2. Enable USB debugging in your smartphone settings.

3. Download and install the special application CyanogenMod Installer (Android). It is no longer on Google Play, link to a reliable source from w3bsit3-dns.com.

4. Download and install the application for Windows (Vista/7/8) - CyanogenMod Installer (Windows).

5. Launch the installed application on Android and follow the step-by-step instructions.

6. Connect your device to your computer using a USB cable.

7. Launch the application on your desktop. It should detect the connected device.

8. The process of downloading the firmware itself and all the files necessary for its installation will begin. This will take some time, after which you will see a message Everything is ready.

9. Click on the button Install and lean back in the chair. During installation, your device may reboot. Do not interrupt the process or disconnect the device from the computer under any circumstances.

10. We wait until the flashing is completed, which will be notified by the appearance of the inscription Installation Complete in the desktop application.

11. That's all. We are happy with the new firmware and write comments about our impressions.

CyanogenMod is the most popular custom firmware based on Android OS today, which offers users wider functionality than stock versions. The developer is Cyanogen Inc.

Let's figure out whether it's worth installing this firmware on your phone.

It's more than Android. It sounds strange, but it's true. While maintaining the design and all the features of stock Android, CyanogenMod also offers various additional features and improvements. You can, for example, change the meaning of system buttons.

Installing the latest OS versions

Unfortunately, the situation with Android device updates is not encouraging, although it is gradually improving. You can buy a Galaxy S4, but you will have to wait a very long time for an update to the new version, despite the fact that it is a flagship device. But CyanogenMod just offers the latest version of the operating system from Google. In addition, some devices can even be updated over the air. If this doesn’t work out, then you can download the firmware to your phone and do it through Recovery.

Privacy Guard feature

The essence of Privacy Guard is very simple - you are given a list of all applications, and you decide for yourself what they have access to and what not. Very comfortably.

Wide range of settings

As already noted, CyanogenMod looks exactly the same as stock Android. But it’s worth visiting the “Settings” item and you will find a huge number of “tweaks” to experiment with. Almost every detail is customizable. Here you can truly customize the gadget to suit you.

We wrote separately about how.

Impact on warranty

Perhaps the only disadvantage of installing this firmware is that you lose the warranty. On the other hand, even the manufacturers themselves (Samsung, Sony) state that installing CyanogenMod should not lead to loss of warranty. But you can’t prove this at the service center.

At the moment, the company is actively working on the development of CyanogenMod 12 and 12.1, which are built on the basis of the Android 5.0 and 5.1 image, respectively.

As new versions of mobile operating systems are released, developers are often of the opinion that new systems simply will not take root on an outdated smartphone, and limit themselves to releasing only one (maximum 2) updates for a phone that was two or three years old. This has to do with official operating system updates, but what about unofficial updates? Luckily, there are plenty of options to choose from. There is a wide abundance of unofficial Android OS firmware available on the market today, which, it is worth saying, work faster, more reliably and more efficiently than the official update (Paranoid Android, MIUI). In addition, usually in custom firmware there are many more functions and capabilities available that are not disclosed in the official version. One of the most stable unofficial firmware is the version CyanogenMod, supported by an international team of enthusiasts who consistently release new versions supporting the latest smartphone models. Today we will talk about how to install custom firmware on a smartphone.

Preparing for a firmware update

Before you start updating, make a backup of all important data stored on the flash memory of your smartphone. You can compress all existing information into an archive, or you can simply transfer it to a third-party drive (external USB drive or computer). You don’t have to worry about saving data on the SD card—the installation will only affect the phone’s internal memory.

The next important point is recharging. Before installing custom firmware on your smartphone, make sure that your device is charged at least 50%, or even more. If the battery runs out during the installation of CyanogenMod, this may result in a critical error that can turn your smartphone into a brick.

