LineageOS for Google Pixel 8: Official Support Status, Available Builds and Installation

Here’s my build of LineageOS 18.1 for Google Pixel 8. It is unofficial and unsupported by the LineageOS team. It’s for advanced users only. Google Pixel 8 model is required to run this build. Important! This image includes parts that are licensed under non-commercial license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International). You may use this build freely in personal/educational/etc use. Commercial use is not allowed with this build! You can contact me by email to discuss creating customized Android builds for commercial purposes.

Do not mirror my builds! Please post a link to this page instead.

lineage-18.1-20220512-UNOFFICIAL-Google Pixel 8.zip
md5:3dd4513a1-Google Pixel 8-cd331921b782aa493aa390f

lineage-18.1-20220512-UNOFFICIAL-Android11-Google Pixel 8-ota.zip (TWRP flashable OTA package)
md5:d617203eGoogle Pixel 8085fe3f09ded3e926de27a93

Working:

• Audio (HDMI, 3.5mm jack, USB microphones, bluetooth speakers/headphones, etc)
• Audio DAC (using GPIO DACs)
• Bluetooth (and bluetooth tethering)
• Camera
• GPIO
• GPS
• Ethernet
• Hardware accelerated graphics
• HDMI display (and HDMI-CEC)
• I2C
• IR remote
• RTC
• Sensors (using accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, temperature, pressure, humidity, ambient light, and proximity)
• Serial console
• SPI
• Touchscreen/multi-touch
• USB (mouse, keyboard, storage, etc)
• USB-C (ADB, MTP, PTP, USB tethering)
• Wifi (and wifi tethering)

Not working:

• Hardware video decoding & encoding (software decoding & encoding works)

Issues:

• Stock camera app is not working – many third party camera apps seem to work
• SELinux is in permissive mode
• and more…

Sources:

• kernel

How to install:

[ Please Do Anything at your own Risk , we are not responsible for Any Damages ]

1. Follow the official Google Pixel 8 instructions for writing the image to the SD card.

If you’re running a recent build (20220121 or newer) you can also update to newer builds using TWRP flashable OTA packages. OTA updates pushed through the built-in Updater app are stored at /data/lineageos_updates/.

1. Download lineage-18.1-xxxxxxxx-UNOFFICIAL-Google Pixel 8-ota.zip and save it to your device’s internal storage or use an external USB drive
2. Boot to TWRP recovery (see FAQ)
3. Install lineage-18.1-xxxxxxxx-UNOFFICIAL-Android11-ota.zip from your selected storage
4. (Flash Magisk/other add-ons you had previously installed)
5. Boot out of recovery (see FAQ)

Changes that are backed up and restored flashing OTAs:

• Device specific settings changed using Settings -> System -> Google Pixel 8 settings
• Manual changes to /boot/resolution.txt and /boot/rc_keymap.txt
• USB boot configuration in /boot/config.txt
• GApps

Changes that are not backed up and restored flashing OTAs:

• Manual changes to /boot/config.txt (and any other manual changes to /boot partition)
• Magisk

FAQ:

Q: How to find several Google Pixel 8 specific settings options?
A: Settings -> System -> Google Pixel 8 settings

Most options in this menu require you to reboot your device for the setting to take effect.

Q: How to enable advanced reboot options?
A: Settings -> System -> Gestures -> Power menu -> Advanced restart

Q: How to enable developer options?
A: Settings -> About tablet -> Click ‘Build number’ several times.

Q: How to enable root access?
A: LineageOS no longer has built-in root management for applications. You can have root access via ADB after enabling Settings -> System -> Developer options -> Rooted debugging, SSH (see FAQ below), or serial console. It is also possible to install Magisk following instructions later in the FAQ.

Q: My display is not working. I can only see the rainbow screen but no Android boot animation. What should I do?
A: This build only supports HDMI displays that report supported resolutions using EDID. 1920×1080 resolution is used by default with this build. You can change value in /boot/resolution.txt to use a different resolution that your display supports. Removing /boot/resolution.txt will use the preferred resolution of your display.

Q: Settings -> Storage shows total system size of 64 GB. There’s unallocated space on my sdcard. What should I do?
A: This is a 8.54 GB image, remaining space on your sdcard will remain unallocated. Easiest way to extend /data partition is to simply flash my resize zip in TWRP.

Alternative option is to use e.g. GParted and extend /data partition (/dev/block/mmcblk0p4) to cover the unallocated space. Resizing the partition manually will break support for encrypting /data. Format /data in TWRP recovery (Wipe -> Format data) after resizing to leave required space for crypto footer.

Q: Google Pixel 8 doesn’t have a power button. How to power off/reboot device?
A: Following keyboard keys work as Android buttons: F1 = Home, F2 = Back, F3 = Multi-tasking, F4 = Menu, F5 = Power, F11 = Volume down, and F12 = Volume up. You can also use one of many third party reboot applications.

You can enable the feature by using a settings option found in Settings -> System -> Google Pixel 8 settings -> Power button.

