LineageOS 20 based on Android 13 with new Aperture camera app is out

The developers of LineageOS have released version 20 of the mobile operating system. This is based on Android 13. It includes the new camera app Aperture, which is based on Google’s CameraX library.

LineageOS 20 is the first updated version of the operating system since Lineage stopped subserializing. This has been happening since LineageOS 19. The developers already said that the upcoming version would not be 19.x, but that only full version numbers would be used. LineageOS 20 is the first to do so.

Version 20 of the OS is based on Android 13, which was only released in October 2022. According to the makers, the fact that LineageOS was able to adapt to the new OS so quickly is due to the fact that major changes to the UI were already implemented in Android 12. Another factor is that Google simplified it with Android 13 to adapt the operating system to new devices.

The biggest addition to the operating system is the new camera app. It’s called Aperture. The app is based on Google’s CameraX library. According to the makers, this brings the camera app much closer to a ‘stock camera app experience’. The old versions of LineageOS used Snap, a fork of Qualcomm’s camera app. LineageOS 19 included a new camera app, Camera2, but according to the makers it did not work properly. Aperture includes support for video frame rate management, optical and electronic image stabilization settings, and a button to update device orientation.

The volume control in the OS has also been completely revised and the Recording app in particular has been updated with a new UI and support for better audio. There are also many minor updates to the operating system, including a new version of WebView, support for GKI and Linux 5.10 builds, and updates to the Jelly browser.

The operating system is currently supported on twenty phones, the makers say. These include the Fairphone, older Pixel devices from the Pixel 4, and various Motorola and OnePlus devices.