sucking third-party application.
• No heavy on resources third-party application.
• Cleaner look as compared to other UI.
• A great exposure for developers to customize the ROM.
• Fastest security patches and updates.
• Fastest inclusion of new features.
• Always assured of quality, as stock ROM is directly from Google.
• Fastest bug fixes.
• A great developer community dedicated to stock ROM.

In spite of having some benefits, Stock Android also suffers from some disadvantage. These disadvantages includes lack of features, lack of customization options and so on. Therefore the manufacturers uses the stock Android as their base and customize it according to their need and pack it with new features, app, tools etc which they think is helpful for the ultimate consumers.

We hope that you might have got enough knowledge about stock Android and its benefits. If you still have any doubt regarding this topic, please feel free to discuss your query in the comment box.