Cyanogen, a popular modified version of the Android operating system, is shutting down on December 31st after the company behind it has come through a tough year which included massive staff layoffs.
The code for the OS will remain open source, which means it will still be publicly available online for people to download and work on, but the packaged version which the vast majority of users would know is being discontinued.
In a statement, the company’s management said “As part of the ongoing consolidation of Cyanogen, all services and Cyanogen-supported nightly builds will be discontinued no later than December 31, 2016. The open source project and source code will remain available for anyone who wants to build CyanogenMod personally.”
The Cyanogen homescreen
Cyanogen had hoped that it would offer a better version of Android, which is owned by Google but is also open source and free to other companies to change and modify.
The lead team of developers in Cyanogen and the community around them are hoping to start a new operating system, called LineageOS, that will have the same core as Cyanogen and will continue to appeal to those who want a different, less-Googley version of Android on their phone.
Cyanogen has had a tough 2016, with their CEO stepping down, or being forced out, in October. They also ended their relationship with phone manufacturer OnePlus, who they had agreed would chose Cyanogen as their flagship phone’s operating system.