Smartphone manufacturers offer operating system updates for only so long. In the Android world, your phone could receive updates for as long as seven years, or for as short as two years. This means that your phone could still be perfectly functional and suddenly get cut off from receiving the latest Android operating system update or security patches. This is super annoying if you’d rather just keep using the same phone rather than upgrade your handset.
That’s where LineageOS comes in. This is an open-source operating system based on Android and compatible with many Android devices. Installing it isn’t necessarily straightforward; you need to be familiar with the command line and follow directions specific to your device. But when you’re done you’ll have a modern operating system running on your older device.
Why Bother With Old Phones?
It’s weird that we treat smartphones as disposable. Think about all the effort people put into keeping classic cars running—there’s a passion there, yes, and also a willingness to spend time tinkering. People see value in old things. I’d like to see a world where more people treat old phones this way. Even a decade-old smartphone is powerful and potentially useful—it’s a matter of taking the time to keep it running. Installing a custom OS is the first step, and LineageOS is a great system to start with.
There are other benefits too. By default, LineageOS is completely stripped of Google software, making it perfect for the privacy-minded or anyone who wants to give up on Google. If that’s not you, don’t worry; you can optionally add the Google Play store during setup and install all of the Google apps you want.
I tested LineageOS on a Pixel 3a, a phone released six years ago, mostly so I’d have a device for testing and writing about Android software. You might have other uses in mind for your old device. A dedicated car music player, say, that takes advantage of the headphone jack older phones still have. A digital picture frame. A remote control for your media server.
Get Ready to Install
Justin Pot
First make sure you have everything you need: a phone, a computer, and a USB cable that connects the phone to the computer. Next check the LineageOS website to see if your phone is supported. LineageOS is custom-built for specific devices, meaning your exact phone needs to be on this list. A name that’s close enough is not good enough. Make sure you see your exact device before continuing.
Click your device to open the instructions for installation. I can’t overstate how important it is to keep those instructions open throughout the setup process so you can follow them exactly—the steps to install the OS really are going to vary depending on the device, and it’s possible to brick your phone if you’re not paying close attention.
I’d like to first take a moment to explain how to set up your computer for installation. You are going to need to make sure two command line tools are installed: adp and fastboot. These are the tools you will use throughout the setup.
This is simplest on Linux: Just install the two applications using your package manager (you’re a Linux user—you already know how to do this).
Mac users should set up Homebrew, which is a package manager for Apple’s operating system that makes it really easy to install software like this. I could write many articles about how to set this software up—actually, I have—but the summary is that you need to open the Terminal, which you can find in the Applications folder under Utilities (or by searching for “Terminal” in Spotlight) and paste the script on the Homebrew homepage there. I recommend reading up about Homebrew first, but just know that it’s generally considered trustworthy. After Homebrew is set up on your Mac, you’ll just need to type “brew install android-platform-tools” and everything will be set up.
Windows users, unfortunately, are going to have the hardest time. You are going to need to manually download the tools, store them somewhere, then change the environment variables. I recommend following the instructions on the LineageOS website for guidance on how to do this. Alternatively you could try installing a Windows package manager like Scoop, which will make the job easier.
Install LineageOS
Justin Pot
Once this software is installed on your computer, you’re ready to do the actual installation on your phone. The exact steps are going to vary depending on your phone, and as I said before, you should really follow the documentation provided by LineageOS for your device.
Having said that, the installation generally follows these steps: Enable developer mode on your phone, turn off the OEM lock, boot into the device’s bootloader so you can unlock it, flash an image onto the device, boot into recovery mode, and then install the new operating system.
This is mostly going to be done using the command line on your computer, but you will occasionally be required to interact with the device itself. It sounds like a lot, but it didn’t take me more than an hour to accomplish on my first try.
Note that, at one point, you will have the option of installing add-ons including Google Apps and Google Play. Do not skip this step if you want the option of downloading apps from Google Play—you will not have a chance to do this again later without restarting the entire process. Again: The important thing here is going to be to follow the instructions for your phone to the letter. It might take a while, but in the end, you’ll have an old device with a whole new lease on life.
