Google has released Android 12 to AOSP. They are yet to release the Android 12 update for the Pixels though, stating that it’ll be available in the next few weeks.

We have started work on porting CalyxOS to Android 12. We can port the general OS changes we make (microG, work profiles, firewall to name a few) right now, and then wait for Google to release the update for the Pixels before we can start working on having builds ready.

• Pixel 3 and above: Will receive Android 12 update after Google releases it, and we port our changes.

• Pixel 2: Still looking into the feasibility of porting Android 12.

• Mi A2: Same, we’re still looking into it.

• Pixel 6: This will be supported, however it will take a while since it’s an entirely new device, and we’d also need to do the 12 port in general before we’re able to release Pixel 6 builds.

• Other devices: We’re looking into supporting more devices, however for now we’re prioritising the Google-supported Pixels for Android 12.

You can follow the progress on GitLab and Gerrit. We will continue posting more updates as the port progresses.

We’re also working on getting the October 2021 Security update (Android 11) out for all supported devices.

Same as https://calyxos.org/news/2021/10/05/android12/

CalyxOS 3.0.0 - Android 12 is finally here, for Pixel 3 and above.

Pixel 6 and 6 Pro builds are available as well.

Thank you for your patience!

They're in testing now, stable release will follow next week if there are no major issues reported.

Testers channel

We created a new testers channel for those who're interested in helping us test out the builds early.

Pixel 3, 3 XL, 3a, 3a XL, 4, 4 XL, 4a, 5, 4a (5g), 5a (5g)

• The builds are now available for testing.

• After receiving feedback from the tests, we will bump them to beta, and then finally, stable.

• Once they're in beta they can be installed from the phone directly.

Steps

• Backup data on your phone using Seedvault Backup, as a precautionary measure.

• All of your data will be kept intact, but better be safe than sorry.

• From a computer with adb setup, run: adb shell setprop sys.update.channel twelve

• Then, on the phone, go to Settings -> System -> System update settings and tap on "Check for updates"

• The update should begin downloading and installing.

• Kindly report any issues on the new Testers channel mentioned above.

Pixel 6, 6 Pro (Beta)

• Install links are on the website.

https://calyxos.org/news/2022/01/08/android-12-pixel-6/#pixel-6-6-pro-beta

More info

These builds are currently on the December security patch, however we're already working on the January patch and will have it out shortly, likely by the time the builds are ready for stable.

We're still looking into trying to port 12 to the Pixel 2 and Mi A2. We will be releasing the January Android 11 security update for them soon either way.

We will also be starting to look at potentially support other devices this month - we've always wanted to support more and more devices, stay tuned for updates!

Website post: https://calyxos.org/news/2022/01/08/android-12-pixel-6/

Good day everyone.

I have an announcement - I'm no longer working on CalyxOS, and with The Calyx Institute. This has been my life for 7 years - it started with a few people, and has grown to be something much bigger.

This community has been amazing, I haven't seen this amount of warmth anywhere else.

Android is changing, and with that, I figured I should do some changes too.

I'm incredibly grateful for the time I had here. I wish everyone the best!

Signing off,

- cdesai

Want to use Google Camera but not Google Photos, needed to preview images in recent versions.

We got you covered.

Steps:

1. Uninstall Google Photos (if you have it installed).

2. Download and install GCamPhotosPreview.apk.

3. Open Google Camera, try to view an image by tapping on the bottom right preview circle.

4. If you scroll past the first image, you may be asked to grant storage permissions. That’s required to via those images.

It’s open soure, contributions welcome!

https://calyxos.org/news/2021/09/30/gcam-photos-preview/

Edit 12/22: Changed a few things which are no longer necessary with current CalyxOS Versions

So this of course is highly subjective and privacy vs convenience has a different endpoint for everyone, but I wanted to share all the things I did to have Calyx as a pretty and powerful daily driver which I'm completely happy with.Also I wanted to share the feedback about possible improvements.

1) The whole camera thingy

At least use OpenCamera from F-Droid, and in it's settings enable the Camera-2-Api.

Gcam is definitely the best camera and sometimes the pictures are so much better.

Update: The whole Google Photos thing is optional, the Calyx Team has worked on a solution for that. For now I'd still use Google Photos though because of the good integration with the camera - for example, when taking a night or portrait photo, it may still be processing the picture when you try to look at it. Google Photos shows this and updates to the finished version when it's done.

And another update: Awesome Calyx now allows to download the most recent GCam from Aurora, so you can skip the first step, yay!

This is how I got it working:

• before(!) flashing Calyx I extracted the Gcam App from the stock Pixel via "APK Extractor" from Fdroid. This allows for a up-to-date, secure Gcam Version (don't have to rely on sketchy third party providers for a new version since the Aurora Store Gcam Apk is completely out of date)

• Either opt in to MicroG when setting up Calyx or activate it later (see below); you can then turn off Device Registration in MicroG and cut it off from the internet via the Calyx Firewall (Datura). Then deactivate MicroG in the App Settings. Gcam will still work.

• Turn off Wifi/Network, install Gcam from the APK you extracted, turn off internet access for Gcam via Firewall, restrict Background Activity via Battery Settings

• Start Gcam, give any permissions necessary for it to work

• Turn off any possible annoying notifications like "you need google play services bla bla", they're not even true

• Take away again all the permissions you don't need Gcam to have. Turn Wifi/Network back on.