Another condition is that you should definitely take into account what firmware version you currently have on your phone. Almost any CyanogenMod build is installed exclusively on the official firmware of the phone, or on an earlier CyanogenMod, be it a Samsung, HTC, LG or any other model. To find out which version of CyanogenMod is available for your smartphone, and what basic firmware is needed to update to it, please visit the portal forum 4pda.ru. On this site, each phone model and the available unofficial firmware for it have a whole separate thread dedicated to it, which describes detailed instructions for updating and opinions of users on the operation of the system who have already installed the update on their device. In addition, after registration, you can ask questions that interest you, if after reading the header you still have unclear points.

In our material we will talk about installing CyanogenMod 13 (Android 6.0) on the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 (GT-I8160). This phone is far from the newest, and the update will literally give it new life, which will allow you to hold off on buying a new device, provided that you are quite happy with the performance of this particular device.

So, you have transferred important information (synchronized your contact list with your Google account or made a backup copy, transferred photos and electronic notes) to external storage and sufficiently charged the device. What to do now?

Basic firmware version

If installing CyanogenMod requires basic official firmware, you can install it in two ways:

1. Using the official application from the developer company (for Samsung products this is KIES, for LG this is LG PC Suite, etc.). Although this method is available by default, the update speed with it leaves much to be desired.

2. Using an unofficial application (for Samsung - this is the Odin program, for LG - KDZ Updater, for Lenovo - Smart Phone Flash Tool, etc.). This method is used by most technicians involved in the repair and restoration of mobile equipment. In our article we will use the Odin program, since it is the one that supports all Samsung brand devices.

How to install custom firmware via Odin - detailed instructions

Different Samsung smartphones will require different versions of Odin, depending on the year of manufacture of the device. For phones from 2012 and earlier, you will need version 1.83, which can be downloaded from this link. Complies with later models version 3.10, current at the time of writing.

1. Download the Odin program of the required version from the links provided. Extract the contents of the file from the archive.

3. Launch the Odin program.

4. Turn off the phone and connect it to the computer via a cord.

5. Switch the smartphone to Download Mode (home button + volume down key + power off button).

6. When the corresponding message appears on the smartphone screen, press the volume up button. Download mode is activated.

7. If all preparations for flashing were completed correctly, a yellow indicator will appear in Odin with the number of the port used to connect the device to the PC.

8. Now add the PIT, PDA and CSC files corresponding to your firmware version. You can find out which file corresponds to each category in the description of the official firmware of your mobile phone model in the corresponding forum thread on the website 4pda.ru (link in paragraph 2 of the instructions).

9. Press the “Start” button to start flashing.

10. After approximately 5-10 minutes, the operation will be completed. Its successful completion should be indicated by a green indicator with the inscription “PASS” in the leftmost panel at the top.

Updating to new firmware version

Now let's update to the new version of CyanogenMod. To learn in detail how to install custom firmware on a smartphone, you need to familiarize yourself with all the details of the 4pda.ru forum ( link as an example). As a rule, to update to a new version, 3 files are needed: this is the CyanogenMod firmware itself (in particular, the archive with it), the Open Gapps package, which allows you to install a minimum set of Google and Play Market services and programs, and a recovery file (cwm). All this can be found on the forum. Sometimes (in the case of installing Android 5.0/6.0) a kernel update is also required; it is installed from the recovery menu in the same exact way, so we will not dwell on this.

It should be noted that each version of the Android OS has its own Open Gapps package, so before downloading the archive, make sure that it is suitable for the version of Android you need.

1. Find these three files on the network and copy them into a single folder on the phone’s memory card.

10. Specify the path to the CyanogenMod firmware file and proceed to install it on the phone.

11. After a few minutes, when a message appears indicating that the file has been downloaded, indicate the path to the GApps archive and wait another minute.

13. Everything is ready, the new system is now loading.

If something goes wrong, having the basic official firmware in hand, you can return to the official firmware version at any time using the Odin program. For information on how to install basic firmware, see the “Basic Firmware Version” section in this article.

Results

We hope that the presented material will provide you with all the answers to the question: how to install custom firmware on a smartphone. Before performing any operations, read reviews about using a particular firmware version on the 4pda.ru forum (fortunately, other users leave their comments about whether they successfully installed this or that firmware on their device).

