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 version of the Developer Preview for Android 12 is now available for compatible devices starting today. This will not give 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 among the first users to see what the new operating system update has to offer.

If you have any of the Pixel smartphones mentioned above running Android 11 stable and wondering how you can install Android 12, just scroll down, as we have a tutorial ready for you. Since Google will not provide regular OTAs for developer views, the update can only be installed via manual flashing OTA files or factory images. This means that you will need a PC / Mac with ADB and Fastboot installed to run the installation process successfully, after downloading the relevant files from the Android 12 Developer Preview.

Warning: The updates are for developers only, so don’t install them in your daily driver. These builds are older versions and contain bugs and other system instabilities. Even though the flash process does not necessarily wipe your device, it is highly recommended that you back up your data before proceeding. Users are advised to be careful.

Method 1: Sideload Android 12 Developer Preview 1 through recovery and ADB

To install the first Developer Preview, you need to sideload the appropriate OTA package for your recovery device via ADB. This method will also work for devices with a blocked bootloader.

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

    This should return a serial device with the “sideload” next to its name, indicating that your device is connected to the computer in sideload mode.

  9. On your computer, run the command: 
    adb sideload "filename".zip

    Where “file name” should be replaced with the name of the file downloaded in Step 1

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

Method 2: updating the complete 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. This is usually done through a flash-all.sh or flash-all.bat script file that is included in the downloaded file, but its default configuration also wipes the device completely. You can, however, retain your data by excluding the clean-up attribute “-w” from the command within the script.

  1. Download the .zip file of the factory image to your computer here.
  2. Optional, but recommended: check the SHA-256 checksum of the file you downloaded to ensure that the file was downloaded completely and correctly.
  3. Extract the .zip file and copy and paste the resulting files into your ADB and the fastboot folder on your computer for your convenience.
  4. Optional: the resulting files would contain a flash-all.sh or flash-all.bat Script file. Using a text editor, open the flash-all.sh if you’re on macOS / Linux or flash-all.bat script file if you are on Windows. Find and remove / delete the -w flag in the fastboot update command. This will bypass wiping your phone’s data. To avoid compatibility problems, data cleaning is recommended.
  5. Enable USB debugging on your phone – go to Settings> About phone> Tap “Version number” 7 times, (optionally) enter your pattern, PIN or password to enable Developer Options, then navigate to Settings > Developer options> Enable “USB debugging”.
  6. Connect your phone to the computer. Authorize the computer to connect to the phone when the prompt appears on the phone, if this is the first time you are connecting to this ADB computer.
  7. On your computer, run: 
    adb reboot bootloader

    This will reset your phone to Fastboot mode.

  8. On your Mac / Linux PC, run: 
    flash-all

    This command runs the flash-all.sh script file, which will install the necessary boot loader, baseband firmware and operating system. If you are on Windows, you can simply double-click the flash-all.bat file.

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

Be sure to follow our Android 12 tag for all the latest news on the next major Android release!

Source