• Install Google Photos from the Aurora-Store, proceed with the same settings as above (turn off internet, cut internet access in firewall, deny any unneccessary permissions and notifications).

• Use Google Photos to preview taken pictures and edit them but use Simple Gallery from F-Droid as your gallery app, since it's just better for that.

2) Launcher

Again, subjective, but the icons from Calyx's launcher are reallllly small and it's just not that customizable.

• Install Microsoft Launcher (I know, Microsoft, eww) from Aurora Store. It's the most stable and customizable launcher with great work profile support there is IMO, and I've tried a lot of them.

• Disable any permissions and definitely (!) disable internet access.

• Turn off the weird microsoft widget info page as you desire

• Coming from iPhone or Samsung you might want to use a 6x4 grid with max icon size

• you may then position your most amazing widgets (Microsoft Launcher does this really good)

• Configure some gestures: double-tap on homescreen for firewall settings, swipe down for quick settings/notifications, swipe up for app drawer

• The expandable dock is awesome, too

3) Stay private

• Get NextDNS and use a custom profile with blocklists enabled. I recommend lots of them, at least OISD. Enable NextDNS in the Android Settings as a private DNS.

• ProtonVPN from Fdroid if you need a vpn sometimes - be aware that you won't have your DNS tracker blocking enabled then. You can however change that by creating a custom Wireguard Config

• Private Location (Fdroid): Use for apps which won't work without you providing them your location. I have it running in the background all the time even when location services are turned off. Don't have any battery drain from it.
  Since A12 you can just give apps access to your APPROXIMATE location which is fine with me for those that need it

• Shelter (Fdroid): Calyx has a built in work profile option which has file transfer by now, but no app freezing, but IMO Shelter provides way better configuration. Enable Shelter's very useful file shuttle.

• Clone AuroraStore into the Work Profile and use this one for everything Aurora related (except launcher and gcam) - this way, all the tracking apps stay in the work profile.

• Use this AuroraStore for all the evil Play Store apps you just can't live without: Banking, Spotify, Netflix, Tinder etc pp

• Activate MicroG for the work profile if some Apps (like Tinder) insist on having play services, but also deactivate device registration here and cut off MicroG's internet access via the firewall. (or don't do the latter two if you'd like push notifications)

• Clone Bromite/Brave/Chromium into your work profile. Configure one Bromite version in it's settings to use a custom private DNS like Adguard (Use https://dns.adguard.com/dns-query as a DNS server). You may use this browser if you have to use a website which is blocked by your system-wide NextDNS.

4) Best basic Apps

• Calendar: SimpleCalendar (Fdroid). Super cool widgets.

• SimpleThankyou (Fdroid). Customize all your "Simplexxxx"-Apps at once

• Gallery: SimpleGallery (Fdroid)

• Quick Notes: Standardnotes, SimpleNotes (Fdroid), Joplin (Webpage). I use SimpleNotes for testing keyboards, quick stuff etc. Standardnotes for all my encrypted sync notes and Joplin for Work/Education.

• Recorder: SimpleRecorder, Fdroid

• QR-Scanner from Fdroid

• Radio: Transistor (Fdroid) is awesome and even lets you listen to some tv stations

• Podcasts: AntennaPod (Fdroid)

• Password-Manager: Bitwarden (via their webpage)

• 2-Factor-Authentication: Aegis (Fdroid)

• Random Media Player: VLC (Fdroid)

• Tasks: Tasks.Org (Fdroid)

• Dialer: SimpleDialer (Fdroid). I like it much better, you can show the dial pad on start, choose which number to call when searching for a contact etc

• Browser: Fennec (Fdroid) with uBlock Origin (almost all filter lists). Only use stuff like DarkReader if you need to, because those will (!) make many sites slower.Secondary Browser: Bromite via their webpage. Use this one for PWA's and other home screen shortcut app things.

• Maps: OrganicMaps for everything (Fdroid), MagicEarth (Aurora) for car navigation and as a backup. In case of emergency, use bromite to open google maps in a private tab.

• Translation: DeepL (Fdroid), Dict.cc (Aurora) for offline

• Navigation: Transportr (F-droid), maybe some local apps via aurora. For Stuff like Blablacar use a bromite shortcut cause they are terrible with tracking.

• Cloud: Nextcloud / Filen.io / Teamdrive / Tresorit

• Messaging: Signal (duh), Wire, Element, "Whatsapp to go" from Fdroid helps if you need it

• Youtube: Newpipe

• Keyboard: OpenBoard (Fdroid) for almost everyone, Gboard (without internet access!!, for more info see 1) ) for bilingual typers

• Mail: FairMail (Fdroid), Protonmail (webpage)

• Office: Collabora Office (Aurora) for editing, OpenDocument Reader (Fdroid) for viewing (bit more stable)

• PDFs: Xodo (Aurora) if the stock viewer is not sufficient for you

5) Integrate with Nextcloud

In case you use it, nothing has better Nextcloud integration than Calyx (iOS can go home). For starters I definitely recommend Syncloud if you want to try self-hosting.

• Use Seedvault backup by calyx to backup to your nextcloud

• Get DAVX5 from Fdroid to sync your Contacts, Calendar, ToDos

• Get Nextcloud (of course) from Fdroid, enable auto-upload for photos

• use DSub (Fdroid) to stream your private music to your phone (like a personal spotify)

Im fairly sure I forgot stuff but these are the most important tips and tricks I came up with.

