CyanogenMod Is Dead and Its Successor Is Lineage OS

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CyanogenMod was the largest and most widely used custom ROM for Android . It has now been discontinued, in part due to internal conflicts within Cyanogen Inc. Don’t worry, though: a new fork of CyanogenMod called Lineage OS takes over the mantle and will retain much of what you loved about CyanogenMod.

What’s up with CyanogenMod and what’s next

There is a lot of internal drama surrounding CyanogenMod’s death, but here are the basics. CyanogenMod started out as a community-driven open source ROM that fixed many of the manufacturer’s media bloat and skins issues on early Android phones. Prior to standard devices like the Nexus and Pixel , CyanogenMod was the only way to get a mostly pure Android interface. In 2013, lead ROM developer Steve Kondik and several other developers founded Cyanogen Inc. to develop commercial ROM variants, working directly with manufacturers such as OnePlus to bring their ROMs to more phones. Since then, all new versions and nightly builds of the open source CyanogenMod project are supported and distributed by Cyanogen Inc.

However, we recently learned about months of internal conflict between Kondik and CEO Kirt McMaster . The company thwarted its deal with OnePlus, causing it to end its relationship with its most visible partner. Kondik and McMaster had different views of the company. Ultimately McMaster was removed from his position as CEO, and Kondik left the company. Under the new leadership, Cyanogen Inc. decided to end support for the open source project. This means there will be no more overnight builds, development and funding from Cyanogen Inc. Instead, the company will focus on the so-called Cyanogen Modular OS program . So far, there are very few details on what this project entails. In the meantime, the company has already begun cutting back on services for the CyanogenMod project, including disabling DNS routing to the main project site .

However, the source code of the CyanogenMod project remains online and open to anyone who wants to take on the project or create their own versions. This is exactly what many developers from the CyanogenMod team are planning to do, as well as Kondik himself. The CyanogenMod team has announced that several of its members will be creating a new fork of CyanogenMod called Lineage OS . In the announcement, the team stated that Lineage OS will return to its community-driven roots rather than becoming a favorite project at a larger company like they saw CyanogenMod.

Download the latest CyanogenMod for your phone now as a backup

Unfortunately, if you are using CyanogenMod right now, there is nothing to consider as good news. Official statement Cyanogen Inc. depressingly brief , but it confirms that all services related to CyanogenMod will be discontinued no later than December 31st.

For the most part, users of current stable builds of CyanogenMod should be safe using their phone, although you won’t get any future updates. However, if you installed the optional C-Apps package that included a theme store, Find My Phone tracker and Cyanogen account among other features, they will most likely stop working by the end of 2016. nightly builds (which tend to be experimental and unstable), you should download the latest reliable build (known as “snapshots”) to your phone as soon as possible. At the moment, some of the links on the official build server are still working, but helpful community members are already making backups . Here you can find a mirror of the latest night tours, and here you can find a collection of pictures for different phones .

Even if you are using a ROM other than CyanogenMod, this change may affect you. Some alternative ROMs like Replicant are forked stable releases of CyanogenMod. It may take longer over the next few months to release new versions of your favorite ROMs as the transition to Lineage OS occurs. Now is a good time to check if your favorite ROM is based on CyanogenMod and grab a copy of the latest stable build just in case.

Lineage OS will replace CyanogenMod, but that’s all we know at the moment

Lineage OS will be a fork of CyanogenMod, so in terms of features it should be comparable to what you’re used to. At its basic level, it should come with everything you’re used to, and the first version is likely to be as close as possible to the latest stable version, just to get it on the market.

Besides, we don’t know anything else about it. We know that it is being created by many of the same developers who worked on CyanogenMod, that it will not have corporate funding from Cyanogen Inc., and that it will be more “community-oriented”. We don’t know when to expect the first releases, what devices will be supported, or how this new project will be funded. Instead of more helpful answers, you can follow these sites and social media accounts for updates:

The team also installed the new Lineage OS Gerrit tracker . Gerrit allows developers to announce and discuss the changes they plan to make to the codebase. This will not be useful to the average user, but the fact that the tracker is already running is a good sign of progress.

Unfortunately, this is all we know at the moment. Cyanogen Inc. made her decision very suddenly, and the consequences are quite significant. Meanwhile, Lineage OS had little time to prepare any transition for CyanogenMod users, or even to develop it on its own. Until we hear updates about Lineage OS, the ROM community will be stuck in some limbo. Of course, if you want to get rid of this customization itch, you can always launch your own customized Android using Xposed .

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