In mid-February 2024, the open-source firmware LineageOS 21 based on Android 14 was released.

Habre previously explained that the LineageOS project is an excellent choice for Android users who want more control over their device and do not want to be limited to the official firmware from the manufacturer. The LineageOS community is also actively updating and fixing security vulnerabilities in the project code.

According to OpenNET, the LineageOS 21 branch has reached functionality and stability parity with the LineageOS 20 branch, and has been deemed ready for the first release by developers.

The LineageOS 21 build is already available for more than a hundred models of mobile devices from different manufacturers ().

The LineageOS project is also available for review in the Android Emulator and Android Studio. In addition, the developers of the project provided the possibility of assembly in Android TV and Android Automotive modes.

In addition to the release of the LineageOS 21 version, the developers of the project continue to build and maintain the LineageOS 20 and LineageOS 18.1 builds.

The continuation of support for LineageOS 18.1 based on Android 11 is due to the fact that, starting with Android 12, the platform was switched to using eBPF for packet filtering, which led to the end of support for many older devices due to the unavailability for these devices of the Linux kernel with support for eBPF (4. . For devices with kernel 4.4 (Qualcomm MSM8998) eBPF support has been backported, but on devices with Qualcomm MSM8996 SoC tied to kernel version 3.18, porting is difficult All supported devices offer their own Lineage Recovery by default when installing, which does not require a separate partition .

Changes and additions in LineageOS 21:

• the transition to the android-14 branch from the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) repository was made as of February 2024. The WebView browser engine is synchronized with Chromium 120.0.6099.144;

• a new Glimpse application with an interface for managing the photo gallery is included in the package, which is used by default instead of the Gallery2 program from the AOSP package. Glimpse includes all the necessary features for managing photos and is provided with a simple interface in the style of Material You;

• the design of the calculator has been changed, which has been redesigned in accordance with the Material You concept and unified with other applications;

• in the Jelly web browser, the user interface has been redesigned and stylized using the Material You design concept. Added support for Brave search engine and search provider. Discontinued support for calling Google’s HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security) encrypted engine. HTTPS is used when retrieving recommendations from Baidu search. Added the ability to selectively provide access to location data for individual sites;

• applications for making calls, sending messages and working with the address book have been transferred to the design in the style of Material You. Support for dark and light design themes has been implemented. The Dialer, Messaging, and Contacts apps have been forked from AOSP and are now being developed as advanced forks, as Google has discontinued support for Dialer and Messaging apps in AOSP;

• the interface of the program for working with the Aperture camera has been transferred to use the Material You style. Also improved the dialog for requesting location access permissions. Automatic rotation of the interface when the orientation of the device is changed. Improved QR code scanner, added support for Wi-Fi connection by QR code. Added support for voice actions via Google Assistant. Added the function of mirroring photos and videos. Support for temporarily pausing video recording. Added the ability to bind actions to volume buttons. Added advanced video processing settings (noise suppression, sharpening). Added support for recording video in HDR mode;

• improved support for the Material You style in the Eleven music player and LatinIME on-screen keyboard;

• a new loading animation is proposed;

• updated SeedVault backup program and Etar calendar scheduler to fresh versions. Improvements created by LineageOS developers have been ported to the core of SeedVault and Etar;

• modernized side-accessible volume control panel;

• significantly accelerated installation of updates in the mode of swapping partitions (A/B);

• builds based on Android TV use the Launcher without embedded ads. In most Google apps for Android TV, you can choose to use the Google interface with ads or LineageOS without ads;

• revised scripts for transferring changes from AOSP, which greatly simplified the process of accepting patches with the elimination of vulnerabilities;

• support for direct extraction of information from their OTA and Factory images has been added to the data extraction utility;

• full support for assembly using LLVM is provided, using by default LLVM bin-utils and, optionally, an assembler built into LLVM;

• updated setup wizard (Setup Wizard), which is adapted for Android 14;

• significantly improved the developer-kit toolkit for Radxa 0, Banana Pi B5, ODROID C4 and Jetson X1 boards.