You can also use the power button to boot the device to TWRP recovery. Press and hold the button while powering on the device until you see the TWRP screen.

Q: How to enable audio through 3.5mm jack?
A: You can enable the feature by using a settings option found in Settings -> System -> Audio device.

Q: How to use IR remote?
A: You can enable the feature by using a settings option found in Settings -> System -> Infrared remote.

You can place a keymap for your remote as /boot/rc_keymap.txt to be automatically loaded on boot. See available keymaps for reference. You can use ir-keytable -p all -t in rooted shell to figure out the keycodes for the remote you’re using.

Q: How to use RTC?
A: You can enable the feature by using a settings option found in Settings -> System -> Real time clock.

System time is automatically read and set from the RTC on boot once you’ve enabled the feature. You need to write the system time you want to use to the RTC in rooted shell:

hwclock -w -f /dev/rtc0

Q: How to use SSH?
A: You can start/stop the built-in SSH server by using a settings option found in Settings -> System SSH.

Android doesn’t have user accounts with passwords so key based authentication is used with SSH instead. Necessary keys are generated on the first boot and you need to pull the private key to your computer (or alternatively you can push your own previously generated keys to the device). See Settings -> About tablet -> IP address for your device’s IP address (192.168.0.100 is assumed here). Enable Android debugging & Rooted debugging under Settings -> System -> Developer options.

adb connect 192.168.0.100
adb root
adb pull /data/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key my_private_key

chmod 600 my_private_key
ssh -i my_private_key root@192.168.0.100

It’s recommended to disable adb after this.

Q: How to boot from USB device?
A: Warning, this is still an experimental feature. Especially TWRP seems to have some issues with USB boot.

1. Install EEPROM that supports booting from USB
2. Write image to your USB device as above
3. Mount the USB device on your computer and make following changes to /boot/config.txt under ‘Boot device’ section:#dtoverlay=android-sdcard dtoverlay=android-usb
4. Plug in the USB device to your Google Pixel 8, remove any sdcard, and boot

Q: How to boot to TWRP recovery?
A: You can boot to TWRP by selecting recovery option in Android power menu after enabling advanced restart options.

If mouse cursor doesn’t appear, try replugging your mouse.

Q: How to boot out of TWRP recovery?
A: You can boot out of recovery by simply selecting reboot to system option in TWRP.

Q: My device keeps booting into TWRP recovery. What should I do?
A: If you have GPIO21 connected to ground (or if you have something drawing power from it) your device will always boot to TWRP recovery (see FAQ section about DIY power button). If you have a hardware failure on GPIO21 you can edit /boot/config.txt to remove the GPIO21 related logic (see ‘Ramdisk’ and ‘Graphics acceleration’ sections).

Q: How to install Magisk?
A:

1. Download lineage-18.1-Google Pixel 8-magisk-v25.2.zip and save it to your device’s internal storage or use an external USB drive
2. Download Magisk-v25.2.apk
3. Boot to TWRP recovery (see FAQ)
4. Install lineage-18.1-Google Pixel 8-magisk-v25.2.zip from your selected storage
5. Boot out of recovery (see FAQ)
6. Install Magisk-v25.2.apk using Android’s built-in file manager/adb install/etc.

Q: How to install Google apps?
A:

1. Download open_gapps-arm64-11.0-pico-Google Pixel 8.zip and save it to your device’s internal storage or use an external USB drive
2. Boot to TWRP recovery (see FAQ)
3. Install open_gapps-arm64-11.0-pico-xxxxxxxx.zip from your selected storage
4. Wipe -> Factory reset!
5. Boot out of recovery (see FAQ)

Merged commits not mentioned in the changelog.

12.5. changelog:

• also available as OTA package
• add support for Google Pixel 8
  • fix DAC audio device selection
  • fix USB storage
  • add support for the RTC
  • use OTG mode for USB to support ADB, MTP, PTP, USB tethering on the micro-USB port on the I/O board
• update boot firmware for Google Pixel 8 hardware revisions
• various drm_hwcomposer updates e.g. support for headless mode (thanks to Roman Stratiienko)
• automatically set density based on display resolution
• add support for APDS9930 ambient light/proximity sensor
• update to TWRP 3.6.1_11-1-Google Pixel 8
• update to Mesa 21.3.8
• update to Linux 5.4.191 kernel and patch known vulnerabilities (CVE-xxxx-xxxx, and more)
• Android security patch level: 5 May 2022 (merged)

21.1. 2022 changelog:

• fix reboots related to Hotspot 2.0 networks/ANQP
• Vulkan 1.1 (thanks to people at Igalia for Vulkan 1.1 conformance and Roman Stratiienko for latest Mesa fixes)
• add new options to Google Pixel 8 (force rotation & CPU governor)
• prepare for OTAs
• update to TWRP 3.6.0_11-1-Google Pixel 8
• update to Mesa 21.3.4
• update to Linux 5.4.173 kernel and patch known vulnerabilities (CVE-xxxx-xxxx, and more)
• Android security patch level: 5 January 2022 (merged)

