LineageOS 24.0

Commenters discussed the LineageOS 24.0 release, noting excitement about a new experimental generic mainline target that some said already boots on x86_64 PCs, Apple Silicon Macs and Qualcomm laptops - a capability some think could make refurbishing old laptops with Android appealing. Many expressed gratitude that LineageOS keeps devices like the Pixel 4a, OnePlus 6T and Poco F3 usable long past vendor support, while others raised practical issues: camera quality often suffers without proprietary drivers (some reported success using gcam), RCS/group-text quirks, missing official builds for specific models, battery wear, and questions about kernel/eBPF requirements and kernel backports. A few commenters pointed to LineageOS patches for CVEs even on older kernels, while others warned that proprietary modem/baseband firmware likely contains unpatched vulnerabilities beyond what an Android update can fix.

Opinion splits sharply on trade-offs between LineageOS and GrapheneOS and on the idea of Android on laptops versus Linux. Several commenters argued GrapheneOS offers faster upstream updates, stronger security and paid developers/partnerships that LineageOS lacks, while others insisted LineageOS’s device breadth and volunteer effort make it the practical choice for many users. Some recommended workarounds - Shelter, private spaces or Magisk for banking apps - and others questioned whether running Android where Linux could be used makes sense, reflecting differing priorities between security, app compatibility and hardware support.