Lineage OS 18.1 released: Based on Android 11, it has been adapted for more than 60 models

Lineage OS, a very popular third-party custom ROM version, released its 18.1 version update today, which is based on Android 11. Currently, the official has announced that it is compatible with more than 60 smartphones, including OnePlus, Google, Xiaomi, Sony, Motorola, LG, and Samsung devices including older models.

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Lineage OS 18.1 includes all the Android 11 features from the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) project, such as a new notification panel with a persistent media player, floating "bubble" notifications, one-time permissions, new emojis, a new autofill system for the keyboard, and more.

All pre-installed Lineage apps support dark mode, and the FOSS "Etar" calendar app has replaced the "stagnant and largely unmaintained" AOSP calendar. FOSS app SeedVault has been incorporated into the built-in backup solution, and Lineage's screen recorder and music apps have also been revamped.

Google releases the Android source code in the form of AOSP, but Google's repo isn't particularly optimized for devices. LineageOS takes the AOSP code and turns it into a shippable shape, patching any missing components with its own code and adding some of its own apps in place of Google's proprietary ones.

On top of that, Lineage has a team of volunteer device maintainers who port Lineage builds to each specific device, merge hardware support and debug compatibility issues so that users of each model can actually use the operating system. This year, the whole process took seven months.

The biggest barrier to adoption for Lineage (and the reason you probably can't install it on your device) is the industry's affinity for locked bootloaders. Many phone manufacturers and carriers don't want their customers to have control over the devices they own, so they lock the bootloader, which prevents users from installing third-party ROMs, getting root access and full NAND flash image backups, and the ability to revive the phone in recovery mode if something goes wrong during the update process.