Fairphone 5 gets Android 14 via custom ROM before official version lands

LineageOS has long been a staple in the Android custom ROM community, and with the February release of LineageOS 21, it brought Android 14 to many devices that have lost official manufacturer support. Though the Fairphone 5 (read our review here) is still at the beginning of its long software support life cycle, tinker-happy users can now download and install the custom Android ROM from the nightly builds page.

LineageOS 21 is hardly the first Android custom ROM to introduce Android 14 for the Fairphone 5, with open-source, privacy-first CalyxOS 5.4.2 having delivered the same in March of this year. Since it's the first nightly release of LineageOS 21 on the Fairphone 5, it's fair to expect a handful of bugs to pop up, although the LineageOS Reddit is surprisingly free of complaints so far.

Fairphone 5 owners who are interested in an alternative Android ROM can head to Fairphone's guide on bootloader unlocking and then download the LineageOS 21 ISO. There's also a guide on the LineageOS Wiki for those that need some guidance installing the ROM.

Unlike many smartphone makers that will go as far as bricking devices when users attempt to unlock the bootloader, rendering them basically useless, Fairphone actively encourages tinkering and provides an easy way to restore the default Fairphone OS in case you need to go back.

You can import the Fairphone 5 from the UK via Amazon for $787, but the Google Pixel 8 also plays well with custom ROMs and can be had more easily for $659 at the time of writing.