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How to install GrapheneOS
A step-by-step guide to get you started with the best privacy/security ROM on Android
Android smartphones today are more feature-filled than in the past, and that list expands with each new release. This is one reason why rooting and modding are no longer popular. Most see them as unnecessary. Many of the features sought after back then have been added to the stock version of Android. But there's still a market for custom ROMs. Installing GrapheneOS with one of the best Google Pixel phones allows you to optimize it using unique privacy and security features. Doing so elevates your Android experience beyond its stock capabilities.
Custom ROM gives the OnePlus 2 a new lease on life with surprisingly stable Android 13 build
Official support ended way back in the days of Marshmallow
The OnePlus 2 — no, not the OnePlus Nord 2, the actual second phone ever released by OnePlus — is getting some modern day attention. Thanks to an unofficial LineageOS build, Android 13 has arrived for the 2015 smartphone, bringing it up to modern standards nearly eight years after its launch.
Samsung Gear S3 from 2016 gets a taste of Wear OS thanks to this unofficial build
It works surprisingly well, too, if you don’t mind forfeiting GPS and NFC functionality
Smartwatches have been around for well over a decade now, but Wear OS as we know it didn't arrive until 2018. Even then, by a lot of accounts it wasn't until the big G partnered with Samsung for Wear OS 3 that the wearable operating system started becoming a force to reckon with. Right now everyone's paying attention to the existing watches that eventually will be updated to that release, but what about those that never will? Or didn't even run Wear OS in the first place? One clever developer has some thoughts about that, and has somehow managed to bring Wear OS to the Samsung Gear S3, an ancient Tizen smartwatch from 2016.
Check out these cute new wallpapers and icons set to arrive with LineageOS 19.1
Feel free to download and apply at your pleasure
LineageOS may be a little late to the Android 12 party, but the team of talented developers behind it are working hard on getting the next major release ready for this open source project. If you happen to be living under a rock, Lineage is one of the most popular custom ROMs out there, and is committed to giving a new lease on life to aging devices. Ahead of the official release of 19.1, the OS is sharing a few goodies in the form of new wallpapers and icons.
LineageOS retires Android 10-based 17.1 builds as preparations for Android 12 pick up steam
Time to move on
LineageOS is unarguably among the most popular custom ROMs for Android, supporting various devices and offering a plethora of features. Despite the release of Android 12 in October last year, the team has been focusing on LineageOS 17.1 and 18.1 builds, based on Android 10 and Android 11, respectively. That's changing now, as LineageOS will be retiring Android 10-based builds of its ROM due to space restrictions on its servers. This is because it will start testing its build for Android 12-based LineageOS 19 — it is not shipping anytime soon, though.
A secure, Google-less phone with GrapheneOS out of the box could soon grace the market
The project announced a collaboration with an unnamed OEM
Custom ROMs nowadays aren't anywhere near as popular as they were in the days of yore (or like five years ago, at least), but there are still a few reasons you might want to use one on your phone. One of those is security, and some ROMs are crafted with secure operation as a design focus, doubling down on what your phone already offers with additional patches and features — and often free from potentially privacy-compromising Google influence. If you've ever been curious to try one out but are a little intimidated by the thought of reprogramming your phone, you're in luck: GrapheneOS, one of these security-focused projects, will be partnering with a device manufacturer to launch a phone running its software out of the box.
Android custom ROMs may be well past their prime, but LineageOS still remains popular because of its feature set and support for a wide variety of devices. The team behind the ROM released LineageOS 18.1 based on Android 11 in April last year with support for over 60 phones and other form factors and has been regularly expanding its roster with new additions. Building on its success, the Android 11-based ROM is now available for a handful of Xiaomi, OnePlus, and Asus phones.
If you consider yourself an Android enthusiast, chances are you fondly remember Paranoid Android. After LineageOS, it was among the most-used custom ROMs for Android devices out there, known for its beautiful wallpapers and unique features that were ahead of their time, like floating bubble notifications. However, as people stopped rooting and ROMing their phones, the popularity of Paranoid Android also declined. Now Paranoid Android is making a comeback with the release of Sapphire 12 Alpha based on Android 12.
iodéOS review: Protecting your privacy while preserving access to apps
iodéOS offers refurbished Android phones with privacy-focused software on them
Google's conglomerate of apps and services is incredibly useful and may feel like it comes for free, but it actually does have a cost. Google and other billion-dollar companies were able to grow their empires through user data, which they use to display personalized and often intrusive ads, paid for by the highest bidder.
