Over 100 Devices Now Supported By LineageOS As Android 16 Lands

LineageOS has quietly announced the latest version of its OS, 23.0, and that single numerical increment brings Android 16 to over 100 phones and tablets at once. The release comes at a time of unprecedented limitations on Android source code, and still it’s bringing a significant platform uplift to devices that most manufacturers gave up on maintaining years ago.

Key features introduced in the LineageOS 23.0 update

On the practical side, this build is built off the first stable drop of Android 16 rather than QPR1 — a pragmatic decision that allows them to release now while Google hasn’t published the QPR1 source as part of the public Android Open Source Project. That means you’ll find key features from Android 16’s initial build: edge-to-edge UI enforcement, predictive back navigation, better app adaptivity and Advanced Protection mode support.

Some QPR1 extras — such as the full Material 3 Expressive palette and system-level Desktop Mode refinements — are not fully baked in yet. The latter will come later, the team says, once they can land code upstream to ensure that the project continues to maintain compatibility with AOSP and not depend on proprietary bits.

Security changes and Android source code limitations

Two deeper platform shifts drove this cycle.

• Google took forever to upload the QPR1 source code to AOSP — this meant that community ROMs couldn’t legally merge or distribute those changes on time.
• Android’s transition to risk-based monthly security bulletins — as documented by the Android Security Team — sees fixes for high-risk CVEs being prioritized each month and addressing most patches through quarterly releases.

For projects such as LineageOS, it means there are fewer security patches to take per month and larger, more regular patches directly linked to the quarterly Android drops. It’s a tradeoff that users should be aware of: you’re still getting timely patches, but the cadence now depends on what Google publishes for all of its devices to AOSP and not necessarily what goes out to Pixel phones.

Apps and user experience upgrades in LineageOS 23.0

LineageOS 23.0 is not merely a base jump; core apps have also been updated. The appiest among these is Aperture, which now features Ultra HDR and RAW capture, as well as a new notification island bringing color to filled-up tiles and clearer status messages. It is a concrete quality-of-life upgrade for devices whose stock camera apps were never retrofitted for modern HDR work.

Speaking of music, the Twelve player makes an appearance with a new “play random songs” button, richer Now Playing stats, and deeper Jellyfin integration for self-hosters. On TVs, a new Catapult launcher emphasizes speed and a clutter-free home screen without ads — a welcome departure from many OEM TV interfaces.

Also making the cut: new and improved iterations of SeedVault for encrypted backups, the Etar calendar app, the embedded WebView and charging control feature, as well as an updated collection of ringtones and alarms. These touches further reinforce LineageOS’s mission of aiming for the sort of stock-like experience with sensible, privacy-oriented improvements.

Device support changes and the evolving Pixel situation

Out of the box, it includes support for 100+ devices and multiple generations of Snapdragon and Exynos hardware. The follow-up to that is both good news and bad: the LineageOS 21 branch no longer adds new devices, but the 22.2 roster continues to grow. This pushes active development to orbit the two latest bases while keeping a reasonable maintenance load for volunteer maintainers.

And “day one” Pixel status is now a thing of the past. Google no longer publishes Pixel trees, HALs, or hal_vintf/free-form file repositories, and provides tarballs stripped of history, even for kernel sources. That makes it more difficult to offer first-class community support. Some Pixel models will still receive LineageOS builds, thanks to the work of neighboring projects (CalyxOS prominently among them), but they’ll be treated like any other OEM device — not a guarantee that new releases will land on release day.

Virtualization efforts and mainline Linux ambitions

Behind the curtain, LineageOS is now a QEMU-virtualized VM which we use to iterate builds through its lifecycle and testing. Even more crucially, it paves the way for better support of devices that follow the mainline Linux kernel. If the Android ecosystem does keep creeping closer to mainline, this investment could materialize in faster, cleaner bring-ups across chipsets.

What users should expect before and after upgrading

Depending on the device-specific instructions for upgrading to higher LineageOS versions, it may or may not be possible — and/or safe — to perform a dirty upgrade.

Please check your device’s wiki page, back up your data with SeedVault or a similar backup tool, and verify bootloader unlock steps before you proceed. Like the rest of custom ROMs, the method for installation is according to individual vendor partition schemes and firmware requirements.

The bigger story is longevity. Once again, LineageOS upcycles aging Android hardware by spreading its support across over 100 devices while stitching in modern privacy features; a new crop of apps all but guaranteed to spruce up your phone’s interface and reliability improvements to bring you some semblance of mainline quality. It’s a community-driven project that reflects AOSP-based realities, but one thing is evident: a solid, current Android experience, even for older phones and tablets.