Screenshot sources: babbler.me / samsung.com

It is common practice in the world to compare Android and iOS. The main difference is the attitude towards the openness of the system for the user. If iOS does not even allow you to view individual folders on the device, then in Android the file system is accessible to the user. However, only at first glance it seems that Android developers allow you to do whatever you want with their OS: many important and necessary functions remain unavailable. Therefore, CyanogenMod firmware has become popular among advanced users. For information on how to install, update and, if necessary, remove the firmware, read our article.

What is CyanogenMod?

СyanogenMod is an alternative Android firmware that expands the functionality of the operating system. The firmware has gained popularity: as of 2016, CyanogenMod is installed on 14 million devices.

It all started when a simple programmer, Steven Kondik, posted his development for the HTC Dream smartphone on xda-developers.com, the largest site with custom firmware for Android. He didn’t think long about the name and took his nickname - Cyanogen, adding Mod to it. Steven Kondik did not imagine that anyone would be interested in his development, but already in the first days users responded positively to the firmware. Then the programmer, in a creative impulse, began intensively refining CyanogenMod, posting several updates per day on xda-developers.com.

Then Steven Kondik released CyanogenMod on Github, a collaborative development service. Then other programmers joined in improving the project, bringing their ideas and developments. Over time, it became clear that CyanogenMod had turned from an amateur firmware into an exceptional project. CyanogenMod's capabilities made the mobile device more functional than any other firmware.

Advantages

Why do users love CyanogenMod so much?

1. High performance. CyanogenMod, thanks to its optimization, significantly improves the performance of the device. Both the menu and heavy games work on this firmware much faster and smoother than on the standard one. As an example, consider the Nexus 4, which on standard firmware produces 15–16 thousand Antutu Benchmark points. After installation, Cyanogen makes 21 thousand points. In addition, Cyanogen allows advanced users to change the processor operation scheme and control its frequency at their discretion. There are five modes: Interactive - standard frequency distribution, increases when the screen is turned on; Ondemand - less productive, more energy efficient; Userspace - allows you to configure everything yourself; Powersave - minimum processor frequency, maximum energy saving; Performance - maximum processor frequency, best performance, but high power consumption.
2. The only way to install a new version of Android for older devices. Few manufacturers support their devices even for 4-5 years, releasing Android firmware 5 and 6, so CyanogenMod is the only way to install Android Lollipop and Marshmallow on such devices. Cyanogen also allows you to get rid of the manufacturer’s pre-installed firmware, for example, Samsung’s TouchWiz.
3. Customizable appearance. CyanogenMod makes it possible to change the design of every detail of the interface to your liking. PlayMarket has thousands of custom theme options. The firmware also supports the original Android theme (Android Holo up to version 12 and Google Material Design in versions 12 and 13), unlike the official firmware of device manufacturers.
4. System openness. Standard Android firmware has various restrictions for users. CyanogenMod eliminates these restrictions, thanks to which it has a Free Lossless Audio Codec, a compressed cache, a large list of APNs, an OpenVPN client and a reboot menu. However, this advantage is only for knowledgeable and skilled people, because the device can be accidentally broken.

Firmware versions

The latest version of CyanogenMod is the thirteenth version, based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Each new version of CyanogenMod is developed to update Android. In addition, the developers support and constantly update all versions simultaneously, releasing new builds of the project. There are six types of CyanogenMod builds:

1. Experimental - experimental firmware versions for testing new ideas. These versions are extremely unstable, have an abundance of bugs and are needed only by developers for testing.
2. Nightly - daily updates, the result of a day's work by programmers. Like Experimental, they exist only for developers, so that enthusiasts can follow the development of the project and help it with new ideas and suggestions.
3. Millie stone is a raw version that collects all the innovations to test their interaction.
4. Snapshot is an already developed assembly suitable for use. Usually, not all bugs have been caught and not all errors have been fixed.
5. Release Candidaty (RC) is an almost ready version of the firmware. The developers check for errors, performance and stability one last time.
6. Stable is the final, stable version of CyanogenMod.

