Among all the custom ROMs still available, LineageOS remains the most popular. The hard work of the team behind the ROM lays the foundation for several other ROMs. With Android 16 available for a few months now, the LineageOS team has finally released LineageOS 23 – its first version based on the new OS, but not the very latest version.
Thanks to the LineageOS team’s previous work on adapting to Google’s UI changes, they were able to release the first stable version of LineageOS 23, based on Android 16, much earlier than previous versions. However, there is a big problem. The custom ROM is not based on Android 16 QPR1 – the latest version of the operating system, released in September – but rather the initial Android 16 release from June. Indeed, Google still hasn’t released QPR1’s source code to AOSP, despite previously saying it would go live in the “coming weeks.”
Unfortunately, this means that LineageOS 23 doesn’t benefit from Android’s new Material 3 Expressive design and several other bigger changes from Android 16.
There is another major change from Google that affects monthly security patches. “…AOSP security updates are no longer released in full on a monthly basis. Instead, only vulnerabilities considered “high risk” (i.e. actively exploited in the wild) will be released by Google in monthly ASBs, and even then, the underlying fixes are often not made public immediately,” the LineageOS team reveals in its announcement.
Going forward, Google will stick to this publishing cadence. So there’s not much the LineageOS team can do other than adapt to the changes.
Google’s decision not to release the Pixel core source code will also impact the development of LineageOS. Pixel phones are traditionally among the first devices supported in each new version of LineageOS, but that will no longer be the case.
Despite these challenges, the LineageOS team has successfully released its custom ROM based on Android 16 for over 100 devices. As part of this release, the team has also revamped many of its core applications.
Revamped system apps and new Android TV launcher
The camera app – Aperture – has been rewritten from the ground up and now supports simultaneous Ultra HDR, RAW, and RAW + JPEG JPEG capture. The redesigned notification island now uses dynamic colors with new indicators for thermal throttling, battery, and more.
With LineageOS 23, the team is also launching a new Catapult app – its own custom launch for Android TV. Like other LineageOS apps, it features a simple and functional design that is fast and easy to navigate.
You can find the full list of LineageOS 23 compatible devices and detailed instructions on how to safely update to the latest version in the team site. official announcement.