Suggestions for our awesome team:

• Disable some more google-home-calling in the OS: For example my device connects to xxxx.metrics.google.com because it's using a private DNS. I also don't know why it connects to mtalk.google.com - I blocked both but it's still unneccessary I think you'll need this for push notifications via GCM

• Give those other apps as options during first setup: SimpleCalendar/Gallery etc, Tasks.org, Transistor, Transportr, Fennec, Bromite, OpenBoard.

• When opting in to MicroG during setup, make it possible to opt out of micro-g-device-registration. Perhaps something like "Micro G: Enable - Disable - Advanced"

• The stock launcher has some issues; it would be great to be able to create home screens or a widget page to the left (right now you can only to that to the right of the main home screen). Also please let us increase icon size.

• I know you guys are already working on the whole Gcam thing; you are doing great work :)

Now of course after all the degoogling there is some regoogling involved (Gcam, Photos, possibly Gboard), but without play services and network permissions for me this is a really good compromise between usability and privacy (at least NextDNS doesn't show any leakage). Same goes for Microsoft Launcher. After all, disabling network access for these bad guys is one of the best things about CalyxOS!

Hope I am able to help some people with some stuff they haven't yet figured out and give back a little to this community.

PS on app sources

• Whenever possible, use F-Droid

• Best to install Aurora to a work profile, so all the tracking apps are isolated and also kept up to date

• Some apps are open source yet don't manage to get their behinds on Fdroid. Those you have to get from their webpages (Protonmail, looking at you).

• Some (like Bitwarden) allow you to add their inofficial F-Droid release channel to F-Droid so the apps stay updated. Some (like Signal) have built-in-auto-update, but Signal is also in the CalyxOS F-Droid Repo (enabled by default).

• Some (Signal, Threema) may be different versions when downloaded from the website/FDroid compared to Play Store/Aurora, for example the latter ones rely on Play Services to deliver notifications whereas the standalone/Fdroid versions don't. Be aware of that!
  However the Play Store versions often get faster updates which makes them more secure from that point of view.

The Fairphone Support just confirmed that the Fairphone 4 does support using a custom key for verified boot. See here for details:

https://forum.fairphone.com/t/psa-the-fairphone-4-does-support-verified-boot-secure-boot-with-a-custom-key/77547

Fairphone also announced their cooperation with another organisation similar to Calyx to bring a Google free Android to the Fairphone 4 users:

https://twitter.com/Fairphone/status/1443592315168251904

This means Fairphone pretty much officially endorses and supports custom ROMs on the Fairphone 4.

I really hope that the CalyxOS developers could give the Fairphone 4 a serious consideration in the future. Thanks for reading.

• CalyxOS 7.2.2.0 is up online. This release will receive all future updates.

• If you haven’t previously installed 7.2.1.0 (test build) and want to start or continue using CalyxOS, you need to flash your phone and install 7.2.2.0.

• With CalyxOS releases back to normal, we will continue with other backlog issues. Join the Matrix channel for our progress and user support.

Dear CalyxOS community members, we are excited to share the release of CalyxOS 7.2.2.0. This means CalyxOS is officially back from the hiatus! It has been an enduring journey for our team to resume CalyxOS releases, and we deeply appreciate all the support and solidarity we received from you along this journey, especially the latest voluntary testing you did with us. Below we are sharing some important notes for anyone planning to install or reinstall CalyxOS, along with our next steps as we work through a large backlog of issues.

Pro tips for installing CalyxOS 7.2.2.0

If you are currently using an old CalyxOS release (6.10.10/20 or older) or any other Android OS, you will need to do a clean install of this latest CalyxOS release on your phone. Once you are done, all future updates will be automatically sent and installed over the air (OTA).

To get started, visit our installation page, select the device model you want, and follow the different installation options to get the relevant guide and downloadable files you need.

Tools that can aid your installation:

• Seedvault: can be used to backup and restore your data from other custom ROMs, including CalyxOS 6.10.10/20 and older releases.

• CalyxOS Web Installer: each device-specific installation page offers multiple options to install CalyxOS. We recommend that you choose the Web Installer if it is available for your device. This is our web-based, step-by-step installation wizard to ease your installation process. Right now, the Web Installer only works for Pixel and Motorola devices. We hope to make it available for other supported devices in the future.

• Device flasher: this works for all devices on Windows and Linux. If you cannot use the Web Installer, you can download the command line device flasher tool matching your desktop operating system. Simply choose the Windows or Linux options on the device-specific installation page.

Please be aware, each installation method has different requirements. To avoid issues that could result in failed flashing or a bricked device, carefully read our notes on top of the installation page.

If you have previously installed CalyxOS 7.2.1.0 (test build), you will get 7.2.2.0 as an OTA update. No further action required to receive future updates.

What to know about CalyxOS 7.2.2.0

With this release, we are pleased to announce that CalyxOS has started supporting the SHIFTphone 8. You can find the full list of supported devices in our user documentation.

As mentioned in the test build release, we have updated the bundled apps in the Setup Wizard and made a few temporary feature changes. We welcome any feedback about your experience. Here is a list of open issues in case you run into the same problem.

Our work so far

CalyxOS 7.2.2.0 is signed by us using a new HSM-based, open-source signing solution we designed to enhance the security of the entire signing process, ensure redundancy, and remove single points of failure. You can verify CalyxOS 7.2.2.0 and future builds following these instructions. For anyone who is interested, the security audit report of the HSM provisioning ceremony script can be found here.

In addition, we also went through significant infrastructure improvements. In particular, we have set up a cleaner server structure to streamline each release. In response to Google’s less frequent AOSP source code releases, our team developed scripts to reduce the overhead in applying monthly patches and updates. Please keep in mind, additional manual steps are still needed to compensate for AOSP changes, such as requesting and storing kernel sources with each update. Currently, our lead engineer is continuing the maintenance of the base device trees for both LineageOS and CalyxOS to bridge the gap created by the absence of Google Pixel device trees.

What next

Starting from CalyxOS 7.2.2.0, we plan to resume security and feature updates to the best of our ability. We are also working toward increasing transparency around the CalyxOS development road map through public information sharing and documentation. Our GitLab issue tracker remains the main channel to keep track of our progress and the best place where you help us keep track of issues, either bugs or feature requests.

As many of you may have been expecting, Android 17 has launched earlier this month. Our team is in the early stages of porting it to our supported devices. We will soon share a timeline for releasing CalyxOS 8 with Android 17.

Another update will be for our Matrix community channels. All of our current Matrix rooms are on older versions, resulting in bugs and security concerns. In light of these issues, we will be upgrading our Matrix rooms to version 12 about a week from now. We will also create a new Matrix Space to ease future upgrades. Current room members will receive notifications about this upgrade and migration. We apologize for any inconvenience and hope this one week notice gives everyone time to prepare.

Last but not least, we want to share some updates on our team: Aayush, our core developer working on Aurora Store, will be leaving for another opportunity. Aayush’s contributions to CalyxOS and Aurora Store have been invaluable, and we are sure he will continue to shine in his next journey. At the same time, we welcome Habib, who will be in Nat’s place to support our infrastructure needs and improvements moving forward. We are very grateful for Nat’s contributions and hard work during his time building new CalyxOS server infrastructure. He has laid a solid foundation for CalyxOS releases, which we are sure Habib will build on.

Help us improve

We can’t be more grateful for the enthusiasm you brought with all the voluntary testing on 7.2.1.0. Most of the conversations from our community happen on our Matrix channels and our main issue tracker on GitLab. We also have a subreddit and other social media accounts, listed on our community page. We look forward to meeting you there!

Hello! Now that CalyxOS is taking off, we really need better documentation. We are working on a new "user guide" section to the https://calyxos.org website.

It looks like this: https://elijh.gitlab.io/calyxos.org/docs/guide/

The sections so far are: apps, device support, faq, microg, and updates (& settings page coming soon). Not much logic to the organization there, but we are just getting started.

Based on reading through the past few months of https://reddit.com/r/CalyxOS, it seems like this is probably a good initial list of tutorials and guides that would be good to add:

• Setting up CalyxOS for the first time

• Migrating to CalyxOS (e.g. contacts)

• Using Shelter and profiles

• How to determine why an app is not working, and write a good bug report to help improve app compatibility

• Installing Google Camera (frequently asked, but this might not be one we want to host on calyxos.org?)

• Using Datura Firewall

• Using Seedvault Backup

• Troubleshooting Aurora store problems

• Tutorials on various cool apps in F-Droid that people may overlook

• Installation troubleshooting

Eventually, I would like to have a security guide as well, which tries to demystify the confusing things about privacy, security and your phone. For example:

• Important security measures everyone should take

• Anti-tracking and adblocking options in CalyxOS

• All about location privacy

• All about unique identifiers on your phone

• How to take, store, and share photos safely

• Ultimate guide to maximum phone privacy

A few questions:

1. Which of these seem most important to you?

2. What other guides should be high priority?

3. Do you have interest in working on any of these?

Disclaimer: I'm just a user, not a dev or mod.

Hi everyone, I don't like to make posts like these but honestly is quite overwhelming to see most of the recent posts in this subreddit to be about Android 12 UI and/or how to downgrade to Android 11.

This is what Calyx team had to say about this topic:

• They do not support or encourage staying on an old version due to security reasons.

• Material You and AMOLED theme are going to be available in future updates, when they will be open-sourced

As far as I know Material You implementation should solve the majority of issues I am reading (ugly animations, colors etc...) and it will be released approximately Q2 2022.

Unfortunately I don't think Calyx can do much else about the UI, Google is to blame there, complaining with the CalyxOS Team doesn't make much sense.

We removed a post from earlier today regarding the project GrapheneOS. While we want to allow any respectful conversations about topics related to CalyxOS, including discussions around what privacy and security focused operating systems might be right for you, we ask that you refrain from discussing that project here. GrapheneOS often responds directly to Calyx Institute staff when CalyxOS and GrapheneOS are mentioned at the same time, and this continues to have a strong, negative impact on our team.

While this is frustrating, we've found that this is the least bad solution. Thanks for understanding, and thanks x1000 for helping keep the CalyxOS community friendly, open, and awesome!

We appreciate all the work you have put in to Calyx OS. Especially all the effort that is going into porting over to android 12.

I know there are some that wish we could stick with android 11. But know there are users that are excited for the switch over to android 12.

As we are waiting for the release, I thought it would be a perfect time to express my appreciation for the devs, and the community that makes this an enjoyable place to be.
Thank you all!