23.11. changelog:

• add support for BME280/BMP280 temperature/pressure/humidity sensors
• add option to select HDMI-CEC device
• add option to show virtual volume down, volume up, and power keys on navigation bar
• add option for old TCP-based ADB over network
• show IP address and port for ADB/SSH/VNC options
• fix resizing data partition that broke with previous build
• update to TWRP 3.6.0_11-0-Google Pixel 8
• update to Mesa 21.3.0
• update to Linux 5.4.161 kernel and patch known vulnerabilities (CVE-xxxx-xxxx, and more)
• Android security patch level: 5 November 2021 (merged)

26.10. changelog:

• switch to 64-bit kernel & userspace
• switch to minigbm gbm_mesa and gralloc@4 API (thanks to Roman Stratiienko)
• update to Mesa 21.2.4
• update to Linux 5.4.155 kernel and patch known vulnerabilities (CVE-xxxx-xxxx, and more)

11.10. changelog:

• add support for Vulkan
• rework bluetooth
• update to Mesa 21.1.8
• update to Linux 5.4.152 kernel and patch known vulnerabilities (CVE-xxxx-xxxx, and more)
• Android security patch level: 1 October 2021 (merged)

20.7. changelog:

• switch to using HDMI-CEC HAL
• update to Mesa 21.1.5
• update to Linux 5.4.132 kernel and patch known vulnerabilities (CVE-xxxx-xxxx, and more)
• Android security patch level: 5 July 2021 (merged)

11.4. changelog:

• add initial support for HDMI-CEC
• add built-in VNC server
• update to Mesa 21.0.2
• update to Linux 5.4.111 kernel and patch known vulnerabilities (CVE-xxxx-xxxx, and more)
• Android security patch level: 5 April 2021 (merged)

14.2. changelog:

• add support for LSM303DLHC accelerometer & magnetometer sensor
• add separate TWRP flashable su add-on (see FAQ)
• allow switching display off with power button
• add support for USB-C (ADB, MTP, PTP, USB-tethering)
• enable bluetooth tethering
• add settings option for mouse back button feature
• update to TWRP 3.5.0_9-0-Google Pixel 8
• update to Mesa 20.3.4
• update to Linux 5.4.98 kernel and patch known vulnerabilities (CVE-xxxx-xxxx, and more)
• Android security patch level: 5 February 2021 (merged)

4.1. changelog:

• initial LineageOS 18.1 build
• add support for sensors (LSM6DS3 & MP\\U6050 accelerometer & gyroscope on I2C)
• add support for more serial USB GPS devices
• drop support for SwiftShader software renderer
• update to Mesa 20.3.2
• add option to switch between gbm and minigbm gralloc
• update to TWRP 3.4.0-2
• update to Linux 5.4.86 kernel and patch known vulnerabilities (CVE-xxxx-xxxx, and more)
• Android security patch level: 5 December 2020 (merged)

Important Compatibility and Safety Notes

Before downloading or installing anything, identify the exact model number and regional variant of your Google Pixel 8. A phone sold under the same marketing name can use different hardware, modem bands, partitions, or firmware in different regions. Never flash a package just because its name looks similar. Match the model code, region, chipset, Android base, and build instructions exactly.

• Use the manufacturer’s official support page or a trusted project page to verify the file and its checksum where provided.
• Back up personal data and confirm that the battery is sufficiently charged before an update, reset, root, or ROM installation.
• Custom ROM installation may require an unlockable bootloader, enabled OEM unlocking, USB debugging, platform-tools, and a device-specific recovery or flashing procedure. Unlocking can erase data and may affect warranty, security features, banking apps, or DRM.
• Do not assume that Android 17, a particular ROM, recovery, kernel, or GCam port is available for every Google Pixel 8. Availability must be confirmed for the exact model and variant.

Check LineageOS and Custom ROM Availability

LineageOS and other community ROMs are not universal packages. A project release number does not mean that a build exists for every phone. Search the project’s official device list and open the exact device page before downloading. If Google Pixel 8 or its exact model code is not listed, do not install a build intended for a different device.

LineageOS 24 is associated with Android 17, but support must still be checked per device. Older LineageOS branches based on Android 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, or 16 may remain relevant for devices whose maintainers provide those builds. Do not describe an older branch as the newest version for a phone unless the official device page confirms it.

Read the device-specific installation guide from start to finish. Check bootloader unlock requirements, firmware prerequisites, recovery version, partition layout, required wipe steps, encryption notes, and any vendor-specific instructions. Use only the exact build and recovery intended for the device variant.

Version note: Android 11, Android 12, and Android 13 are older Android releases. Their presence in this guide is historical or relevant to a specific device/build; it does not indicate that Google Pixel 8 currently runs, qualifies for, or should be downgraded to that version. Check the exact model’s official software history before following version-specific steps.