LineageOS drops support for multiple devices due to inactive maintainers

We may earn a commission for purchases made using our links.

Custom ROMs such as LineageOS help keep devices alive with new features and security updates. Sometimes support for these devices can continue for years. The OnePlus One is the biggest example as it is still the most active device on the websites statistics page. Sadly though, the LineageOS project has been built and carried by volunteer maintainers and we have just learned that a number of devices are no longer being officially supported due to inactive maintainers.

About once a month, we get a new blog post on the team’s official website and that gives us some information about what is being worked on, what could be happening in the future, and an updated list of devices that have been added and removed to the officially supported list. For instance, the latest blog post tells us these are the biggest changes made to the project since the middle of September.

Updated time zone data to 2018g on both 14.1 and 15.1 branches. This was done to reflect changes made in some countries regarding time zones.

More countries have been enabled for call recording. Remember that even if this feature is enabled, you are responsible for complying with your local laws regarding call recording.

The system profile tile is back on 15.1

Added support for AC3 audio tracks in Matroska (.mkv) video files.

Chromium webview has been updated to version 69.0.3497.109 on both 15.1 and 14.1.

November security patches have been merged in 15.1.

October security patches have been merged in both 15.1 and 14.1 branches.

Fixed an issue where root could be enabled from ADB.

As you can see, that’s a lot of work in two months from volunteers, but we were also told that development has been slowing down on both LineageOS version 14.1 and 15.1 due to shifted focus on LOS 16.0. The team has almost reached feature parity with 15.1 and feel it’s now time for a few devices to receive the first official builds of LineageOS 16.0. Just be aware that most of the remaining work has been related to getting older hardware working with some of Android’s latest features.

There are some notes in the blog post about the project’s infrastructure, so those who are interested should definitely check that out. But the big news today is the build roster changes. There have been a lot of devices removed due to inactive maintainers but there are also some newly added devices that are receiving official support for LineageOS 15.1 as well. You’ll find the full list below.

Added 15.1 Devices:

LeEco Le 2 (s2) – moved from 14.1

LG G2 d800, d801, d802 and d803 – moved from 14.1

Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra (discovery) – maintainers: chenji, luk1337

Xiaomi Mi Note 3 (jason) – maintainer: dianlujitao

Xiaomi Redmi 3S/3X (land) – moved from 14.1

Xiaomi Redmi 4(X) (santoni) – maintainer: tingyichen

ZTE Axon 7 (axon7) – moved from 14.1

ZUK Z1 (ham) – moved from 14.1

Removed 15.1 Devices:

Motorola Moto Z2 (albus)

Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 (whyred)

Removed 14.1 Devices: