Paranoid Android is an

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

for

smartphone A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...

s and

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s, based on the

Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...

mobile platform. The latest official version is Uvite, based on

Android 14 Android 14 is the Android version history, fourteenth major release and the 21st version of Android (operating system), Android, the mobile operating system developed by the Open Handset Alliance led by Google. Both the Google & Paranoid Android ...

, released on 20 September 2023. In September 2015, ''

PC Advisor ''Tech Advisor'', previously known as ''PC Advisor'', is a consumer tech website and digital magazine published by Foundry,. Foundry was previously a subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG, Inc.), which was acquired by Blackstone in 2021, but i ...

'' called it the most famous ROM along with

CyanogenMod CyanogenMod ( ; CM) is a discontinued open-source operating system for mobile devices, based on the Android mobile platform. Developed between 2009 and 2016, it was free and open-source software based on the official releases of Android by Goog ...

, and ''

The Economic Times ''The Economic Times'' is an Indian English-language business-focused daily newspaper. Owned by The Times Group, ''The Economic Times'' began publication in 1961 and it is sold in all major cities in India. As of 2012, it is the world's secon ...

'' called it the second-largest custom Android ROM in the world with over 200 000 users.

History

Paranoid Android was founded by Paul Henschel. According to a Reddit AMA session with the lead developers, the ROM was named after the Radiohead song of the same name. In February 2015, OnePlus hired a handful of key members from the Paranoid Android team to work on its new

OxygenOS OxygenOS () is an Android-based operating system (OS) developed by Chinese smartphone manufacturer OnePlus exclusively for their smartphones. OxygenOS was developed for their overseas market. There used to also be another version of the OS des ...

. This caused delays to the release of Paranoid Android 5.1 builds. In October 2015, team member Matt Flaming told ''Android Authority'' that the project would go on hold. In June 2016, the Paranoid Android team announced that they were back with new team members. This announcement coincided with the release of a new version of Paranoid Android, which was based on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, with the May security patch, and included new customization features. On June 8, 2016, Paranoid Android supported Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 5, Nexus 4, Nexus 7 2013, Nexus 9, OnePlus One, OnePlus 2, and OnePlus X. On May 31, 2017, the team announced that they released the Nougat flavour of Paranoid Android. This version was based on Android 7.1.2 Nougat, with the most notable feature being the return of Pie Controls. Supported devices include the OnePlus 3 and 3T, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Pixel, and Pixel XL. On 12 May. 2018, the Paranoid Android Google+ account posted an update on the status of the project. The developers had run out of funds causing their website and Gerrit to shut down and ceasing all work on Oreo builds. The team stated that they were close to release but weren't able to continue without funds and looked to the community for donations. On 27 August 2018, the Google+ page was updated with a new post titled "Being more transparent". The team apologized for a lack of communication and shared info about current activities. The team decided to finish device trees and release sources before discontinuing Oreo MR1. Basic builds were released for the OnePlus 3, 3T, 5 and 5T, as well as the Sony Xperia X, X Compact, XZ Premium, XZ1 and XZ2. The next goal was Android Pie, with the post saying builds were almost stable, though at the time of the post only two commits under the Pie branch were released on the team's Gerrit. They also released concept art for an upcoming feature named "Blink Navigation" based on gestures and Pie navigation, as well as a rundown of a new versioning system. The project was relaunched with a new set of stable releases named "Quartz" (based on

Android 10 Android 10 (code name, codenamed Android Q during development) is the Android version history, tenth major release and the 17th version of the Android (operating system), Android mobile operating system. It was first released as a developer pre ...

) on 16 April 2020, for a limited set of devices. The Quartz release coincides with supporting additional devices such as the Xiaomi Mi 9.

Features

According to ''The Economic Times'', the two most notable features of Paranoid Android are the Halo and the Pie. The Halo (not included in version 5.0 or greater) is a floating bubble that lets users see notifications without leaving the current screen, and the Pie is a replacement for onscreen navigation buttons that stays off screen and lets users swipe in from the edge to see the buttons. Paranoid Android also features Substratum theme support alongside their own Color Engine, accidental touch rejection, Pocket Lock (which prevents buttons being pressed in a user's pocket) and the ability to take a screenshot by swiping three fingers.

List of supported devices

The following is a list of devices that are supported by Paranoid Android:

References

Notes

:a.The commits to the Gerrit could previously be found at https://gerrit.aospa.co/#/q/project:AOSPA/android_device_qcom_common+branch:pie+until:2018-08-27, but have since been removed.

External links

* {{Linux distributions Custom Android firmware Mobile operating systems Free mobile software