CyanogenMod, the independent developer who has created Android builds for a multitude of devices including the OnePlus One, has announced on their blog that they have started rolling out CM13, their Android Marshmallow based image. The updates are a part of what they call nightlies which means that every night they will be releasing an update to the build for developers and those with a sense of adventure to try. Currently the nightlies are being released for the OnePlus One, Nexus 7, LG G4, LG GPad 7.0, LG G3 (Verizon), Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 and the Moto X 2014.
In the post, CyanogenMod indicates that the plan is to release a formal build (what they call a Snapshot) in January so if you do not want to unlock your device & bootloader, flash the device yourself nightly and deal with backups, you can simply wait until January and you will get an OTA update from CM12.1 to CM13. Doing the nightlies is really aimed for those who can and are willing to beta test as this is very much a beta build. If you are not up to the task, don’t install it. There will be bugs and it will impact your daily use of your device in some cases.
What is CyanogenMod?
For those who are not familiar with it, CyanogenMod is a modified Android build based on AOSP (Android Open Source Project) that is aimed to give you the benefits of a pure Android
OnePlus One Running CyanogenMod
experience with some user enabled enhancements. The developers behind the company have released their Android build for a wide range of devices and OnePlus used CyanogenMod on their OnePlus One. The idea is to give you a richer Android experience over some OEMs who add a lot of bloatware to their devices and change the experience up to the point where Android is almost unrecognizable (Samsung, I’m looking at you).
CyanogenMod is not available for every device so if you are interested in making the leap and flashing it to your device, make sure yours is listed. Each build is specific to a device. In order to load it over your existing Android build, your device and its bootloader will have to be unlocked. Again, if you are not familiar with this process, it’s advised you not do it or you read posts and watch YouTube for the umpteen videos on how to do it.
