How to install Android 12 Developer Preview on your Google Pixel smartphone

How to install Android 12 Developer Preview on your Google Pixel smartphone

by

It’s that time of year again! The first developer preview development of Android 12 is now available for supported devices starting today. It does not offer you the full Android 12 experience as it is still a work in progress but for lucky owners of Google Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL, Pixel 3a, Pixel 3a XL, Pixel 4, Pixel 4 XL, Pixel 4a, Pixel 4a 5G or Pixel 5, you will be one of the first users to see what the new OS update offers.

If you have one of the above Pixel smartphones with stable Android 11, and you are wondering how to install Android 12, just scroll down because we have a tutorial ready for you. Because Google will not offer regular OTAs in the event of developer previews, the update can only be installed by manually flashing OTA files or factory photos. This means that you need to install a PC / Mac with ADB and Fastboot to complete the installation process, once you have downloaded the appropriate Android 12 Developer Preview files.

Warning: The updates are intended for developers only, so do not install them on your daily manager. These collections are early versions and contain bugs and other system instabilities. Even if the flashing process does not necessarily erase your device, it is strongly recommended that you back up your data before proceeding. Users are advised to be careful.

Method 1: Sideload Android 12 Developer Preview 1 via Recovery and ADB

To install the first developer preview, you must download the appropriate OTA package for your device from the recovery via the ADB. This method will also work for devices with a closed boot program.

  1. Download the updated .zip file to your computer from here. For convenience, you can rename this file to a simpler name and place the file in the directory where ADB is located on your computer.
  2. Optional but recommended: Verify the SHA-256 checksum of the file you downloaded to ensure that the file is fully and correctly downloaded.
  3. Enable USB debugging on your phone – Go to Settings> About Phone> Tap “Build Number” 7 times, enter (optionally) your pattern, PIN or password to enable developer options and then navigate to Settings> Developer Options Enable “USB debugging” “.
  4. Connect your phone to your computer. Authorize your computer connection on your phone when the phone appears on the phone, if this is the first time you are connecting this ADB computer.
  5. Perform the command on your computer: 
    adb reboot recovery
  6. Your phone should now be in recovery mode.
  7. Select the “Apply update from ADB” option on your phone
  8. Perform the command on your computer: 
    adb devices

    It should return a device set with the ‘sideload’ next to its name, which indicates that your device is connected to the computer in sideload mode.

  9. Perform the command on your computer: 
    adb sideload "filename".zip

    Where to replace “filename” with the name of the file downloaded in step 1

  10. The update must be installed on your phone. After the installation is complete, select “Reboot system now” on your phone to restart Android 12.

Method 2: Flash full factory image via Fastboot

If you have an unlocked bootloader, you need to flash the full factory image of Android 12 Developer Preview 1 via Fastboot. Usually this is done by means of a flits- al.sh or flits-al.bat script file included with the downloaded file, but the default configuration also completely erases the device. However, you can preserve your data by removing the sweep attribute “-w” from the command in the script.

  1. Download the factory .zip file here to your computer.
  2. Optional but recommended: Verify the SHA-256 checksum of the file you downloaded to ensure that the file is fully and correctly downloaded.
  3. Extract the .zip file and copy and paste the resulting files into your ADB and Fastboot folder on your computer.
  4. Optional: The results files contain a flits- al.sh or flits-al.bat script file. Open it using a text editor flits- al.sh if you are on macOS / Linux or the flits-al.bat script file if you are using Windows. Find and remove / remove the -w flag in the fastboot update order. This will skip the data wipe for your phone. To avoid compatibility issues, a data sweep is recommended.
  5. Enable USB debugging on your phone – Go to Settings> About Phone> Tap “Build Number” 7 times, enter (optionally) your pattern, PIN or password to enable developer options and then navigate to Settings> Developer Options Enable “USB debugging” “.
  6. Connect your phone to your computer. Authorize your computer connection on your phone when the phone appears on the phone, if this is the first time you are connecting this ADB computer.
  7. Start on your computer: 
    adb reboot bootloader

    This will reboot your phone in Fastboot mode.

  8. Start on your Mac / Linux computer: 
    flash-all

    This assignment performs the flits- al.sh script file, which will then install the necessary bootloader, baseband firmware, and operating system. If you are using Windows, you can simply double-click the flash-all.bat file.

  9. Once the script is finished, your device will restart in the new operating system.

Follow our Android 12 label for all the latest news on the next great Android version!

Source