Once you have unlocked the bootloader on the Samsung Galaxy A50, you may want to install a custom OS. Thankfully there are many excellent custom firmware options to choose from. I have spent most of today researching these custom ROMs and have enjoyed myself. For some reason, the Galaxy A50 was not a smartphone I had spent much time researching. But it has a lot going for it. Here are the best Galaxy A50 ROMs as of today, and I will try to continue to update the list.
See also: Free Samsung Firmware Update Tools
ArrowOS 12.0
The ArrowOS 12.0 custom ROM is an unofficial ROM. That said, it’s also one of the better ROMs currently available for the Galaxy A50 smartphone. The ArrowOS firmware is based on the Android Open Source Project; it aims to keep the operating system simple and neat. And though this is an unofficial build, they have achieved that.
We have read many positive comments regarding ArrowOS 12.0 when installed on the Galaxy A50. The occasional user has had to reboot to get all features working smoothly. Another user wasn’t able to load the custom firmware on the first try but was successful on the second attempt. Perhaps an update has already fixed these issues. If not and you are booted back to the custom recovery, try loading it a second time rather than giving up.
Download: ArrowOS 12.0
Evolution X
There is also an unofficial Evolution X custom ROM for the Galaxy A50 smartphone. Evolution X prides itself on gathering many features from various other ROMs and putting them together. They may consider themselves a “best of” custom ROM.
Should you install Evolution X, you will be running on 12.1.0_r22 which is presumably one of the reasons many people wanted to install it as well. There is much more information available from the download link below. But we want to save space for the official ROMs once we get to them.
Download: Evolution X
riceDroid 4.5
riceDroid 4.5 is another good unofficial custom ROM available for the Galaxy A50. The riceDroid operating system generally speaking is based on the Lineage/crDroid custom ROMs. So if you like Lineage and crDroid, you may also like this one, especially if you have ever dreamed of mixing the two.
riceDroid 4.5 is based on Android 12.1 (Android 12L). And the XDA member PingVN is responsible for porting this one across to the Galaxy A50.
Download: riceDroid 4.5
OneUI 3.1
OneUI 3.1 is a custom ROM designed purely for the Galaxy A50. It calls itself a “no-frills” experience, which as a phrase doesn’t make much sense. No frills is an unbranded product that you can get cheaper than usual. But what I think they are trying to say is it removes a lot of the bloatware. The developer has offered several screenshots of this ROM for you to take a look at before you install it. OneUI 3.1 is based on Android 11.
Download: OneUI 3.1
Pixel Experience Plus
The Pixel Experience Plus custom ROM is based on AOSP that comes with Google Pixel-related features which does also include Google Gapps. So if you have envied the Google Pixel on not only the hardware side but on the software side as well, you will appreciate this ROM. The Pixel Experience Plus is based on Android 11.
Update: There is also now a Pixel Experience Plus custom ROM based on Android 12.1. Moreover, there is also a PixelExtended ROM which is based on the Pixel Experience.
Download: Pixel Experience Plus
Evolution X Snow
The Evolution X Snow custom ROM appears to be based on the same Evolution X ROM listed above. However, the developers don’t offer much information either from the download page or the official website as to what exactly are the differences. As with the standard Evolution X, this too is an unofficial build. Evolution X Snow is based on Android 12 and AOSP.
Download: Evolution X Snow
Snake OS V4.5
Snake OS V4.5 is an independent custom ROM for the Galaxy A50. I believe from what I have read that this is the developer’s first attempt at a custom ROM. It has many positive comments so there is no reason to worry too much. According to the developer, it doesn’t make any kernel changes. There are plenty of custom kernels for the Galaxy A50 if you are looking for that kind of thing though. You need to download those separately to the ROMs in general.
Download: Snake OS V4.5
Copperhead V7.4
The Copperhead V7.4 custom ROM is actually a gaming ROM based on Snake OS. This gaming ROM is based on the OneUI 3.1 firmware and comes with quite a few features. The developers claim to have created a very smooth UI, which would make sense for a gaming ROM. They also say this is a gaming and performance-based ROM. I can see that means it is debloated to increase the performance that way. But I don’t know if it means they have tweaked the kernel.
Download: Copperhead V7.4
Lineage 19
There is an unofficial Lineage 19 custom ROM for the Galaxy A50. Lineage 19 is based on Android 12. It appears as though there was also a Lineage 18 for the Galaxy A50, and that one was based on Android 11. It can be a bit confusing because the developer hasn’t created a new page for the Lineage 19 variant and has instead copied and pasted the text for the Lineage 18. But when we go on the Lineage website, the Lineage 19 is for Android 12 and not 11. If you know custom ROMs, Lineage needs no introduction. It is the biggest name in ROMs, and though this is an unofficial build, you can install it with confidence.
Download: Lineage 19
LightROM
LightROM is a custom ROM for the Galaxy A50 that speaks for itself. Often a custom ROM such as this may be overlooked though. One way to assuage those concerns is by adding a poll so everyone can see how happy all the LightROM users are, and that is exactly what you get at the top of this thread which can be read via the download link below. The drawback with LightROM is that it is ony based on Android 9 Pie which is now a long way away from the Android 11 or 12 many of the others are running on.
Download: LightROM
Spark OS
Spark OS is a custom ROM for the Galaxy A50 that is based on Android 12.1. The same ROM used to be based on Android 12 but has been updated by the developer. He has also given a changelog so you can see the differences between the two versions for this particular ROM.
Download: Spark OS
SuperiorOS
There is a SuperiorOS custom ROM for the Galaxy A50. It is most likely based on Android 12 since it has twelve written in the thread title. This SuperiorOS ROM is an unofficial build. There are many unofficial builds for this device, so that shouldn’t be too surprising. Thankfully the developer is the same guy as many of the others above. So this SuperiorOS ROM should be just as reliable as those.
Update: This ROM is definitely based on Android 12, as it now says so at the bottom of the original post, along with the rest of the information you could expect to find regarding the ROM.
Download: SuperiorOS
DotOS v5.2.1
The DotOS v5.2.1 custom ROM for the Galaxy A50 is based on Android 11 and is only in its beta stages. It is, however, at least based on AOSP, which is sure to excite more than a few readers. The same XDA Developers senior member is the developer, so though it is a beta build, it should be as reliable as beta builds get.
Download: DotOS v5.2.1
Infinity OS
The Infinity OS custom ROM for the Galaxy A50 comes with OneUi 2.5 and is based on A507FNXXU5CTK4 firmware which is a version of Android 10. This is one of the first ROMs posted for the Galaxy A50. It doesn’t seem nearly as popular anymore. There may be better options above.
Download: Infinity OS