[itsame]

It wasn't removed; it was simply hidden because it was a work-in-progress piece of infrastructure wasn't ready for end-user consumption[1]. The same underlying code was still used by Privacy Guard[2], so it still wasn't CyanogenMod's innovation. App Ops would eventually make a user-facing comeback in 6.0 Marshmallow, with a very similar UI, just with the additional runtime popups for on-demand permissions.

I agree that CyanogenMod did bring innovations to the table -- I'm in no way trying to diminish that. Just clarifying attribution where due.

Speaking more generally, there is no doubt that custom ROMs answered needs/demands that Google just couldn't satisfy in the same timelines. Custom ROMs deserve tons of credit for prototyping and "market testing" concepts/features for Google. The good news is that -- by and large -- most of the low-hanging fruits have already been incorporated back into mainline Android. Nowadays, I've personally found fewer and fewer reasons to use custom ROMs (outside of the ever-important need to extend device lifetime anyway -- probably the biggest thing remaining that Google likely won't ever attempt to satisfy).

[1] http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/12/11/googler-app-ops-was-...

[2] https://www.xda-developers.com/protecting-your-privacy-app-o...