Last Updated on December 11, 2022 by Mathew Diekhake
These are the best custom ROMs for the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua smartphone. Since the M4 variant of the Aqua is still new at the time of writing this post, you haven’t yet got the luxury of installing any of the big name ROMs like CyanogenMod, Paranoid Android, Resurrection Remix, crDroid and so on, but you do have some ROMs to test out. Moreover, we’ll continue to update the list of best custom ROMs for the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua smartphone once we see them.
Files You Need
- You will need to flash a custom recovery on the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua before you can think about installing any of the custom ROMs or custom kernels. You need to upload the custom ROm zip file from the custom recovery because the stock recovery doesn’t have this feature.
- You need to root the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua smartphone sometimes in order to flash a custom ROM on the handset. Note that it isn’t always that way and these days it’s more likely you do not need to root the device before installing your ROM. Check out the ROM requirements from its page you download it below for any details regarding the root requirement. You should be safe if the ROM page does not mention it under the requirements.
Debloated ROM
If you want to use a custom ROM that is as close to stock Android as possible, you will want to install the debloated ROM. The debloated ROM comes with nothing extra over your stock ROM, but it has removed all the stock apps by Sony that are taking away your performance.
Features: stock Android, no stock apps from Sony running on the ROM, increased performance, faster ROM over the stock.
Download: Debloated ROM
AOSGP ROM
The AOSGP ROM is based on stock Android. As you might be able to tell, this ROM is based on the AOSP builds. According to the developers, it’s just like the stock ROM but with some cool AOSP features. Furthermore, it remains incredibly fast and light on your device, giving it better performance than the original stock ROM that comes with your Xperia M4 Aqua when you open it out of the box.
Features: fast, light, Android 5.0 Lollipop, AOSP builds, Linux 3.10.
Download: AOSGP ROM
AOSP Android 5.1.1
Here is an AOSP custom Rom that is based on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. The ROM is made by team beta and gives you ‘pure’ AOSP and stock Android. The developer claims it is as pure as what you would get from a Google Nexus device that’s pretty pure. You must have an unlocked bootloader to install this custom ROM.
Features: based on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, Linux 3.10, AOSP, no bloatware, no stock apps from Sony.
Download: AOSP Android 5.1.1 Lollipop ROM
CyanogenMod 12.1 (Unofficial)
As the name suggests, this is the unofficial CyanogenMod custom ROM — meaning the real CyanogenMod team did not partake in creating this custom ROM. It was built by the community of people instead and is based on CyanogenMod’s work. We have read in a recent poll that CyanogenMod is the heavy favorite custom ROM the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua would like to see made, so there’s a good chance the team knock one up soon. Until then, this is the closest thing to CyanogenMod that you will get on your handset.
Features: RIL, SD card, Audio, first boot, bluetooth, touchpad.
Download CyanogenMod 12.1