LineageOS 23 review: The de facto AI-free Android experience
LineageOS 23 review: The de facto AI-free Android experience
https://9to5google.com/2026/06/10/lineageos-23-review/
Publish Date: 2026-06-10 12:30:00
Source Domain: 9to5google.com
After delays and frustrations, the “full” version of LineageOS 23 is available. Does it make sense to flash in the big 2026? Here’s everything you need to know.
We’ve held back from talking about LineageOS 23 until the 23.2 build dropped. In the interest of this deeper dive, we’re referring to that build in this post and accompanying video.
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No AI, no problem
There are AI haters and AI skeptics who simply want to return to a time when Pandora’s box was never even conceived, let alone opened. LineageOS 23 offers the intrepid owner to find a pocketable safe haven from updated models, prompts, tokens, and lots of rehashed trash powered by data-hungry servers burning through resources.
Gemini is nowhere to be found unless you need to use it. This is one of the biggest reasons you might finally want to try Lineage on your phone. GApps are available as an add-on package. I have tested with and without, with little effect on the overall experience, save for enhanced privacy protection.
Delays due to Google
Sadly, as we’re already living in a post-Android 17 world, LineageOS 23 has been in a state of flux. Google shifted to a quarterly AOSP release, with knock-on effects. One of those is that Lineage is coming in six-month release cycles.
It has been a few months since all the QPR1 functions were merged into LineageOS 23. The changes are mostly visual, but there are some performance enhancements that could breathe new life into an older supported handset.
Material 3 Expressive overhaul
Last year, with Android 16 QPR1, Google introduced a new visual design language called “Material 3 Expressive.”
Think of this as just a more playful interpretation of what your phone operating system should look like. Bigger icons, new icons, just…
