How to install the Android 12 Beta on your Google Pixel smartphone

It’s that time of year again! Android 12, i.e. the next major release of Android is now available as public beta. This won’t give you the full Android 12 experience as it’s still very much a work-in-progress, but for lucky owners of the 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’ll be among the first users to see what new OS update has to offer.

If you have any of the aforementioned Pixel smartphone running stable Android 11 and wondering how you can install Android 12, just scroll down as we have a tutorial ready for you. Since Google will not be providing regular OTAs in case of pre-release builds, the update can only be installed via manually flashing OTA files or factory images. It means you will need a PC/Mac with ADB and Fastboot installed to successfully execute the installation process, once you have downloaded the relevant Android 12 Beta files.

Warning: The updates are intended for developers only, so don’t install them on your daily-driver. These builds are early releases and contain bugs and other system instabilities. Even if the flashing process doesn’t necessarily wipe your device, it is highly recommended that you back up your data before proceeding. Users are advised to exercise caution.

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Method 1: Sideload Android 12 Beta via Recovery and ADB

To install the Beta builds, you need to sideload the appropriate OTA package for your device from Recovery through ADB. This method will also work for devices with a locked bootloader.

1. Download the update .zip file on 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 have downloaded to ensure that the file has been downloaded completely and correctly.
3. Enable USB Debugging on your phone — Go to Settings > About Phone > Tap “Build Number” 7 times, (optionally) enter 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 prompt comes up on your phone, if this is the first time you are connecting with 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 Update from ADB”
8. On your computer, run the command:

   adb devices

   This should return a device serial 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 “filename” is to be replaced with the name of the file downloaded in Step 1

10. The update should install on your phone. Once the installation is complete, choose “Reboot system now” on your phone to reboot into Android 12.

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Method 2: Flashing full Factory Image via Fastboot

If you have an unlocked bootloader, you need to flash the full factory image of the Android 12 Beta via Fastboot. Usually, this is 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 deleting the “-w” wipe attribute from the command within the script.

1. Download the factory image .zip file on your computer from here.
2. Optional but recommended: Verify the SHA-256 checksum of the file you have downloaded to ensure that the file has been downloaded completely and correctly.
3. Extract the .zip file, and copy and paste the resultant files onto your ADB and fastboot folder on your computer for convenience.
4. Optional: The resultant 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 the flash-all.bat script file if you’re on Windows. Find and remove/delete the -w flag in the fastboot update command. This will skip the data wipe for your phone. To avoid compatibility issues, a data wipe is recommended though.
5. Enable USB Debugging on your phone — Go to Settings > About Phone > Tap “Build Number” 7 times, (optionally) enter 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 prompt comes up on your phone, if this is the first time you are connecting with this ADB computer.
7. On your computer, run:

   adb reboot bootloader

   This will reboot your phone into Fastboot mode.

8. On your Mac/Linux PC, run:

   flash-all

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

9. Once the script finishes, your device will reboot into the new OS.

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Method 3: Install Android 12 Beta GSI

Even if you don’t own a compatible Pixel smartphone, you can still install Google’s official GSI binaries to test Android 12, provided your device is compatible with Project Treble. You also need an unlocked bootloader. The last thing that we need to say is that flashing a GSI will require you to factory reset your device, so be sure you’re prepared to lose app data before you proceed with this! We recommend you make an off-device backup (such as on your PC or an SD Card) in case anything goes wrong.

1. Download links for the official Android 12 Beta GSIs can be found here. You should download the appropriate version based on your device’s architecture. To see which architecture your device has, run the following command:

   adb shell getprop ro.product.cpu.abi

2. Optional but recommended: Verify the SHA-256 checksum of the file you have downloaded to ensure that the file has been downloaded completely and correctly.
3. Extract the .zip file, and copy and paste the resultant files (system.img and vbmeta.img) onto your ADB and fastboot folder on your computer for convenience.
4. Enable USB Debugging on your phone — Go to Settings > About Phone > Tap “Build Number” 7 times, (optionally) enter your pattern, PIN or password to enable Developer Options, and then navigate to Settings > Developer Options > Enable “USB Debugging”.
5. Connect your phone to your computer. Authorize your computer connection on your phone when the prompt comes up on your phone, if this is the first time you are connecting with this ADB computer.
6. On your computer, run:

   adb reboot bootloader

   This will reboot your phone into Fastboot mode.

7. As mentioned earlier, the bootloader of the target device must be unlocked beforehand.
8. Next, we need to disable Android Verified Boot (AVB). To do that, run the following command:

   fastboot flash vbmeta vbmeta.img

9. Optional but recommended: Enter the following to wipe the system partition:

   fastboot erase system

10. Flash the Android 12 GSI:

    fastboot flash system system.img

11. Allow the image to flash, it could take a few minutes. Once that’s done, wipe the userdata partition:

    fastboot -w

12. Finally, reboot your device:

    fastboot reboot

13. Hopefully, your device should boot into Android 12 Beta.

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

The post How to install the Android 12 Beta on your Google Pixel smartphone appeared first on xda-developers.

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