A lot has changed since the last time we took a look at all the new features of CyanogenMod 12, which was based on Android 5.0. 

In March, Google released a bug-fixing version of Lollipop, Android 5.1, which was followed by the CyanogenMod team rolling out the CM12.1 nightlies for a bunch of devices from mid-April.

Since Android 5.1 is just a bug-fixing and performance release under the hood, the CyanogenMod team were not required to re-work most of their features With minimal changes under the hood from a features viewpoint, the CyanogenMod team was quick to port all the CM12 features to CM12.1.

However, since early February — the last time we took a look at all the features present in CyanogenMod 12 — the CM team has added a lot of new features, which means it’s time for us to revisit the ROM and look at all the new features added to it.

Visual changes

Visually, there are hardly any noticeable changes in CyanogenMod 12.1/CM12 since the last time we checked the ROM out. The team has added a bunch of new wallpapers, but that’s about the only major visual change that you can find.

New Features

LiveDisplay: This is one of the major features that CyanogenMod has added to their ROM in recent months. As described by the team, this feature automatically optimises the screen depending on the time and ambient conditions to reduce eyestrain and improve readability. It also allows users to change the color temperature and calibration of the display depending on the time of the day.

LiveDisplay is located under Settings -> Display & Lights -> LiveDisplay.

LCD Density: This feature allows users to change the software density of their phone. This will allow users to display more (or less) content on the screen depending on their preference. A lower number means more content will be displayed on the screen and vice versa.

LCD Density is located under Settings -> Display & Lights.

Read: How to install CyanogenMod 12.1 on your Android device

Notification Manager: This is a new entry in the Settings menu in CyanogenMod 12.1/12. It contains options to enable/disable Heads up notifications, the ability to filter notifications from the installed apps, change priority of notifications of the installed apps, check the apps that can read notifications on the device and more.

Lockscreen visualiser: Google added a beautiful music lock screen widget to Android with Lollipop. CyanogenMod has further enhanced this feature in their ROM by adding a visualiser to it. When any music is being played, the lock screen will also display visualisations apart from the music controls.

The feature is enabled by default, but can be disabled from Settings -> Lock screen.

Ambient Display: Google added a new Ambient Display option in Lollipop on the Nexus 6, which is similar to the Moto Display feature of the Moto X. The CyanogenMod team have also added this feature to their ROM. When there is a new notification, the display of the device will “breathe” to show the unread notification. The display will also light up when the user picks up the phone so that users can view any important notifications at a glance.

This feature, however, is hardware dependent and will not show up on all the devices on which CyanogenMod 12.1/12 is installed.

Gestures: Exclusive to the Moto X, this menu contains various options that are related to features specific to it. This includes the ability to customise the double-twist gesture, the new Chop-chop gesture, Moto Display and more.

Miscellaneous

Show search bar in recents menu: With Lollipop, Google added a search bar to the Recents Menu to quickly allow users to search through their installed apps, the web and more. In case you don’t like the search bar occupying space in your Recents Menu, you can turn it off in CyanogenMod. The option to enable/disable the search bar in recents menu is located under Settings -> Display & lights.

Root: With CyanogenMod 12.1, the CyanogenMod team has done away with root access on the OS by default. The ROM is no longer rooted by default, and users need to manually enable root access by going into Settings -> Developer Options -> Root Access and specifying whether they want root access only in ADB or want it for apps as well.

These are the notable features that CyanogenMod has added to their ROM since the last time we took a look at all the features present in the ROM. If we have missed any other major feature added to the ROM recently, do drop in a comment and let us know. We will also be updating this article from time to time to add any new features that the CM team adds to the ROM.