After months of waiting and public frustration over Google’s delayed source code release, the GrapheneOS team finally has the green light to move forward with Pixel 10 support.

Google has now released the Android 16 QPR1 source code to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), a move that custom ROM developers like GrapheneOS and LineageOS have been eagerly anticipating since September. This release follows a nearly two-month delay, which is an unusually long wait given that Google typically publishes AOSP source code within days of a new Android version rollout.

A critical step for Pixel 10 support

Shortly after the source code went live, the GrapheneOS team posted on X:

“This should have happened on 2025-09-03. We migrated to full Android 16 QPR1 kernel code (GPLv2 tarball) and firmware in September. We couldn’t migrate userspace to QPR1 without it being pushed to AOSP.”

When asked if this finally means Pixel 10 support is on the way, the team confirmed:

“Yes. [But] we still need to port to Android 16 QPR1 which is going to be a lot of work. We also still need to get done a bunch of work on our adevtool device support infrastructure before adding the Pixel 10 devices… There should no longer be any major blockers for adding Pixel 10 support once we get through all of the other work.”

This aligns with the progress report shared by GrapheneOS in late October, where the team said they had made “significant progress” on preparing for Pixel 10 support, even before the AOSP source code was available. The release now removes the final technical barrier that had been holding them back.

Months of friction with Google

This milestone follows a tense few months between GrapheneOS developers and Google.

In early September, GrapheneOS publicly criticized Google for delaying Android security patch source code, arguing that such delays undermine the open-source model Android was built upon. The project has historically relied on timely AOSP code drops to integrate updates and maintain its hardened security posture.

By mid-October, the team revealed plans to end its Pixel exclusivity and explore partnerships with other OEMs, citing growing uncertainty about Google’s software release cadence and developer support. However, just days later, the project emphasized that GrapheneOS still makes Pixel devices more secure than stock Android, highlighting the platform’s robust privacy enhancements and independent verification processes.

Material 3 Expressive design coming to GrapheneOS

Now that the Android 16 QPR1 code is out, the GrapheneOS team says their next focus will be porting their codebase to the new release and updating their internal device tooling. This will take time, but once complete, Pixel 10 owners should finally gain access to the privacy-focused OS along with the refreshed Material 3 Expressive UI and Desktop Mode features that arrived with Android 16 QPR1.

When asked whether these UI updates will reach existing GrapheneOS builds, the developers confirmed:

“Yes, after we’ve ported to it.”

That means users across supported Pixel models can expect the new Android 16 QPR1 features in future GrapheneOS releases.