Configure new LineageOS 20 for MicroG

This is my checklist for basic setup of a new Android phone, running LineageOS 20 for MicroG (Android 13 – Tiramisu).  Depending on how you like your phone configured you may wish to create your own list.

This checklist starts when an Android phone first boots after having its data partition wiped – this is usually after:

• The phone has had a factory reset from within LineageOS.
• The phone has just been upgraded to LineageOS 20 for MicroG.
• The data partition has been wiped in the recovery environment (LineageOS, TWRP etc).

About this setup process

I flash phones with LineageOS for MicroG because it’s the most acceptable custom ROM I could find with a good balance between privacy, usability (MicroG gives us most Google functionality, without the Google proprietary code) and support for a good range of devices.  There are more secure custom ROMs like GrapheneOS or DivestOS but these don’t support anywhere near as many phones as LineageOS.

Given that privacy is a major reason for re-flashing phones with LineageOS, I won’t be enabling most of the online services that many people prefer.  You’re obviously free to enable any of these services.

LineageOS Setup Wizard

These are the actions I take for the LineageOS Setup Wizard, numbered by page:

1. On the Welcome to LineageOS page, press Start
2. Select Language – English  (Australia) for New Zealand or Australia
3. Internet – I enable Wireless or mobile data, depending on what’s available
4. Date & Time – confirm your time zone is correct.  If you’re connected to the Internet then the correct date and time should appear.
5. Location services – I disable this in any OEM Android system but in LineageOS for MicroG, I keep everything enabled and then turn off the service later, when it’s properly configured.  So keep everything ticked.
6. LineageOS features.  I like to support the developer but I like privacy more, so I untick this option.
7. Protect your phone.  I skip this and setup security later.
8. Fingerprint setup.  I don’t share my fingerprints unless under duress, so I skip this.
9. Restore apps and data.  I don’t backup phone data to any online service, so I skip this.
10. Navigation.  Swiping is all the rage with Android 13, but I like buttons so I select 3-button navigation.
11. Click Start to end the Wizard.  That’s intuitive!

Customise Desktop

Unlike most OEM Androids that come bundled with unwanted apps, LineageOS boots into a relatively clean and uncluttered desktop.  So my setup of the home screen is pretty straightforward:

1. Press and hold the date and time widget, and slide it to the top of the home screen.
2. Remove the blue browser shortcut from the Android dock.  Add the camera shortcut to the bottom right of the dock.
3. Move the settings shortcut from the second screen to the home screen.

Customise Android Settings

Open Android settings:

1. Sound and vibration
   • Do Not Disturb – set Sleeping schedule to your liking and enable it.
   • Phone ringtone to Themos.
2. Display
   • set Screen timeout to 2 minutes
   • adjust Font to whatever suits
   • disable Auto-rotate
3. Wallpaper and style
   • scroll down slightly and disable Dark theme
   • Near the top, Change wallpaper, select On-device wallpapers and pick something pretty.  Tap the tick at the bottom right to select your preferred wallpaper, then apply to Home and lock screens.
4. About phone
   • scroll to the bottom and tap Build number 7 times to enable development settings.
   • You can also get your IMEI, Android version and LineageOS version on this screen.
5. System
   • Status bar – set Battery status style to Text.
   • Updater – set Preferences to check for updates once a month and Delete updates when installed
   • Developer options – enable USB debugging
6. System / microG Settings
   • run Self-Check.  Everything should be ticked except for maybe Permission to appear on top of other apps.
   • enable Google device registration – this must be done before enabling Cloud Messaging
   • enable Cloud Messaging – this must be done before installing apps that require Google Cloud Messaging (such as Signal Messenger)
   • Location Modules – tap Nominatim, then tap Mozilla Location Service.  A prompt to Allow Mozilla UnifiedNlp Backend to access this device’s location will appear – don’t select any of the 3 offered options.  Click on Allow in settings, tap Allow all the time, then back again.  Allow Mozilla UnifiedNlp Backend to make and manage phone calls.
   • You should be able to enable Mozilla Location Service now.

Connecting to your computer

If you’re going to be connecting this phone to your computer to install apps or run the MyPhoneExplorer app (highly recommended for backing up and restoring contacts, text messages etc), then we should test this now.

1. Make sure you have ADB drivers installed on your computer for this phone (Windows 10 comes with generic ADB drivers that work with most phones).
2. Plug a USB cable into your computer and then your phone.
3. If you have MyPhoneExplorer on your computer then run this up and click on the monitor (under Other). This will prompt the phone for status.
4. If your ADB drivers work, the phone will now present a window asking you to confirm the RSA key of your computer. Tap Always allow from this computer and OK to confirm the connection between the phone and your computer.
5. If your phone doesn’t have a File Manager built in (yeah, really – some phones come shipped like that) then push a File Manager onto the phone with MyPhoneExplorer (under Files\Applications).

Standard apps

Next thing is to add standard apps to the phone. I get these from https://kell.co.nz/product-category/android/.