If you are a simple user who wants to install CyanogenMod, then you should choose a stable firmware version. This guarantees no errors and functionality. But for the sake of useful features that are not yet in the stable version, you can try the developer versions. But such firmware is almost impossible to use - there are too many errors.

How to install: step-by-step instructions

Please note: installing CyanogenMod will void your warranty! This applies not only to Cyanogen, but also to any other custom firmware. There are certain ways to hide traces of third-party firmware, but the methods are unreliable and do not always work. So unless you're willing to forfeit your warranty, don't take the risk.

The installation of CyanogenMod is non-standard and complicated for untrained users: it involves more than 10 steps. Updating the system isn't the most intuitive either. Of course, there is an easy way to install the firmware, but this is far from the best option. The latest version of CyanogenMod is automatically downloaded, which is not always stable, which may result in errors. But since not everyone will want to spend time on a more complex method, we will look at this option.

Easy installation

1. First, check if your device is supported. To do this, follow the link: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/CyanogenMod_Installer#Supported_Devices and view the list of supported devices.
2. In your smartphone settings, enable USB debugging (Accessibility -> For Developers -> USB Debugging).
3. Download the CyanogenModInstaller app on your smartphone from Google Play.
4. Download a special program for Windows (Vista/7/8) to your computer: http://beta.download.cyanogenmod.org/install.
5. Turn on the application on your smartphone and follow the instructions in the program.
6. Connect your device to your computer via USB.
7. Turn on the program on your computer.
8. The program itself will start downloading the files necessary for the firmware. When everything is downloaded, you will see the message “Everything is ready”.
9. Click on the “Install” button.
10. When the firmware installation is complete, the program will notify you with the message “Installation complete”.
11. Ready.

The hard way

1. First you need to get Root rights (remove restrictions imposed by Android developers). Let's do this using the Framaroot program. Download Framaroot 1.9.1 from the Internet, install it and run it. If your antivirus issues a warning, click Allow.
2. Now you need to unlock the Android bootloader. The best way to do this is the BootUnlocker program. You can download the application directly from Google Play. Launch the program and click the “Unlock” button. The bootloader will be unlocked.
3. You need to install Custom Recovery. Let's look at its installation using TWRP (Team Win Recovery Project) as an example.
   
4. Let's start installing CyanogenMod.
   
5. As soon as the installation is completed, reboot the system. If everything went well, an empty desktop will open. If not, the phone will not boot. In this case, you need to enter Recovery mode again, install the new firmware, but only enable full Wipe.
6. The last thing left is to install Google Play. To do this, download the Gapps package (http://opengapps.org), move them to the root folder and install them in the same way as the firmware itself, via Recovery.
7. Ready!

Video: how to install CyanogenMod firmware?

Is it possible to install CyanogenMod on an unsupported device?

The answer is clear: no. CyanogenMod Installer will simply write that your device is not supported. If you install it manually, there may be a lot of problems, even to the point where the phone or tablet stops working. If the device could run firmware, the developers would have added it to their list anyway.

How to update firmware

There are also two ways to update CyaongenMod.

Easy way

This method works for Cyanogen versions 10.0 and higher. Everything is extremely simple: open the settings, go to “About phone”, then “CyanogenMod update”. The device will automatically download the latest update and install it. During the process, the smartphone will reboot several times. All data will be saved.

Manual option

Please note: you should not update your device to more than one version of CyanogenMod at a time (for example, from CM version 10.0 to version 10.2). Unpredictable errors and incorrect firmware operation may appear. It is also not recommended to roll back the device to earlier versions of CM (for example, from 10.2 to 10.1). Sometimes it leads to an error with the smartphone endlessly rebooting. For any downgrade, you must first do a Wipe Data/Factory Reset.

It's almost always better to use the easy update method as you're less likely to do something wrong. However, if you have Cyanogen version below the tenth version, and also if you use third-party add-ons (add-ons), you will have to use a complex method, since the standard update does not allow you to immediately install add-ons to the firmware.

