crDroid 12.6 – Android 16 QPR2 Is Here 🚀

Yeah yeah... late to post the news on the blog, but here we are...
crDroid 12.6 is officially rolling out, and this one is a major foundation update rather than just a routine bump.

🔧 Based on Android 16 QPR2

crDroid 12.6 is now fully rebased on Android 16 QPR2 code.
This means:

• New platform-level improvements from Google
• Better system stability and performance
• Updated framework behavior aligned with the latest Android direction

🔐 January 2026 security updates

This release includes the January 2026 Android Security Patch Level, keeping your device protected against the latest known vulnerabilities.

Security patches are synced directly from upstream AOSP and merged cleanly into the new QPR2 base.

⚠️ Important: Signing key change (No OTA)

There is one important caveat with this release:

Due to a signing key change, OTA updates are not possible for crDroid 12.6.

What does this mean?

• You cannot update from a previous build via OTA
• The update requires manual sideloading

The good news ✅

• Sideloading is quick and straightforward
• It can be done easily via recovery
• No data wipe is required (unless your recovery/setup is broken)

Once you’re on 12.6, future OTAs will work normally again. Yes, the lack of OTA is annoying — but it’s unavoidable and temporary.
Do the sideload once, and you’re back on track.

As always, thanks for using crDroid and supporting open-source Android ❤️