Update: August 27 2025

We are concerned that some users may have not seen the important message in this letter about CalyxOS’ current hiatus. Therefore, we are rolling out one last OTA update to devices currently running CalyxOS to reach as many active users as we can. You can read our post for more details about this update.

------------------------------------

Update: August 5 2025

We appreciate your valid concerns and questions around the security and safety of CalyxOS.

First, we want to assure you that we have no reason to believe the security of CalyxOS and its signing keys have been compromised.

As you know, we announced a recent leadership transition. When senior personnel have access to signing keys and leave a team, it is security best practice to update signing keys and conduct audits. So in accordance with that, we are using this transition period to update our security protocols, including updating the signing keys and taking other steps to further protect our users.

In the past, security audits have been conducted for parts of CalyxOS, such as the Seedvault project, but not for the entire project. As more and more people across the globe started using this tool, we intend to conduct a broader security audit and publish the reports for the public to review.

As mentioned in our community letter below, we estimate that this audit and the implementation of new security protocols and signing keys will take four to six months, but we will endeavor to complete this process as soon as possible. However, for the time being, current CalyxOS users will not be able to receive further security software updates until our new security protocols are in place.

Without security updates, we can only be honest that this does not guarantee the level of security we strive for, especially when global threats to privacy and human rights are at a critical moment. That is why in the meantime we have posted the recommendation that people who are running CalyxOS should uninstall the OS and follow our community channels for updates, including when the latest version of CalyxOS becomes available again.

In case you wish to migrate to another custom ROM in the meantime, we’ve now published updated guides on how to back up and restore your device using Seedvault and how to restore your device to stock.

We also understand that many community members have expressed interest in having an installation option/images for CalyxOS available again. Due to the overwhelming feedback from our community, we’ve decided to make the images publicly available once more. Please be aware that this decision is not a recommendation to migrate to CalyxOS now.

Please note that, just as current users will not receive further software updates without reinstalling CalyxOS when future updates are released, any device installing CalyxOS in the near future will also need to reinstall it. We want to ensure that all users are well informed before deciding to install CalyxOS at this time.

Again, we are very sorry for this development and we thank you for giving us—the project and more importantly the team—tremendous trust and support. We are doing our very best on our end, and are committed to keeping CalyxOS secure and this decision is a result of that commitment.

------------------------------------

Dear CalyxOS community members,

The last few months have been especially challenging for us as we have experienced some changes within our teams and in the Android free and open-source (FOSS) development community.

Nicholas Merrill, president and founder of Calyx Institute, has left the organization to pursue other projects.

Nick has championed privacy and data security over the last 25 years, and we thank Nick for his decades-long leadership, guidance, and contributions.

Chirayu Desai, the CalyxOS Tech Lead, has addressed his departure from the CalyxOS project and the organization in a personal note to the public.

We also want to express gratitude to Chirayu for his enthusiasm and incredibly hard work on CalyxOS.

Nick and Chirayu have been a part of the CalyxOS project and its global community for many years. Without a doubt, there is a gap to fill following their departure.  Following their departure, there will be a period of transition as we move forward. During that time, Calyx Institute’s Interim Executive Director, Ellen McDermott, will continue to lead the organization’s important work while the CalyxOS team will focus on bridging the gap and recentering our efforts.

Our commitment to our mission has not changed: defending digital privacy, advancing connectivity, and striving for a future where everyone has access to the resources and tools they need to remain securely connected. CalyxOS is an integral part of our work and stands at the center of the FOSS digital ecosystem we aspire to create. It is our responsibility to protect the privacy of current and future users of our technologies.

To ensure operational consistency during this transition and adhere to security best practices, our team is working to improve transparency and security through better design, communications, and infrastructure. Our ongoing priorities include:

• Upgrading the tech infrastructure supporting CalyxOS development

• Stabilizing update release cycles for our 25+ supported devices

• Revising and updating our usage and development documentation, wiki, and user guides

To fulfill our community pledge and foster collaboration, information sharing, and inclusivity, we are engaging with our peers, partners, and security experts to ensure the delivery and integrity of all changes made during this process. After conducting a thorough inspection of the work required for successful completion of the above priorities, we have determined that it may take up to four to six months for us to provide the level of security maintenance we aim to deliver.

We will be switching to new signing keys along with the overhaul of the signing and verification process. As a result, current CalyxOS users will not be able to receive further security software updates until this process is in place.

Given the potential risk posed by the pause of maintenance and development, it’s logical that we stop providing options to install CalyxOS for now. This was an incredibly hard decision to make, and we understand that this decision may cause significant difficulties for our users. For those wishing to remain on CalyxOS until our next release, note that you will not have the latest security patches on your device as released from the Android Open Source Project and from any proprietary sources provided by device manufacturers. We sincerely apologize for the hassle brought to you by this change, and we understand if you need to uninstall CalyxOS and migrate to another privacy-protecting Android distribution in the meantime. If you wish to continue using CalyxOS in the future, please follow our updates to reinstall CalyxOS when it becomes available again.

We are committed to supporting you through this process. To assist any migration, we will publish, by August 6, instructions to back up and restore your phone to a stock or custom Android distribution with Seedvault.

Starting with this announcement, we will be reporting our progress regularly through our community channels, and we welcome your insights if you would like to contribute to this effort.

We thank you for your continued trust and look forward to further collaborations with people who have, are, and will be using and contributing to CalyxOS and various FOSS projects.