1. To get started, download the latest stable version (or whatever version you need) of CyanogenMod and the latest version of the Gapps package.
2. Turn on Recovery mode.
3. Install the firmware first, then the zip archive with Gapps, and then third-party addons. There is no need to Wape, so all data is retained during the update.
4. Ready.

When updating again, there is no need to reinstall Gapps, since the data is saved, but addons will have to be installed manually.

In addition, only with the complex option can you choose which update to install (which cannot be done with the simple installation method).

How to remove if necessary

If you decide to return everything as it was, you need to reinstall the firmware again, but this time replace CyanogenMod with the stock firmware from the manufacturer of your device. You can download such firmware from the manufacturer’s official website.

1. When you download the firmware, save the archive in the root directory of the device
2. Enable Recovery mode (press and hold the power button and volume up button while starting the device).
3. Check all the Wipe boxes. Please note that all data will be deleted.
4. Then install the downloaded archive with the official firmware.
5. Wait for the installation to complete.
6. Reboot your device.
7. Ready.

Sometimes returning to the device's native firmware erases all traces of the presence of CyanogenMod, in which case the warranty will not be nullified. However, you should not count on this, as it depends on luck and the carelessness of the support staff. The rules for providing warranty service prohibit changing the manufacturer's firmware.

CyanogenMod is an interesting firmware that has grown from an amateur craft to a serious and ambitious project, which has no analogue in the world. CM allows you to do things with the device that no official firmware allows. But only advanced and knowledgeable users should install it, since open systems are unsafe. In addition, the phone may malfunction and warranty service will not be available. However, if you lack the standard functions of a smartphone or tablet on stock Android firmware, if you are ready to learn and develop, and are ready to spend time and effort to overcome errors that arise, then you definitely need to flash your device with CyanogenMod. According to some users, CyanogenMod is the highest point in the development of mobile devices.

Hi all. Today is my last day of vacation, and I need to celebrate it somehow. The last one, after all. But I, cherishing my dream, solved the problem ingeniously - I connect to Trashbox! To please you with another article. And this time CyanogenMod. I ask all mortals to cut it!
The CyanogenMod company is known to every second geek, if not to every first one. And there is nothing to be surprised about here, because the CyanogenMod custom has many fans, and many useful features, which are mixed together with good optimization, smooth operation and high operating time. Yes, something yummy! Not about that now, but about custom.

CyanogenMod is a custom firmware previously released by Cyanogen Team, and a little later renamed to Cyanogen Inc. CyanogenMod has a number of features that distinguish it from firmware released by other firmware manufacturers. Among them: Android Holo, FLAC, a large list of APNs, compressed cache and more. As stated by Cyanogen Inc, custom firmware CyanogenMod was installed on more than 12 million devices as of June 2014. This once again proves that the firmware is extremely popular

It’s also worth noting about CyanogenMod that the company produces several versions:
1. Stable- the most final and stable firmware versions
2. Release Candidate- pre-release firmware version. Differences from Stable are not noticeable
3. Snapshot- “average firmware quality,” many say. But from my personal experience I can safely say that I haven’t noticed any errors after several months of use!
4. Milliestone- a firmware version that I do not recommend installing at all!
5. Nightly- “nighties.” Firmware version that is updated every day, updates arrive either in the morning or late at night
6. Experiments- as the name suggests, installation is not recommended

Story

Custom CyanogenMod originated, as a rule, in the depths of XDA Developers, that is, on the forum for developers. The first version of CyanogenMod was released on Android 2.2 Froyo. At that time, Google's brainchild was glitchy and drained battery power very quickly. And for this reason this firmware was created. Thanks to her, Android was free of lags, errors, glitches and all sorts of uselessness, which made the device almost impossible to work. Well, maybe I'm exaggerating to some extent, but still, the first version of Android was familiar to you. And after each new version of Android, the magnificent and incomparable CyanogenMod was released. Applause to the developers!

