I spent a good week with LineaGeos but I’m glad to finish it

The way back in the day I used to be one of the people who constantly installed new customized rooms -s. I loved trying out all the different variants of Android created by passionate layers and fans (or sometimes even a single person) and discover how they could improve the platform. It came to the point where I chose which of Best Android phones Buying exclusively based on whether it can easily be anchored and bootloader is unlocked.

At one point, however, I started to get away from it all. Longer update obligations from OEM -er, an increase in the number of unique features that a small development team could not easily recreate, and a higher level of difficulty anchoring/unlocking hardware pushed me away from the customized space community. At this time, I don’t even think of customized rooms -when I look at Android phones and tablets.

At the beginning of 2025, however, I decided to check in with that community and see what happened. What is it like to have an unofficial version of Android on a phone these days? I decided to go with the biggest and most popular room -a around: Lineageos, who rose from the ashes to cyanogenic moder. I Installed descent On a Google Pixel 8 and used it for a week to see what it was like.

I’ll tell you about what I loved and not loved, but I want to ruin the ending for you here: I was happy to go back to my regular Pixel software.

The best thing about lineageos is how “trim” it is. When you first start a new installation, there is almost nothing there. You have the important apps you need – browser, music player, Gallery app, audio recorder, etc. – and it’s about it. If you decide to skip to add the Google App support to your installation, Play Store will not even be there. This lack of “bloating” is refreshing.

It is not to say that there are not many features to explore. Lineageos 22.1 is based on Android 15So it includes all the latest features Google has added AOSP (aka stock Android). If you choose to install Google Apps as well, the operating system includes many great features, such as a native screen recorder, live caption, fast sharing, now playing, now playing, Emergency SOSBattery Manager, and much more. This was refreshing to see, as I remember when installing a customized room and finding that there was nothing about it, but a new color choice and icon package.

With fewer apps and no UI skin, the speed and smoothness of the operating system was astonishing. Battery life was also incredible, thanks to far fewer connections to cloud services. As it turns out, if your storage apps do not ping on Google for a few minutes, the phone’s battery lasts much longer.

Thanks to their simplicity, I also found LineaGeos’ stock apps much easier to use. The browser – officially called Jelly, but just listed as a “browser” in the app drawer – is wonderful since it stripes away all the excessive bloating bloating. The Native Camera app was also trimmed down to the point where it was initially point-and-shoot, with only the most fundamental of the exchange. Sometimes opening a new app can be a scary experience because of all the exchange, buttons and settings you find there, but Lineageos and the stock apps are the master’s streaks by minimalism.

However, one thing that lineageos does not reduce is updates. Back in the day it was unacceptable for me to get a room with something smaller than nightly versions. Although Lineageos Builds does not come as consistently as daily, I got an update pop not long after installing it. Generally, the team pushes out a new version once a week, at least for Pixel 8. Getting that update brought back a flood of memories of how exciting it would be to get a new building installed ASAP to find out what had changed themselves. Was it a new feature? Would the user interface be faster? Was the appearance of rooms changed in any way? Every day was a new experience! I’m not going to lie: This picked out my nostalgic.

I also loved the little things that are strewn through what allowed you to adapt your experience. The ability to customize the status line icons, for example, is a nice touch that I wish more OEM skins had. The native launch also allows you to customize app icon forms, which are superb. Sure, I could get the same feature-and many more-with third parties Android Launcher Like Nova, but the fact that it is baked into Os, it saves the step directly.

Yes, using lineageos was a pleasant experience, thanks to all these items. Unfortunately, this was not enough to keep me using it.

Ironically, most of Lineageos’ strengths, which I just went over, are also some of its most important weaknesses. Yes, the camera, browser and other stock apps are easier to use because of their minimalist designs, but it also makes them less useful. Although having fewer camera settings is easier, it does not make access to portrait mode, macro mode or even the ability to shoot in RAW, the camera app less functional than would come with the original Pixel Camera app. Similarly, the browser’s lack of access to Google’s cloud services made it more battery, but the phone’s surfing activity was no longer synchronized on the desktop, tablet and other systems. Even the Sound Recorder app had no shooting access, so my recordings were not automatically backed up anywhere.

Obviously, the solution here is not to use these apps. Ok so I could drop them and install a gate on the Google camera, Chrome, Google’s recorder -app, etc., and be on the way. The problem solved, right?

Well, I also needed to fight with the pixel-exclusive features that I trust every day, which Lineageos does not have out of the box. ChallengeFor example, a pixel feature that I cannot live without, and so is an assistant voice in Gboard. Fortunately through the use of magic and Pixelify moduleCan I port over many pixel -exclusive. Now we get closer.

Even after all this, however, there were some apps and features that would not work on a phone that ran a customized room. Through solutions and utilization you can sometimes get NFC payments on the Google Wallet to work, but Google usually closes these loopholes quickly, and requires you to find options. Similarly, any of my financial apps would work on lineageos because of the anchored/unlocked bootloader status. I spent a bunch of time looking around the web for solutions to these problems.

But when I went to break and took a step back, I quickly realized that all I did was find out ways to get back to Google’s Pixel software. It was as if I artificially added several steps to the process of setting up a new pixel phone by unlocking it, anchoring it, installing a custom room, uninstalling the native apps and then installing apps and modules to get back to Pixel experience.

That is why I finally did not stay with lineageos. It is all said, but I feel that lineageos can be useful in many different scenarios.

As far as I can say, in 2025, there are three types of people who should spend time spending something like lineageos.

The first type of person to go this route is those with a device that still works ok, but who is no longer up to date. For this week -long test, I used Pixel 8 because it is a compatible phone that I had in my collection, but that the phone will see support for 2031, making it a major challenger. However, Google Pixel 5 stopped receiving updates in October 2023, so Lineageos is a great way to get Android 15 on it and continue to use it far beyond the original support obligation. Similarly, this works well for non-pixel phones, such as the popular LG V40 Thinq, Fan-Favorite OnePlus 7 Pro, and One of the most beautiful Android phones Ever made, Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus.

The other type of people is someone who wants a de-googled unit. During the Lineageos installation process, you can install Google Play Services or not – a choice no commercial Androidsmart phone will give you. If you just skip that step, your phone will be completely Google-free (other than Android itself, which is, after all, a Google product). However, if what you are really looking for is a typical Android experience, just without Google Snooping on you, Grapheneos Is probably the better route as it gives you access to Google Services, but in a sandbox environment. But if you prefer to go all-in and not touch Google at all, Lineageos without Google apps installed can be a nice choice as well.

Finally, the third type of people who prioritize speed, smoothness and battery life are above all else. I can’t live without many of the exclusive features we find on modern pixels, and I know many people are very dependent on a Ui-exclusive feature of Best Samsung phones. Still, many other people use nothing and just need a smartphone for phone calls, texting, browsing and a handful of apps. If it is you, Lineageos will probably offer you a better experience because all bloating (and subsequent battery drain) that comes with an OEM software building just is just not there.

I don’t fit into any of these categories, so I dropped lineageos after a week and went back to the comfort of my stock girl. It is not so fast, much more inflated, less battery -church and not nearly so private, but it works better for my life overall because it is more functional.

Still, it was nice to take a walk down the memory field and experience tension again for the customized room world. I can pick up regularly here and there just to get it filled again, but I doubt I would feel inclined to adopt a customized room as my daily driver at any time soon – if ever.