The OnePlus 2 was launched last year by the Never Settle company amidst a lot of hype. The marketing campaign before and after the launch of the OnePlus 2 dubbed it as the 2016 flagship killer. Sadly, the OnePlus 2 — in my opinion — has not really stood the test of time.

More than six months after Google had initially released Marshmallow, the so called 2016 flagship killer continues to run on Lollipop. Thankfully, OnePlus have always been very supportive of third-party Android community that has led to a barrage of ROMs being available for the handset.

All the ROMs are completely stable and free of any issue, so you can use them as a daily driver without worrying about their stability or performance. Plus, the warranty of the handset will remain intact even after you root and unlock its bootloader. If this liberal policy from OnePlus and the lack of the official Marshmallow update does not encourage you to flash a custom ROM on the handset, I don’t know what will.

The OnePlus 2 is among the very few phones out there whose performance and stability greatly improve when running a custom ROM, and so, if you are frustrated with your OnePlus 2 due to any of these issues, I will highly recommend you to flash any of the custom ROMs mentioned below on it.

Exodus

Exodus is one of the most popular and feature rich ROM for the OnePlus 2. Based on AOSP and not CyanogenMod sources, the developers behind the ROM roll out nightly updates to fulfil the flashing needs of even the most hardcore ROM lovers out there.

In terms of features, Exodus comes with almost every feature you can imagine, including status and navigation bar customisation, night mode, advanced power menu, and gestures. You can also reassign the functionality of the hardware button according to your liking. Since the ROM is not based on CyanogenMod, it comes with the Layers theme engine and not the CyanogenMod theme engine.

Download: Exodus

CyanogenMod 13

If you have ever taken a keen interest in Android, you would have come across CyanogenMod. The most popular custom ROM in the Android development scene, the ROM packs in plenty of features, while maintaining a fine balance between stability and performance. In fact, most of the ROMs are actually based on CyanogenMod’s sources, which shows just how important they are in the Android development scene.

CyanogenMod 13 packs a plethora of features — navigation bar tweaks, DPI scaling, theme manager, and more. There is no single aspect of the OS that you cannot customise in CyanogenMod 13. If you want a flash-it-and-forget-it kind of ROM, you cannot go wrong with CyanogenMod 13.

A detailed features walkthrough of CyanogenMod 13 can be found here, while an installation guide can be found here.

AICP

AICP has been in the Android ROM development scene for quite sometime now. Based on the CyanogenMod sources, AICP packs almost all the features found on the former. However, the developers have also tucked in some of their own customisation options under AICP Extras, where you can get options like the ability to change LCD density, show the network speed on the status bar, customise system animations and its speed, Pie control, a built-in app launcher, OmniSwitch, and more.

AICP is easily one of the most feature packed ROMs in this list, and if having the most feature packed ROM running on your OnePlus 2 is all you want, you cannot go wrong with AICP.

Download: AICP

halogenOS

halogenOS is based on the Code Aurora release, which means it is as cutting edge as it can be, as your phone will be running on the very latest sources from the CAF repository. This also means that living on the bleeding edge can lead to some instability issues. halogenOS is a fairly new ROM, and since it is currently in alpha state, you are bound to run into some bugs and performance issues every once in a while.

In terms of features, the ROM features support for Layers theme engine, Quick Settings customisation, status bar tweaks, and an optimised stock kernel to deliver the best balance between battery life and performance. The developers also plan on offering an extension pack for the ROM through which users can add more customisation features to the ROM.

Download: halogenOS

Honorable mentions

If for some reason, none of the ROMs above fancy your attention, you can try the ones recommended below.

• CyanPop – Based on CyanogenMod sources, but with extra customisation options baked in
• Resurrection Remix – Packs in the best features from CyanogenMod, Slim, Omni and the original Remix ROM
• Unofficial Beanstalk – Another ROM based on CyanogenMod 13 sources with additional features like PIE, OnTheGo mode, and more baked in

Which is your favorite ROM for the OnePlus 2? Drop in a comment and let us know about it!