[Update: Video] Substratum Lite launches with a faster, smaller, and more stable experience

XDA

By Max Weinbach

Published Mar 29, 2019

Substratum Lite is a new version of the popular theme engine that promises to be faster, smaller, and more stable, plus it already supports Android Q.

Substratum Lite is the newest release from Projekt and they're billing it as the "most essential features, in a light package." This new version aims to be faster, smaller, and more stable, plus it already supports Android Q (in preview). The development of Substratum Lite was lead by Ivan Iskandar, one of the Substratum developers.

For those that don't know, Substratum is used to theme system apps and 3rd-party apps. A lot of apps, like Snapchat and Instagram, come with a very bright white design, which some people don't like. Substratum helps change that to be anything you want. It does more than apps just though; it also helps change the System UI and framework elements. You can theme almost any part of the software with Substratum.

This new Substratum Lite update is very similar to the "full" Substratum. It still supports theming all parts of the UI, but it's faster, more stable, and the app size is smaller. The update was described to me as "Telegram to Telegram X," the same functionality but one app is much more stable and smaller. One downside is that most themes made for the older version of Substratum won't be compatible with the new Substratum Lite even though there is a legacy mode.

Another downside of Substratum Lite is it lacks Samsung Sungstromeda support. This was due to the lack of compatibility and stability with Samsung's One UI update for Android Pie. Samsung changed around how themes work and it could cause a lot of issues with the new Substratum Lite. Never fear though, the older and original Substratum still works perfectly with Samsung devices on Android Pie.

Substratum Lite is a nice update that improves upon the current Substratum functionality. Hopefully, more theme developers will hop onboard the Substratum Lite train and add support for their themes. To see if your device can run Substratum Lite, check the compatibility for theme system support below:

Stock Android Pie: Compatible with rooted (only Magisk) devices.
Stock Android Oreo: Compatible with rooted (only Magisk), unrooted, and select Samsung devices. For unrooted and Samsung devices, Andromeda Server version 30+ is needed.
Stock Android Q Beta: Compatible with rooted (only Magisk) devices. (This is only a preview feature, it may not work in the future)
Substratum Service: Requires an Android Oreo or Android Pie custom ROM with Substratum Service included.