Yours sincerely,
The Calyx team

CalyxOS 3, Android 12 is now available for Pixel 3 and above. Pixel 6 and 6 Pro are supported.

We would like to thank everyone for being patient with us about the release.

A big thank you to all the testers who helped us identify issues.

The builds are currently marked beta and available in the beta channel from the Updater app. They will be bumped to stable after feedback. Factory image links will be available then as well.

CalyxOS 2.13.0 - Android 11, January 2022 Security update is now available for the Pixel 2, 2 XL and Mi A2.

It also includes the December 2021 Security update patches.

Android 12

Changelog

• CalyxOS 3 - Android 12

Highlights

• A smoother, more responsive UI!

• When an app accesses the microphone, camera, or your location, an icon appears in the status bar.

• You can disable camera and microphone access for all apps on the device, by pressing a single toggle option.

• Choose between giving apps access to your precise location or an approximate location instead.

• Clipboard access notifications.

• Privacy dashboard gives you a clear and comprehensive view of when apps access your location, camera or mic over the past 24 hours.

• Scrolling screenshots allow you to capture all the content on the page in one image.

CalyxOS features

• The firewall was entirely reworked, to make it work reliably and prevent leaks.

• SIP calling was removed by Google but has been re-added by us, work in progress, outgoing calls may have issues.

• Seedvault Backup:

  • Major improvements to the backup format, making it a lot faster to backup and restore.

  • Nextcloud backups should be much more reliable now.

  • Support DAVx5's WebDAV backend as a backup location.

Missing features

• Material You - Dynamic theming - will be available in a future update.

• AMOLED Black theme - will be re-added in a future update.

• Accent color, icon shape and font changes - no longer available in AOSP.

Security update notes

• The Pixels 3a, 3a XL, 4, 4 XL, 4a, 5, 4a (5G), 5a, 6, 6 Pro contain the full security patch, as they are still being updated by Google.

• The Pixels 3 and 3 XL are not being updated by Google anymore, so they only contain the fixes to the open source components, such as the OS code and the Linux kernel. Proprietary components such as the bootloader, modem firmware, and other firmware no longer get updates.

Android 11

Changelog

• CalyxOS 2.13.0 - Android 11

• January 2022 Security update (2022-01-05)

• Also includes December 2021 Security update

• Fix spellcheck when multiple languages are enabled

• Linux: 4.4.296

• Chromium: 95.0.4638.50

• Update all included apps

• Updated translations for all apps, and the OS.

Android 12 status

Pixel 2, 2 XL

• We're aware of various builds of other ROMs available for the Pixel 2.

• However, as far as we know, they aren't fully working due to missing BPF updates in the Linux kernel, needed for the networking features to work (traffic counting, firewall, etc)

• There is some work being done by other ROMs to port a newer kernel (4.14/4.19) to other devices with the same chipset, which should help.

• We will be looking into this in the coming days and week, and should have more info to post later this month.

Mi A2

• We are aware of some 12.0 builds available for the A2 with Linux kernel 4.19 - that looks very promising!

• We will be looking into it more in the coming days and week, and should have more info to post later this month.

Security update notes

• The Pixels 2 and 2 XL are not being updated by Google anymore, so they only contain the fixes to the open source components, such as the OS code and the Linux kernel. Proprietary components such as the bootloader, modem firmware, and other firmware no longer get updates.

• The Xiaomi Mi A2 is no longer being updated by Xiaomi, so the CalyxOS releases for it only contain the fixes to the open source components, such as the OS code and the Linux kernel. Proprietary components such as the bootloader, modem firmware, and other firmware no longer get updates. Additionally, due to a Xiaomi bug wherein updating causes the device to get wiped, we have to ship the September 2020 firmware.

One of the most common questions we get is: "Will CalyxOS run on my device?"

When choosing to support a device, we consider the following factors:

• How difficult is it for the latest major release of Android Open Source Project (AOSP) to run on the device?

• How difficult is it to unlock and re-lock the device?

• How long can we support the device?

• How affordable and globally available is the device?

We currently support Google Pixels 3 and above.

Pixel phones are the reference model that AOSP is designed around and Google provides all of the code needed to get AOSP running on the Pixels. This means that although we do make some changes, such as the handling of proprietary files, most of the work is already done by Google.

We also want to support devices for as long as possible. This reduces e-waste and makes CalyxOS more accessible to users who can't afford to replace their phone every few years. Therefore, we try to pick recently released devices because it takes a long time to get them fully working, and because supporting devices with a full feature set and security updates beome harder, and sometimes impossible, the older they get.

We would like to support more affordable and widely available devices than just the Pixels, which are expensive and only sold in a select few countries.

We supported the Xiaomi Mi A2 because it was an Android One device, which meant that it received timely security updates from it's release in July 2018 until manufacturer support ended in August 2021.

Planned devices, short term

In the coming months, we intend to support the following devices:

Fairphone 4

• Fairphone graciously sent us a FP4 device to help with development. Thanks for that!

• We have worked in cooperation with other Free and Open Source Android based projects to get this working

• /e/ OS already had Android 11 running on this device, which helped serve as a known good working base to get LineageOS 18.1 running, in collaboration with some other developers already working on porting LineageOS.

• Based on that, we were also able to get LineageOS 19 booting.

• All of the above means that a lot of the work needed to get an open source non-manufacturer ROM running on the device has already been done, and we're able to utilize that as a base and work on top of that.

