Samsung’s flagship launched a few months ago, so chances of getting great custom ROMs for Samsung Galaxy S9 were slim at best. Thankfully, we were able to find some of the best ROMs for the Samsung Galaxy S9 for those who absolutely love Samsung’s hardware, but cannot wait to get rid of their software.
I scrounged the known and trusted places where talented developers upload their custom ROMs. Granted, there are not many places that host custom ROMs for the Samsung Galaxy S9 and just like always, XDA Developer forums didn’t disappoint.
We also have a lot of custom ROMs for other devices if you want to take a look. It’s a healthy selection, so you won’t be disappointed.
However, this is the general trend with Samsung devices, usually the ROMs take a little while to come out, and it makes perfect sense too. The developers also need time to make the ROMs as stable and light on resources as they can. However, for the flagships, we usually find the big players releasing their ROMs in very little time.
Warning: If you are already here, then you know the whole process of flashing a custom ROM on your smartphone. While it is relatively a risk free process, especially if you carefully read the instructions, there is a chance of damage that can occur. So make sure you are well prepared, know what you are doing, and have carefully read the instructions about the installation on the ROM page.
These custom ROMs for the Samsung Galaxy S9 are not in any particular order.
Lineage OS 15.1
Lineage OS is a community built project and is completely free to use and installed. It is designed to increase the performance of your device and improve reliability of the operating system. It’s based on Android Open Source Project, and comes with extras contributed by the overall development community.
Samsung’s dedicated and first party features are not supported on this ROM, so you will be getting a stable and clean almost stock Android experience. Apart from the Iris sensor not working, hardware based features all work perfectly.
Carbon ROM
Carbon ROM is a well-crafted ROM based on Android Open Source Project and works like a charm on Samsung Galaxy S9 devices. The developers are amazing at providing new updates to the ROM with the latest features and options. If you are a fan of clean and almost stock experiences, this ROM is for you.
Just like the Lineage OS ROM, this one also ships with a non-functioning iris scanner. This is not the ROM’s fault, as of now Android is not working well with it. We are sure there will be an update to this soon but as of now the ROM works flawlessly apart from this issue.
Havoc OS
This is yet another ROM based on Lineage ROM, but Havoc comes with a specially designed and well-rounded user interface. The ROM also has system-wide burn in protection, spectrum support and OMS support. It also ships with OTA update support, which is always a welcome addition.
Havoc makes several tweaks to the battery consumption and modes to prolong the life on a single charge. This Custom ROM for the Samsung Galaxy S9 also comes with an optimal battery charge level alert system. On the display side, the ROM offers a lot of features that not only make the AMOLED display on the smartphone shine but also take very little resources.
Overall it’s a robust experience and if you want a daily driver, Havoc OS is a worthy contender.
Resurrection ROM
Resurrection ROM has been around for a while now and has made a name for itself over the years. The ROM is usually stable and performs well on a number of different devices. The Resurrection ROM for the Samsung Galaxy S9 is the same deal.
It is a stable build based on Android 8.0 Oreo and works well on the device. It is based in Lineage and thus comes with a lot of tweaks regarding the battery life and performance of the device. A lot of features and mods are taken from a number of different ROMs to make this a reality. It provides exceptional performance without taking a toll on the battery timings.
DotOS 2.2
DotOS is a ROM that primarily focuses on delivery performance while maintaining a stellar level of stability. Which it does provide for the Samsung Galaxy S9. The ROM is blazing fast and delivers an excellent experience.
The ROM also puts a lot of stress on making the ROM look and feel great without compromising on the battery life or performance. The ROM is based on Android 8.0 Oreo and AOSP. It doesn’t provide a purely stock experience which is a good thing for those who don’t fancy the barebones Android look. Overall, it’s a well-built ROM with a dedicated team behind it.
Custom ROMs for the Samsung Galaxy S9
These were some of the best custom ROMs for Samsung Galaxy S9. I know that you’ll find something to your liking among them. Although I was a bit disappointed to see ROMs solely based on AOSP and Lineage OS, I think they mask the base really well.
Of course the Galaxy S9 is only a few months old. We will see more ROMs come out for the device in the future. Another problem with the Samsung devices is its instance on splitting the consumer base with two different chipsets. Most of the developer community focuses on the international version while ignoring the carrier locked USA ones. So we don’t see a lot of ROMs for the Qualcomm variants.
If you have any questions about the installation process, the nature of the ROMs listed here, or any other suggestion, let us know in the comments. We always love and appreciate your input.
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