Steve Kondik

Android and CyanogenMod version

As I already mentioned, after each new version of Android, a new version of CyanogenMod was released.

CyanogenMod 6 - Android 2.2. This is the first CyanogenMod! It was released as a beta by Steve Kondik in 2010 on July 11th. And after a short time, the world saw the stable version. CyanogenMod 6 was available at that time on Nexus One, HTC Dream, Motorola Droid, Slide and several others.

CyanogenMod 7 - Android 2.3. The first beta version of the seventh cyan was released in 2011, on February 15. Thanks to her, CyanogenMod gained great popularity and strengthened its position. The latest version of CyanogenMod 7 is CyanogenMod 7.2, which is Android version 2.3.7

CyanogenMod 8 - ***. Google did not decide to publish the source code of Android 3.0, and accordingly people were left without CyanogenMod.
CyanogenMod 9 - Android 4.0. The Cyanogen team began working on their new firmware version immediately after publishing the Android 4.0.1 source code. The first beta version was released on June 26, 2012.

CyanogenMod 10 - Android 4.1. There is not much to say about this version; the stable version was released on November 13, 2012.

CyanogenMod 10.1-10.2 - Android 4.2.2-4.3. These versions of custom firmware were released immediately after the publication of the source code. Initially, it was planned that CyanogenMod, based on Android 4.2.2-4.3, would be called CyanogenMod 11. But Google did not make significant changes to this firmware version.

CyanogenMod 11 - Android 4.4. The development of CyanogenMod 11 was anticipated by many, everyone wanted to try KitKat. And immediately after Google published the source code, Cyanogen Inc got to work and released an equally attractive version of CyanogenMod.

CyanogenMod 12 - Android 5.0. Expected!

Installation

The first method of installing CyanogenMod (via custom recovery)

1. Download to the memory card: zip files - CyanogenMod and GApps
2. Go to Recovery
3. Make Format Data, Format System, Format Cache (Mounts and Storage)
4. Make Wipe Data/Factory, Wipe Cache, Wipe Davlik
5. Install CyanogenMod first using Install zip from sd card (or internal sdcard)
6. Install Gapps using Install zip from sd card (or internal sdcard)
7. After installation, reboot Recovery (Advanced power options - Reboot recovery)
8. Make Wipe Data/Factory, Wipe Cache, Wipe Davlik
9. Reboot System Now

Second installation method (via CM Installer)

So, the CyanogenMod team offers us a simple and convenient way to install their development on your device. To do this, follow our step-by-step instructions.

1. Enable USB debugging in your smartphone settings. Enable-USB-Debugging
2. Download from Google Play and install the special application CyanogenMod Installer (Android).
3. Download and install the application for Windows (Vista/7/8) - CyanogenMod Installer (Windows).
4. Launch the installed application on Android and follow the step-by-step instructions.
5. Connect your device to your computer using a USB cable.
6. Launch the application on your computer. It should detect the connected device.
7. The process of downloading the firmware itself and all the files necessary for its installation will begin. This will take a few minutes. Once the download is complete, you will see the Everything is ready message.
8. Click on the Install button and calmly wait for the installation to complete. During installation, your device will reboot. Do not interrupt the process or disconnect the device from the computer under any circumstances. Otherwise you will get a "brick" or something else that will not make you happy
9. After the installation is complete, you will be notified by the appearance of the Installation Complete message on your computer.
10. That's all. We are happy with the new firmware.

Few people recommended this installation method to me; there were even those who asked me not to install via CM Installer. Without listening to them, I used the program and regretted it. The firmware was installed very crookedly, there were not many programs, it was also impossible to install them, the internal memory was not displayed - in general, I do not recommend it to anyone!

Fighting custom

Various device manufacturers have their own problems with installing CyanogenMod. For example, Samsung uses a custom counter that is easy to reset. But that's not so bad; in the latest versions of Android, Samsung has added KNOX (damn it). However, this is not a reason not to install CyanogenMod. Because of these problems, you lose your warranty, and nothing else bad happens.

The article is finished! Beaver everyone!