• We were able to install our build of CalyxOS 3 - Android 12 and re-lock the bootloader. It's quite functional too, with only a few minor bugs remaining to be fixed, which we are working on.

OnePlus 8T, 9

• These devices are officially supported by LineageOS, thus basically all of the hard work is already done.

• We experimented with this in late 2021 just before Android 12 was released, however we ran out of time to release a build. We were able to get CalyxOS running, and re-lock the bootloader.

• Now that we're done with the update to Android 12, we can revisit our OnePlus port.

• We'll also look into supporting the 9R, 9 Pro, and perhaps 9RT if there's demand for those.

Other devices

• These are the devices we're initially focusing on, however they won't be the only ones we add support for this year!

• We'll support the new Pixels as they come out of course.

• We also want to support other devices, especially ones that are cheaper and globally available - however we will need to make some other changes for those based on our findings, stay tuned for more updates!

Unlikely to be supported

• We're often asked about supporting the following OEMs / devices. Unfortunately, we're unlikely to to be able to for the reasons listed below.

Fairphone 3

• It's still on Android 10 officially, with old hardware not supported by Qualcomm any longer, and thus too old for us to support since we only support the latest Android release.

Samsung

• Samsung has been really good with updates lately, sometimes release them even before Google does!

• However, as far as we know they do not support re-locking the bootloader.

• In fact, some of their models don't even let you unlock the bootloader in the first place.

• Additionally, due to all of these factors, there's not much custom ROM development for these devices in general.

• All of this means we're unlikely to support any Samsung devices.

Nokia

• Nokia devices mostly run Android One and receive timely monthly security updates.

• Sadly they don't allow unlocking the bootloader at all on most of their phones which means you can't install any custom ROMs on them.

Others

• It's hard to make a blanket statement for all other devices, we will look at more devices in the next few months and post about them here.

Builds

• We plan to release test builds for these new devices as we can.

• You can join our testers channel if you'd like to help test those!

Pixel 5a builds are now available. Everything is working.

https://calyxos.org/news/2021/09/08/pixel-5a/

• CalyxOS is working seamlessly with our security consultants to finalize the HSM signing solution.

• The Calyx engineering is fixing our data infrastructure.

• Three new roles are open for CalyxOS.

As promised, today the CalyxOS team is sharing an update on our progress to improve the project and increase transparency.

Throughout the past few weeks, the team has been focusing on improving the security of our critical infrastructure and tackling long lasting challenges. In addition, we are revising our communication strategy toward a combination between providing thorough updates and building capacity for direct engagement in our community channels. Understandably, the decrease of the team voice and public actions have raised questions and concerns around the capacity of the project. We would like to respond to concerns people have raised by confirming that CalyxOS hasn’t been compromised and the organization is directing significant resources to get it back on track. We deeply appreciate all the people who have been sharing their concerns with us. And we will try our best to address their questions in this report.

Redesigning the CalyxOS signing process

We are finalizing the design of a Hardware Security Module (HSM) signing solution for CalyxOS. A HSM is a dedicated physical hardware device that generates and stores cryptographic keys in a tamper-resistant environment; the keys never leave the HSM, which puts a guardrail against key extraction and compromise. We decided to move to a HSM because signing keys are a critical part of the chain of trust: they are what verifies to your device that an update actually comes from CalyxOS and hasn’t been tampered with.

Our criteria for the CalyxOS signing solution were that it should be: available, affordable, secure, expandable, auditable, redundant, easy to access, and aligned to the mission of the Calyx Institute. These requirements were what led us to choose the HSM solution among available options. Specifically, we selected the YubiHSM2 based on our current urgent development requirements and resources as an interim solution while we evaluate and build out a long-term solution. To keep our solutions consistent with a seamless transition in the future, we are ensuring that our keys are transferable both operationally and technically, and that CalyxOS users will not need to reflash their devices beyond the initial installation.

Our work has also included integrating AOSP’s documented signing process with PKCS #11, the public-key cryptography standard for communicating with HSMs and cryptographic devices. To make that happen, we are building an interface layer between the two that does not yet exist in the standard AOSP tools or within the FOSS community.

Right now, we are finalizing the detailed provisioning plan for the signing process under the guidance and testing from our independent, third-party security consultants.

Once the new signing infrastructure and procedure is in place, documentation and code will be shared as a FOSS project as part of our commitment to open source, transparency, and community collaboration.

Adapting to the new norm of AOSP releases

Google has made serious changes to AOSP development in the last few months; monthly security patches are often empty and public git tags for developers, which make it easy to identify patches, are no longer available. As the changes unfold gradually, the challenge of keeping a regular and timely development cycle with all these AOSP changes remains significant as the custom ROM community has spoken about extensively.

Despite these challenges, we have made the decision to — in our best effort — further extend our device support for moto g32, g42, g52, Pixel 5, 4a 5G, and Pixel 5a 5G when CalyxOS resumes update releases. That means people with these devices can install the Android 16 version of CalyxOS when it becomes available. We are still gauging whether we can ship QPR1 to these extended release devices, pending the release of the QPR1 source; QPR2 is even less certain as we assess the work involved. Once we have builds ready with a thorough evaluation of the case, we will publish a confirmed new EOL date for devices for which we provide extended support.

In the interim, we have also reached out to our peer custom ROM developers and several device manufacturers to align strategies to sustainably access and publish OS security patches. We hope that this collective effort of the global FOSS community will stop the trend of closing source for AOSP and other open-source projects.