Pixel 2 XL picks up its first Android 12 custom ROM after Google left it behind
Time to take things into your own hands
The 2 XL reached its update end of life in December last year, a couple of months after Google released Android 11. While they're a bit long in the tooth now, these phones are still good enough for basic day-to-day use. If you are rocking a Pixel 2 XL and are looking to try Android 12, you can do so now, provided you are willing to take things into your own hands. The first Android 12-based custom ROM has been released for the retired Pixel, bringing with it all the major new features like Material You, redesigned Quick Settings panel, new system animations, and privacy enhancements.
The first Android 12-based custom ROMs are ready for you to install
And it hasn't even been three days
Google recently uploaded the stable release of Android 12 to the AOSP. While that was great to see, what we didn't end up getting alongside it were new Android 12 builds for Pixel phones. But while Google didn't step up with those, an open-source release means that OEMs can now start working on updates for their own handsets. It also happens to be exactly what indepdent developers need to create some Android 12 custom ROMs. Well, some devs seem to have gotten to work immediately, and now the first Android 12-based custom ROMs are already here.
LineageOS comes to the Samsung Galaxy S10 and Note10 families
Other newbies include the Razer Phone 2, FairPhone 2, and various flavors of Xiaomi and Poco
LineageOS is the custom ROM version of Android for when you throw your phone's original software away and say "screw it, I'm gonna load my OWN Android, with blackjack and hookers." We keep an eye on Lineage to let you know when it's come to new devices, but these are frequent enough (and sometimes inconsequential enough) that ain't nobody got time to do them one by one anymore. Here's a bunch of new devices that have received their first builds over the last six weeks.
Lineage OS the premiere custom Android ROM, and one of the best things about it is that it's constantly expanding. Over the last few weeks the distributed team has added no less than sixteen new phones and tablets from a handful of vendors.
Can you make a de-Googled phone feel like a Pixel? This custom ROM wants to
/e/OS is a promising start to a Google-less smartphone software experience
Google will have gathered a bucketload of your private data, especially if you use Android. What's worse, if you ever do something the company doesn't approve of, you might get locked out of your account and lose access to years of emails and photos in the process. If you want to mitigate these risks and stay more private online without leaving Android behind, you might want to turn to an emerging custom ROM that de-Google-ifies your phone: /e/OS.
Spruce up your Pixel 3 or Pixel 3 XL with a fresh coat of LineageOS 18.1
The open source ROM based on Android 11 is now available for both phones
Custom ROMs are the saviors of old Android phones. Google's Pixels get quite a lot of after-release support, but with the Pixel 2 series hitting end-of-life back in December, the writing is on the wall for the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. So if you're ready to say goodbye to official software updates a little early, why not hop on the Lineage train?
OnePlus software tends to be among the best for Android devices. Its update process ... not so much, at least as of late. The OnePlus 7T, for example, had to wait half a year to get its Android 11 update, and some carrier variants took even longer. If you want to try out a new flavor of Android on your OnePlus 7T, now you can: there's an official build of the LineageOS custom ROM available for it.
The OnePlus 6 and 6T just got Android 11 from LineageOS before OnePlus itself
Nightly builds for both devices are now available
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We've all had a phone reach a premature death, running out of software updates well before the device is actually too slow to be used. Thankfully, the custom ROM community helps keep your old gadgets alive, and there's no better ROM out right now than LineageOS. The open-source project brought Android 11 to nearly 60 phones earlier this month, and two more are about to be added to the list. The OnePlus 6 and 6T have picked up Android 11 courtesy of LineageOS, with nightly builds for both now available.
Out with the old, in with the new: LineageOS cut support for Android 9 Pie earlier this year, and to make up for the loss, the open-source project has just released version 18.1 based on Android 11. It comes with official support for about 60 phones and tablets.
Going Google-less: How to install a custom Android ROM with no Google apps or services
microG is almost a perfect Play Services replacement
If you're an Android user, Google has a scary amount of information on you, and matters get worse if you're deeply embedded in the company's app ecosystem — getting locked out of your Google account can have serious consequences then. Thankfully, Android is open source, so it's possible to evade Google without having to leave the platform altogether — just look at Amazon's tablets or Huawei's Google-less phones. But if you'd rather be completely independent from big corporations, going for a free and open-source custom ROM built on top of Android's core might be the best solution.I personally accept that there's always going to be some inherent privacy trade-off when you're using an always-connected mobile device that you carry with you everywhere you go, but I'm curious if there's a way to remove the ad company from the equation. It's probably still not feasible to use nothing but open-source apps, but you might be delighted to learn that it's possible to reduce your dependency on a single data aggregator like Google.
LineageOS is the most popular custom ROM around, as it has extended the life of many phones and tablets that would have otherwise been abandoned. Even for phones still receiving software updates from the original manufacturer, Lineage can sometimes work better than the stock software, and it's a popular option for 'de-Googling' Android devices. Since our last roundup, several more phones have been added to the official Android 10 build roster (and a few have been removed).