How to install Android 13 on Google Pixel and other Android devices

Android 13 is currently available as a beta version. Flash fans will be happy to know that Google has already made system images available for download. You can try it now if you have the right hardware, but there aren’t many supported devices this time. All you have to choose from is the Google Pixel 4, Pixel 4 XL, Pixel 4a, Pixel 4a 5G, Pixel 5, Pixel 5a, Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro.

Pre-release builds of Android 13 are, of course, rough around the edges, so Google doesn’t want to make it easy to install them on your everyday driver. You will need an eligible Pixel smartphone with an unlocked bootloader to flash the system image using your computer. There are also OTA files, which update your Pixel to Developer Preview / Beta without an unlocked bootloader. However, you still need to manually sideload the OTA package for the initial build.

The three ways to install the update are:

Method 1: Sideload Android 13 via Recovery and ADB

To install Developer Preview / Beta, you need to avoid downloading the appropriate OTA package for your device from recovery through ADB. This method will also work for Google Pixel devices that have a locked 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 the file in the directory where ADB is located on your computer.
2. Optional, but recommended: Check the SHA-256 checksum of the file you downloaded to make sure the file was downloaded completely and correctly.
3. Enable USB debugging on your phone – go to Settings > about the phone > tap complete the number 7 times, (optionally) enter your pattern, PIN or password to enable developer options, then go to Settings > Developer Options > enable USB debugging.
4. Connect your phone to your computer. Authorize your computer’s connection to your phone when the prompt appears on your phone, if this is the first time you’ve connected to an ADB instance for that computer.
5. On your computer, run the command:

   adb reboot recovery

6. You should see “No command” on your phone screen. Now press and hold the power button on your phone. While holding the Power button, press the Volume Up button and quickly let go of both buttons. You should list Android recovery.
7. Select option Apply the update from ADB from the recovery menu.
8. On your computer, run the command:

   adb devices

   This should return the device’s serial number with “Sideloading” next to its name, to indicate that your device is connected to the computer in sideload mode.

9. On your computer, run the command:

   adb sideload "filename".zip

   The “file name” part 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 reboot into Android 13.

Method 2: Flashing the full factory image via Fastboot

If you have an unlocked bootloader on your Google Pixel, you will need to flash the factory image to preview Android 13 Developer / Beta via Fastboot. Usually, this is done through a file flash-all.sh or flash all.bat The script is included in the downloaded file, but its default configuration also completely wipes the device. However, you can keep your data by omitting the ‘-w’ scan attribute from the command within the script.

1. Download the factory image .zip file to your computer from here.
2. Optional, but recommended: Check the SHA-256 checksum of the file you downloaded to make sure the file was downloaded completely and correctly.
3. Extract the .zip file, copy the resulting files and paste them into the ADB and fastboot folder on your computer for convenience.
4. Optional: The resulting files may contain a file flash-all.sh or flash all.bat script file. Using a text editor, open a file flash-all.sh If you are using macOS / Linux or flash all.bat If you are using Windows. Look for the -w flag in a file fastboot update Command. This will skip wiping your phone. To avoid compatibility issues, it is recommended to clear the data.
5. Enable USB debugging on your phone – go to Settings > about the phone > tap complete the number 7 times, (optionally) enter your pattern, PIN or password to enable developer options, then go to Settings > Developer Options > enable USB debugging.
6. Connect your phone to your computer. Authorize your computer’s connection to your phone when the prompt appears on your phone, if this is the first time you’ve connected to an ADB instance for that computer.
7. On your computer, run:

   adb reboot bootloader

   This will restart your phone in Fastboot mode.

8. On your Mac/Linux PC, run:

   flash-all

   This command executes a file flash-all.sh A text file, which will then install the necessary bootloader, baseband firmware, and operating system. If you’re on Windows, you can simply double-click a file flash all.bat case.

9. Once the script is finished, your device will reboot into the new operating system.

Method 3: Install Android 13 GSI

Even if you don’t have a Pixel compatible smartphone, you can still install the official GSI binaries from Google to test Android 13, provided your device is Project Treble compatible. You also need an unlocked bootloader. The last thing we need to say is that flashing a GSI will require you to factory reset your device so make sure you are prepared for app data loss before proceeding with it! We recommend that you make a backup outside the device (eg on your computer or SD card) in case anything goes wrong.

1. The download links for the official Android 13 Beta GSIs can be found here. Google has not yet published GSIs based on the stable release. You should download the appropriate version based on your device architecture. To find out the architecture of your device, run the following command:

   adb shell getprop ro.product.cpu.abi

2. Optional but recommended: Check the SHA-256 checksum of the file you downloaded to make sure the file was downloaded completely and correctly.
3. Extract the .zip file, and copy and paste the resulting files (system.img And vbmeta.img) in the 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, (Optional) enter your pattern, PIN or password to enable developer options, then go to Settings > Developer options > Enable Debugging USB errors”.
5. Connect your phone to your computer. Authorize your computer’s connection to your phone when the prompt appears on your phone, if it’s the first time you’ve connected to that ADB computer.
6. On your computer, run:

   adb reboot bootloader

   This will restart your phone in Fastboot mode.

7. As mentioned earlier, the bootloader of the target device It must be opened in advance.
8. Next, we need to disable Android Verified Boot (AVB). To do this, 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 Android 13 GSI:

    fastboot flash system system.img

11. Allow the image to flash, it may take a few minutes. Once this is done, clear the user data partition:

    fastboot -w

12. Finally, restart your device:

    fastboot reboot

13. We hope that your device will be running in the new version of Android.