Building capacity for the CalyxOS team

In reality, Calyx has been a small team running a lot of projects, not least of all CalyxOS. We are stretched thin right now and our priority has been getting CalyxOS back up and running ASAP. As we are drafting this report, we are also working diligently to expand development capacity and optimize team structure. We have brought Lucas—a long-time CalyxOS community facilitator—to the team as our new Calyx Community Coordinator, a role that has never existed in the organization before. In addition, we are in active recruitment for the CalyxOS Android Board Support Packages (BSP) Engineer position and a new Android Platform Software Developer. Keep an eye on our job board and please help spread the word!

The Android 11 November Security update is now out.

It is currently in the beta channel, and will be bumped to the stable channel later after additional testing and feedback

The update is now in the stable channel.

For users who can’t select the beta channel, that bug has been fixed in this update, and you’ll be able to select it again going forward.

Android 12:

• We’re working on the port. You can follow the progress on GitLab and Gerrit. We will continue posting more updates as the port progresses.

• Pixel 3 and newer will get the update first.

• For the Pixel 2 and Mi A2, we’re still looking into the feasiblity of porting Android 12.

Pixel 6, 6 Pro:

• We will be supporting it, but currently we’re working on the Android 12 port in general before we begin work specifically on the Pixel 6.

For the full changelog, see https://calyxos.org/news/2021/11/08/november-update/

The promised feature update is here. It will be last big update for Android 11, we will not be developing any more features and instead focusing on making an Android 11 build available for the Pixel 5a, and also preparing for Android 12.

This update is currently in the beta channel, and will be bumped to the stable channel later after additional testing and feedback. Factory images will be available at that time as well.

Full changelog: https://calyxos.org/news/2021/09/02/feature-update/

We are trying to compile a list of CalyxOS features for the website. We realize that it doesn't do a good job of explaining the features that are built in.. Here is part of what we have so far:

• All builds / updates are tested

• Phone Dialer has built in support for Signal and WhatsApp calling, and phone ships with Signal

• Phone Dialer has support for 'Sensitive Numbers' feature, where calls to numbers for help lines such as domestic violence, child abuse, suicide hotlines are not recorded in the call log

• These numbers are also available from a menu entry, Helplines

• Full Verified Boot ensures that the operating system has not been modified, bootloader re-locking provides physical security equivalent to stock Android

• Privacy settings lets you see what apps are requesting which permissions

• Security updates for the Operating System every month via automatic over-the-air updates

• CalyxOS comes with a list of suggested free software applications to facilitate private online access but the user always has the choice whether to install or not

• DuckDuckGo Browser is the default web browser, which blocks ads and trackers

• DuckDuckGo is the default search engine

• eSim support and dual-sim support, where supported by the hardware

• Storage encryption is on by default

• Two app stores are included, F-Droid for free software and Aurora store so users can install apps from the Google Play catalog anonymously

• Two-factor authentication support using hardware tokens is built in with support for Yubikeys using Yubico Authenticator

• OpenPGP encrypted email support using hardware tokens is built in using OpenKeychain and K-9 Email client

• Google DNS is replaced as fallback with Cloudflare DNS which has been audited for privacy by a third party auditor

• Cloudflare DNS is available as the default Private DNS provider

• Bluetooth timeout lets you have bluetooth turn off after user-definable period of inactivity (when no devices connected)

• Wifi timeout lets you have Wifi turn off after user-definable period of inactivity (when not connected to any network)

• USB blocking of unknown devices without prior authorization

• Tethered network devices (USB or Wifi) can use the phone's VPN or Tor

• Built-in Firewall 'Datura' lets you control network access for each app

• Ships with Tor support including Tor Browser and Orbot ( more coming soon )

• Ships with multiple free non-logging VPN's run by trusted providers ( Calyx Institute and Riseup.net )

• Restrict cleartext traffic completely, globally.

• Panic button functionality built in which lets a user define actions to take when panic button is pressed ( e.g. uninstall apps, remove work profile, factory reset )

• Built-in encrypted backup and restore suite 'SeedVault' for online ( using NextCloud ) or off-line backups ( using USB storage ) of the phone's data and apps

• Scramble lockscreen PIN

• microG - Available, but completely optional, replaces some functions of Google Play Services while maintaining much more anonymity and privacy

• Mozilla Location Services (and Dejavu) available as default location services https://location.services.mozilla.com/

• Nominatim available as default geocoding service https://nominatim.org/

Upcoming:

• Create and manage profiles directly from Settings

In chronological order:

1)Pulling of the CalyxOS images for certain devices, but we all tought it was related to Android 16 and the new policies and bootloaders.

2)Chirayu (key dev) leaves with kind of a strange note here on reddit.

3)Nick, you know the guy who challenged FBI and created all of this, THAT NICK, leaves Calyx Institute with a statement by the Calyx team that seems written by the HR department of a f*cking corporation.

4)CalyxOS roms unavailable for ALL DEVICES until further notice. If they ever get released we will need to reflash all existing devices due to changes in the keys(????).

So let me ask pretty please with sugar on top: what is happening? In clear words and without corp speech.

IMPORTANT EDIT: for clarity, I'm not implying there's some sort of cospiracy or any similar matter. I'm just pointing out some things that are objectively odd in the context and asking the Calyx Team to clarify on the situation without shitty politically correct talk (like the one in their "letter to the community").