LineageOS and Galaxy Tab 4 (SM-T530)

Motivation

I recently got an old Samsung Galaxy Tab 4, aka SM-T530, code name Matisse -- I will call it SM-T530 in the following. It's a 10,1" Android Tablet with a 1,2 GHz Snapdragon ARM processor. Old means: from 2014. It has Android 5.0.2 installed. The problem about that is twofold: No security updates for a long time (which you may ignore if you use it only internally) and, even worse: No Google Playstore!

The 10" display is quite nice and the tablet is quite light. So I thought that it may be perfect for reading ebooks. Since the Google Playstore is not available for Android 5 anymore and the apps I needed (to access ebooks from my public library) are only available there, I needed to update the device somehow.

Luckily, there exists an unofficial version of Lineage for the SM-T530. The latest version is Lineage 20.0 provided by reitredtab via the xdaforums. The posts are quite scaring: "If you are NOT an expert in using fastboot, adb, odin, heimdall, twrp, DO NOT use this rom.". Well, I'm not an expert in these tools, but it is also not too complicated -- once you know which versions to use and how to fix the problems. And then (at least in my case): I did not care whether I brick the device, as it is pretty useless with Android 5 anyway.

Installation Process

I am not responsible for lost data, identity theft, lost money, security vulnerabilities, bricked devices or any other hardware or software malfunctions that comes as a result of flashing this rom.

Download required software

Install Software to Flash Firmware on Windows machine

Since heimdall, an open source cross-platform tool to flash the firmware, is not available as binary (anymore) and fastboot is not available for the SM-T530, we need the original Odin software. Download from https://xdaforums.com/t/patched-odin-3-13-1.3762572 the two files Odin3 v3.14.1.zip and Odin3 v3.14.1_3B_PatcheD.zip. Extract both, copy patched version to original folder, we will use the patched version later on.

Prepare Android Packages on microSD card

The easiest way to later install Lineage 20.0 and the MindTheGapps tools is to download them and store them on a micro SD card which we will plug in the device later on.

We use Lineage 20.0 provided by reitredtab. At the time writing this, the latest version available is lineage-20.0-20250518-UNOFFICIAL-matissewifi.zip which we can download from https://sourceforge.net/projects/retiredtab/files/SM-T530NU/20/.

Download MindTheGapps-13.0.0-arm-20231025_200806.zip from https://github.com/MindTheGapps/13.0.0-arm/releases/tag/MindTheGapps-13.0.0-arm-20231025_200806. Unfortunately this package has a minor problem when installing on old devices as explained at the MindTheGapps_Legacy GitHub project. Thus we patch the package as explained above, i.e. unzip original package, change the one line in file META-INF/com/google/android/update-binary and create new zip.

Download TWPR (on Windows machine)

In order to install the android packages listed above, we need TWRP (Team Win Recovery Project). This replaces the original recovery software. The SM-T530 is not officially supported anymore, we can onl find old repositories. Fortunately, there is a binary twrp-3.5.2_9-0-matisse.tar of version 3.5.9 available.

Install Software

Before we start, we need to know how to start the device in two special modes. When device is off, press three buttons simultaneously when starting the device to activate special mode:

• Download Mode: Home + Volume Down (-) + Power On
• Recovery Mode: Home + Volume Up (+) + Power On

Note: In some howtos, you need to activate the "Developer Options":

• Go to "Settings/General/About device"
• Tap “Build number” seven times. ...

AFAIK this is only required if you want to upload files via adp(The Android Debug Bridge).

Install TWPR via Odin

First we need to install TWPR via Odin. Start the device in download mode and attach it via USB to your windows machine. Start Odin (the patched version). In the log, your device should be logged as "added". Select the afore mentioned TWPR file twrp-3.5.2_9-0-matisse.tar as BL (Boot loader) and install the TWPR bootloader via Start. Once the software is uploaded, Oding shows "PASS".

Install Lineage OS and MindTheGapps

Start the device in recovery mode. Now, TWPR is started. You may create a backup of the current stock os via TWPR. Then, format/wipe the device (advanced formatting) and reboot in recovery mode again. Now, select Install and select the lineage package lineage-20.0-20250518-UNOFFICIAL-matissewifi.zip and your patched version of MindTheGapps-13.0.0-arm-20231025_200806.zip. Start the installation. That's it :-)

Resumee

It works. That's great. And it is slow (as expected). But it works. I'm able to read PDFs with DRM from my public library with PocketBook. Not as smooth as on a new tablet, but it works. I do not comment here on Samsung and all the other companies about sustainability...

