Google Makes Custom ROM Development for Pixel Phones Harder
2025-06-12
Google's latest Android 16 AOSP release omits device trees and driver binaries for Pixel phones, significantly increasing the difficulty of building custom ROMs. While Google assures AOSP isn't going away and is shifting to a virtual device called "Cuttlefish" as its reference target, developers now face reverse-engineering changes, adding complexity. This impacts the custom ROM community, such as LineageOS and GrapheneOS, requiring them to rebuild device trees from scratch, increasing their workload substantially. Although Google states AOSP isn't being phased out, the changes make supporting Pixel devices more challenging.
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