The first Android 12 custom ROMs are already here

With Android 12‘s AOSP source drop yesterday, many were left wondering (particularly those with Pixel devices) when they would get to use a fully complete version of the latest and greatest Android experience. We’ve already seen a number of beta builds from OEMs like OPPO, OnePlus, and Samsung for select devices, but there are no stable releases yet and there likely won’t be for a while. Having said that, the public availability of the Android 12 source code means that custom ROMs are now due to come at any time, and indeed, they have already started appearing on our forums.

An Android 12-based custom ROM is now available for the Redmi K20 Pro/Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro, courtesy of XDA Senior Member abhishek987. The big news here is that the vanilla AOSP ROM seems to be pretty much stable for the most part, although with one big caveat that being the SELinux status is set to permissive in the initial build. The developer has adopted Danny Lin’s (AKA XDA Senior Member kdrag0n) open-source dynamic theming solution, as Google has yet to fully open source its “Monet” theming system.

Since this device has multiple regional variants, it is recommended to flash the latest region-specific stable channel MIUI firmware before installing the Android 12-based AOSP ROM. However, do keep in mind that a permissive SELinux environment is not at all meant for being a daily driver. Unless you don’t have any problem with running a less secure software, you’re better off not installing it as your primary device.