There is hardly any other custom ROM for Android as popular as LineageOS. The ROM has been around for years and is available for a wide range of devices, keeping them relevant and in a working state for years after the original device maker abandoned them. Typically, the team behind LineageOS is quick to release unofficial builds of their ROM after a new Android version drops. A stable release arrives after a few months, usually in April of the following year. With LineageOS 21, the team is besting its previous efforts and dropping its stable build almost two months before its usual timeframe.
The quick LineageOS 21 release was made possible by the team’s previous efforts to adaptAndroid 12and 13’s UI changes and the relatively simpleAndroid 14requirements. In addition to bringing the latest release of Android, LineageOS 21 improves many of the Lineage apps.
The ROM’s Aperture camera app features a revamped interface and supports all the new video features enabled by the updated CameraX API, such as HDR video recording. System apps like calculator, gallery, dialer, and messages have also received their long overdue Material You redesign.
For faster rollout of new builds and to reduce extra effort from their end, the LineageOS team has created a SoC-specific common kernel base for many Snapdragon SoCs.
Below is theofficial release notehighlighting the major changes in LineageOS 21:
LineageOS 21 brings a major name change as well. The team will no longer follow the subversion naming scheme as before. This will allow it to align its custom ROM’s naming scheme with Google’s quarterly maintenance release model. So, despite the ROM’s latest release being based on Android 14 QPR 1, it is referred to as LineageOS 21 and not 21.1.
With the first LineageOS 21 stable builds rolling out, the team is dropping support for LineageOS 19.1. It is not deprecating LineageOS 18.1 to ensure support for older devices, though its codebase is on a feature freeze.
you may grab LineageOS 21 from the revampeddownload portal. If you are upgraded from an older official build of LineageOS, you don’t need to wipe your phone. But if you are switching from an unofficial build, a wipe is recommended to avoid issues.
