This document serves as Changelog 31 for LineageOS, announcing the 23.2 "Halftime Release." The release primarily focuses on aesthetic and functional updates derived from the Material Expressive design system, alongside crucial changes to the development cadence and the merging of new engineering tools. LineageOS will align with AOSP's new biannual release schedule, shifting its point release cycle to every six months, while maintaining monthly Android Security Bulletin integration. Key user-facing changes include a modernized UI, a fully customizable Quick Settings panel, and expanded dark theme support. The release also formalizes several new internal Python-based development utilities and includes a significant update to the project's leadership structure. The 23.2 branch is deemed feature and stability complete, leading to the deprecation of new device submissions shipping on the older 21 branch.
Summarization
23.2 Halftime Release: LineageOS 23.2 is presented as a "Halftime Release," completed after successfully rebasing and updating the OS across two large AOSP releases.
AOSP Cadence Shift: Acknowledging Google’s transition of AOSP from a quarterly to a biannual release cadence, LineageOS will consequently adopt a six-month cycle for new point releases. Android Security Bulletins will continue to be picked and released monthly for all supported LineageOS versions.
Material Expressive Adoption: The release features an immediate and noticeable overhaul of the UI and color scheme, officially adopting Google’s Material Expressive design system, which emphasizes expressive colors and emotive design elements.
Key Feature Enhancements: The Quick Settings panel UI has been updated to include fully customizable tiles. The release also provides an expanded dark theme and more powerful file utilities designed for private spaces.
Updated Default Applications: To comply with Material Expressive guidelines, default applications including Twelve (music), Deskclock, and ExactCalculator have received Material 3 Expressive updates. The Updater app is scheduled for a complete UI redesign, improved update management, and bug fixes, but was not ready for the 23.2 launch.
New Development Tools Merged: Several Python utilities were merged into the developer toolkit: beautify_rro.py, generate_rro.py, update_certificates.py, decompile_cil.py (for SELinux rules), extract_aconfig.py, and match_manifest_tarball.py (for kernel/source matching).
Leadership Transition: Rashed has stepped down after 12 years (split between CyanogenMod and LineageOS). Nolen Johnson (npjohnson) was voted in as the ninth Director.
Deprecation Policy: The 23.2 branch is at stability and feature parity with 23.0. The policy permits new LineageOS 21 submissions to be forked but prohibits them from shipping officially.
Call for Maintainers: The project actively encourages developers to submit new device builds or restore previously supported devices, emphasizing a quick feedback loop (generally one week). A specific note was issued advising developers to follow up on recent submissions due to a provider swap.
Generic Target Accessibility: Documentation has been provided for using buildable generic targets (present since 2019) with the Android Emulator/Android Studio. These targets now support building General System Images (GSI) in mobile, Android TV, and Android Automotive configurations via Project Treble, enhancing accessibility, though official GSI builds are not provided.
Translation Efforts: LineageOS now supports the Welsh (Cymraeg) language completely, thanks to community translators, and encourages literate contributions to other language translations.
Build Roster Update: The changelog provides a comprehensive list of devices (including multiple Google Pixel, Motorola, Samsung, and OnePlus models) successfully migrated from 23.0 to the new 23.2 branch, alongside a few new devices added to the 23.0 and 22.2 branches.