CalyxOS is (almost) back as they just released Android 16 QPR2 test builds for their supported devices. Changes include a new identity revamp (new logo, boot animation, wallpapers, etc.), a revamped CalyxOS Chromium browser with the bare minimum : WebRTC is disabled, telemetry is removed and the browser is, as we could expect, deGoogled
A note on kernel patches: Pixel 6 and newer Pixel devices are fully patched. All other devices are missing certain Qualcomm patches, which we are actively working to pick up alongside other upstream patches and the May Android Security Bulletin (ASB). We wanted to get this out as quickly as possible and official releases will include more complete patchsets as usual.
Also, changes happened on the stack of apps CalyxOS optionally preinstalls:
CalyxOS ships with a set of free-and-open-source apps that can be installed in the Setup Wizard or afterwards without network access. In 7.2.1.0, the bundled apps included in CalyxOS are:
F-Droid Basic 2.0 alpha (v 2.0-alpha8): this newly revamped version will replace the old F-Droid Basic app
Aurora Store (v 4.7.5)
Breezy Weather (v 6.1.3_freenet)
GCam Photos Preview (v 1.1)
Signal (v 8.7.3)
OnionShare (v 0.2.3-beta)
Tor Browser for Android (v 15.0.10 (140.10.0esr))
Tor VPN Beta (v 1.6.0Beta-arm64-v8a): this new Tor VPN project will replace the Orbot app
Riseup VPN (v 1.5.3)
OONI Probe (v 6.0.1)
CoMaps (v 2026.04.07-8-FDroid): this app will replace Organic Maps
Scrambled Exif (v 1.7.14)
Thunderbird (v 18.0)
DAVx5 (v 4.5.10-ose)
Notably, Organic Maps got replaced by CoMaps, a revamped version of F-Droid Basic is there and Orbot faces the same fate as Organic Maps as it gets replaced by the new Tor VPN Beta.
Well, the alternative is mostly either LineageOS or possibly graphene, but then why are you considering Calyx if your phone can run graphene.
There are not a lot of options here, so Calyx may be the best choice for some situations if they can get calyx stable with on time updates.
For now I stick with self signed relocked LineageOS, but I am interested in how they do. The most concerning thing to me is the lack of explanation for why they had to replace many employees, because that implies a problem that canât be solved by the technical revamping they have been doing.
I want to take a moment to offer some praise to the team at Calyx and at the same time push back on what I think will be some negative comments about the project.
It should be commended that the team instead of abandoning the project has made a concerted effort to bring us another viable option to Graphene. Even if you, yourself, do not use nor will ever use CalyxOS it is critical to recognize that each implementation makes the entire community more resilient as well as helps us bring to new users privacy respecting software. After installing the recently released testing version on my device I have had no issues. The team has involved the community to help find any issues before any official release. All this has happened with transparency and stands in contrast to Calyx from a few years ago. They are open, honest, and communicative.
When the broader privacy community sees ghosts everywhere and refuses to let teams rebuild trust, develop new capabilities, and find new direction, we all weaker for it. It is essential for us to have some humility when making claims, especially ones that defame people who are actively spending their time working to make our lives better.
I will be donating to the Calyx team to show my support for the project to communicate my appreciation for the effort they went through to get us here. And at this moment I can say confidently that they have earned my trust.
Make no mistake. Working for the public good whether that is in politics, tech, finance-or whatever you can think of-is hard work. It is often messy. It comes with setbacks. That is the reality of it. Donât discount your allies.
If they were honest, you would understand they were never a viable alternative to GrapheneOS, and that is not changing now. What they perhaps will become is a viable alternative to LineageOS or similar OSes. Thatâs not a slight at Calyx; their goals are clearly completely different from GrapheneOS, with a greater focus on broad device compatibility, but it becomes a problem when users are misled about that fact.
The install has worked well on Google Pixel 5. Iâm excited to see this project is back. The tone on their matrix testers platform is open, supportive, positive.
I couldnât agree more. I understand the counter arguments about beginners not understanding differences between projects (or between privacy and security), but Iâm happy to see them back.
I donât know about the inner politics of CalyxOS and donât need to. As an interested party, I found how they reported on a difficult situation and kept updating the community transparent:
Sure if we just gloss over the fact that the issue started in June 2025 and they waited 2 months to tell users that their OS wont work for atleast 5-6 months.
I donât particularly want to rag on Calyx, but this thread as-is may give a novice the impression that CalyxOS is a viable option. Let me be clear: CalyxOS is not a viable mobile OS.
Letâs recap. This project shut down overnight & left their entire user base with unsupported devices for the better part of a year. Theyâve been completely opaque as to what actually happened. Theyâve since had staffing & infrastructure issues thatâs led to unacceptable delays to the update, production, and release process. And now theyâre apparently shipping an OS with unstable beta softwares
Iâm almost tempted to claim stock Android would be a better choice; at least you can rest easy with the knowledge that you are on a secure system that will 100% exist tomorrow.
Yes, the mobile OS landscape is in a sorry state. Yes, more options would be great. Do not lower your standards out of desperation. Whether through malice, incompetence, or a series of unfortunate events, CalyxOS betrayed the privacy community. They have a tremendous hill to climb before they are worth revisiting
I donât know who would ever trust an organization or project that just shuts down and stops updating your phoneâyour operating system is the core of your internet use, it is a core of your life. I would be embarrassed to suggest using CalyxOS after what they did.
Uncharitable phrasing aside, you arenât wrong as things stand. Calyx themselves are describing their users as beta testers and their current build as a test build with security vulnerabilities on many devices. Stock (up to date, still receiving security updates) android running FOSS applications is without a doubt better than that.
The question for me is if in 6-12 months they will be better than running an out of date version of android, something many people are doing, or better than lineageos with an unlocked bootloader. But as of right now, I wouldnât recommend anyone run it unless they are wanting to beta test to help Calyx find errors and security vulnerabilities.
In 12 months we should start to have some idea how timely and consistent they are with updates too.