Android is Google’s in-house operating system. If you want to free your smartphone from this, you can install your own system – LineageOS is probably the most popular choice. We explain why.
Numerous apps from the group are always preinstalled on Google’s Android system, which cannot be removed easily.
If you are fed up with all this ballast on your cell phone, you can use an alternative Android version: LineageOS. Here are a few facts at a glance:
- completely free
- open-source
- official successor to the popular CyanogenMod
- over 4.6 million active users worldwide
with the current one Version 19 of LineageOS numerous innovations have been added – we will show them to you.
LineageOS 19: These are the innovations
One of the aims of the Android derivative LineageOS is to also provide older smartphones with the latest Android security updates. In addition, the system is not preinstalled with unnecessary apps that block memory and other resources.
In version 19, half a year after the release of Android 12, there are numerous innovations:
- Dark Mode has been enabled by default
- Volume control as a field that can be folded out on the side
- integrated browser has been improved
- Updater app has been optimized
For more details, see the developers’ official blog post. Only 19 devices are currently supported, but more downloads will follow.
However, there is bad news for users of old legacy devices as these are currently not supported. The porting is technically very complex in this case.
How to install LineageOS?
Unfortunately, installing a custom ROM like LineageOS is not that easy for beginners. To do this, you must first check the compatibility.
Is your smartphone supported? Information on this can be found on the manufacturer’s website, where you can select a model and the associated download. Here you have to pay attention to the exact designation and information about the processor.
The actual installation of LineageOS is similar to other custom ROMs, but we have a comprehensive practical tip for you here.
Danger: Any intervention in the system or the use of unofficially released firmware can result in the loss of warranty for the device. All interventions are therefore carried out at your own risk.
Where does LineageOS actually come from?
The English term “Lineage” means something like “descent” and refers to the fact that the system is a continuation of the popular Cyanogenmod, which was discontinued in 2016.
The source code of the predecessor was adopted one-to-one by the former founder Stefanie Kondik and adopted as a community project under the new name. The first official versions of LineageOS were released in early 2017.
Don’t ignore: What are the risks of LineageOS?
When it comes to privacy, LineageOS is definitely superior to regular Android, as the Google services simply aren’t there unless you install them yourself.
However, CustomROMs do not only have advantages. There are also points of criticism when it comes to security, as Gerrit Heim notes on his blog:
- if you do not have an officially supported device, you may have to download the system from untrustworthy sources
- there is no guarantee for updates over a longer period of time, so that individual devices can suddenly drop out of support
- if there are no firmware and kernel updates, the smartphone becomes more and more vulnerable to security vulnerabilities
- With rooted devices, the user can theoretically set everything possible, but this also applies to malware
For these reasons, installing a CustomROM is only recommended for experienced users.