Motivation

I recently got an old Samsung Galaxy Tab 4, aka SM-T530, code name Matisse -- I will call it SM-T530 in the following. It's a 10,1" Android Tablet with a 1,2 GHz Snapdragon ARM processor. Old means: from 2014. It has Android 5.0.2 installed. The problem about that is twofold: No security updates for a long time (which you may ignore if you use it only internally) and, even worse: No Google Playstore!

The 10" display is quite nice and the tablet is quite light. So I thought that it may be perfect for reading ebooks. Since the Google Playstore is not available for Android 5 anymore and the apps I needed (to access ebooks from my public library) are only available there, I needed to update the device somehow.

Luckily, there exists an unofficial version of Lineage for the SM-T530. The latest version is Lineage 20.0 provided by reitredtab via the xdaforums. The posts are quite scaring: "If you are NOT an expert in using fastboot, adb, odin, heimdall, twrp, DO NOT use this rom.". Well, I'm not an expert in these tools, but it is also not too complicated -- once you know which versions to use and how to fix the problems. And then (at least in my case): I did not care whether I brick the device, as it is pretty useless with Android 5 anyway.

Installation Process

I am not responsible for lost data, identity theft, lost money, security vulnerabilities, bricked devices or any other hardware or software malfunctions that comes as a result of flashing this rom.

Download required software

Install Software to Flash Firmware on Windows machine

Since heimdall, an open source cross-platform tool to flash the firmware, is not available as binary (anymore) and fastboot is not available for the SM-T530, we need the original Odin software. Download from https://xdaforums.com/t/patched-odin-3-13-1.3762572 the two files Odin3 v3.14.1.zip and Odin3 v3.14.1_3B_PatcheD.zip. Extract both, copy patched version to original folder, we will use the patched version later on.

Prepare Android Packages on microSD card

The easiest way to later install Lineage 20.0 and the MindTheGapps tools is to download them and store them on a micro SD card which we will plug in the device later on.

We use Lineage 20.0 provided by reitredtab. At the time writing this, the latest version available is lineage-20.0-20250518-UNOFFICIAL-matissewifi.zip which we can download from https://sourceforge.net/projects/retiredtab/files/SM-T530NU/20/.

Download MindTheGapps-13.0.0-arm-20231025_200806.zip from https://github.com/MindTheGapps/13.0.0-arm/releases/tag/MindTheGapps-13.0.0-arm-20231025_200806. Unfortunately this package has a minor problem when installing on old devices as explained at the MindTheGapps_Legacy GitHub project. Thus we patch the package as explained above, i.e. unzip original package, change the one line in file META-INF/com/google/android/update-binary and create new zip.

Download TWPR (on Windows machine)

In order to install the android packages listed above, we need TWRP (Team Win Recovery Project). This replaces the original recovery software. The SM-T530 is not officially supported anymore, we can onl find old repositories. Fortunately, there is a binary twrp-3.5.2_9-0-matisse.tar of version 3.5.9 available.

Install Software

Before we start, we need to know how to start the device in two special modes. When device is off, press three buttons simultaneously when starting the device to activate special mode:

• Download Mode: Home + Volume Down (-) + Power On
• Recovery Mode: Home + Volume Up (+) + Power On

Note: In some howtos, you need to activate the "Developer Options":

• Go to "Settings/General/About device"
• Tap “Build number” seven times. ...

AFAIK this is only required if you want to upload files via adp(The Android Debug Bridge).

Install TWPR via Odin

First we need to install TWPR via Odin. Start the device in download mode and attach it via USB to your windows machine. Start Odin (the patched version). In the log, your device should be logged as "added". Select the afore mentioned TWPR file twrp-3.5.2_9-0-matisse.tar as BL (Boot loader) and install the TWPR bootloader via Start. Once the software is uploaded, Oding shows "PASS".

Install Lineage OS and MindTheGapps

Start the device in recovery mode. Now, TWPR is started. You may create a backup of the current stock os via TWPR. Then, format/wipe the device (advanced formatting) and reboot in recovery mode again. Now, select Install and select the lineage package lineage-20.0-20250518-UNOFFICIAL-matissewifi.zip and your patched version of MindTheGapps-13.0.0-arm-20231025_200806.zip. Start the installation. That's it :-)

Resumee

It works. That's great. And it is slow (as expected). But it works. I'm able to read PDFs with DRM from my public library with PocketBook. Not as smooth as on a new tablet, but it works. I do not comment here on Samsung and all the other companies about sustainability...

LineageOS and Galaxy Tab 4 (SM-T530)