How To Install The Android N Developer Preview On Your Nexus Phone Or Tablet

How To Install The Android N Developer Preview On Your Nexus Phone Or Tablet

Today, Google quietly released a developer preview of Android N. If you’re one of the lucky few with a Nexus 6, 5X, 6P, 9, Nexus Player or Pixel C, here’s how to install it and try out the new hotness.

To get started, you’ll need to have your device unlocked. You won’t need o root, but you can read more on how to unlock your device in our rooting guide here. You’ll also need ADB and fastboot installed on your computer and have at least a vague working knowledge of both. Then, follow these steps:

  1. Download the factory image for your device here.
  2. Unzip the file and save it somewhere easy to find.
  3. Connect your device to your computer via USB cable and ensure debugging mode is enabled.
  4. Open an ADB command line.
  5. Enter adb reboot bootloader to access your device’s bootloader. (OS X users should add ./ before this command.)
  6. Navigate to the folder containing your factory image.
  7. Enter flash-all to run the installation script. (OS X users, same caveat as step 5.)

The script will take a few minutes. It’s typical for devices to linger on the boot animation for several minutes before starting up, so if yours takes a while don’t panic. Once the device boots up, log in and have fun!

Warning: This will wipe your device. Google mentions this on several of its download pages, but just in case you missed it, flashing this will completely wipe your device and erase all your data. Be sure to do a backup before you proceed and don’t try this on a device you absolutely need for work.

This year, you also have an alternative! You can join the Android Beta program. Once Google launches the program later today, you’ll be able to head to this link to receive updates to Android N over the air. No need to download or flash anything. This might be slower than installing the factory images yourself, but it’s also much easier.

Check out more information about Android N and how to install it at the source link below. If you don’t have a device you can try it out on, be sure to stay tuned to our coverage to hear about all the cool new things we find.

First Preview of Android N: Developer APIs & Tools [Google Developers Blog]


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