While we had previously covered that the Android P Developer Preview could be Released in Mid-March, the news was indeed true and Google has released the Android P Developer Preview for Pixel and Pixel 2 Phones. The new update brings a refreshing design with features focused on the developer community. While the company states that the current build is only for developers to upgrade their apps to the latest API, interested users can also flash the image on their device.
note: I’m installing Android P Developer Preview 1 on my Pixel 2 XL using a Windows laptop, but the process should be similar if not the same for other devices.
Some Things to Know
Note that beta updates are not supported in Android O Developer Preview if you have enrolled your device in the Android Beta program. Also, the process requires you to unlock your device’s bootloader which will delete all user data.
Flashing the system image delete user data, so I will advise you to backup your Android devices. You can check out our detailed article on different ways to backup an Android device. Also, since this is a very early developer build, you can expect lots of bugs and issues.
Things You Need
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Android P System Image
First, you will need to download the Android P Developer Preview system image for your device. You can download the pictures from the official Google website. here. Android P Developer Preview is available as: Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL only.
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ADB and Fast Boot
you will need to have ADB and Fastboot tools on your Windows PC or Mac. You can download ADB and Fastboot here.
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Android Developer Options
Before starting the process,OEM Unlocking” and “USB debugging” is activated in Settings->Developer Options.
Unlock Your Device’s Bootloader
To flash the Android P system image, you must first unlock your device’s bootloader. To do this, first connect your Nexus or Pixel to your PC or Mac. At that time, Go to the path where ADB and Fastboot are located is installed on your computer. Here, open Command Prompt (hold Shift and right click to get the option) or terminal and enter the following commands:
- With Control if the device is connected or not:
adb devices
on your device “Allow USB debugging“. Tap on “OK”.
- Next, enter the command: reboot your device in bootloader mode:
adb reboot bootloader
- Once your device starts in bootloader mode, enter this command to make sure fastboot recognizes your device:
fastboot devices
- Then, depending on your device, enter one of the following commands to unlock the bootloader:
Pixel or Pixel XL: fastboot oem unlock Pixel 2: fastboot flashing unlock Pixel 2 XL: fastboot flashing unlock_critical
You should then see several prompts on your device. Agree and after a while your device will be completely wiped and the bootloader will be unlocked.
Flashing Android P Developer Preview Image
Now that you’ve unlocked your device’s bootloader, let’s flash Android P on your Pixel:
- Firstly, Extract Android P system image you downloaded. Inside the extracted folder you will find another ZIP file, extract that too.
- After extracting all the files, make sure. move them to ADB and Fastboot folder.
- Next, make sure your Nexus or Pixel is in bootloader mode and Launch “flash-all.bat”. This file should open Command Prompt, burn all files and install Android O on your device.
- Many people, myself included, encountered errors while executing the batch file. But there is an alternative way. You can open Command Prompt from here and Flash these pictures one by one via these commands:
fastboot flash bootloader <bootloader file name here>.img fastboot reboot-bootloader fastboot flash radio <radio file name here>.img fastboot reboot-bootloader fastboot flash -w update <image file name here>.zip fastboot reboot
- Once the scripts are finished, your device will reboot and Android P should be installed on your device.
Updating to Android P Developer Preview via ADB Sideload
Many users are reporting unsuccessful installations of direct flashing of Android P Developer Preview on their devices. In this way, you can sideload the OTA update file of Android P images to your device via ADB. This method also protects your data and is personally recommended by us.
note: Users must be on the build of OPM1.1171019.021 (March security patches on 8.1) for OTAs to work.
First, download the OTA .ZIP file for your device from the links given below:
Then reboot your device to the bootloader menu using the commands mentioned earlier. Use the volume down method to browse to “Recovery” and then press the power button. Your device will boot to an Android logo with an exclamation point. Press the Volume Up and Power keys simultaneously to bypass this. Now highlight “Apply update from ADB” option using volume buttons and press power button.
Now, enter the following command from your computer:
adb sideload <filename of update.zip>
This much. The update process should start and when it finishes, Android P should be installed on your device.
SEE ALSO: Get Android P’s ‘Markup’ Native Screenshot Editor on Any Android Device
Is Android P Developer Preview Installed on Your Pixel?
This is how you can install Android P on your Nexus or Pixel smartphone. As I mentioned above the build is still in a very early development stage so don’t flash it on your primary device. So, have you installed Android P Developer Preview yet? If so, let us know how you liked it in the comments section below.
