How to Download Android 10 to Your Pixel Instead of Waiting for an Automatic Update
Android 10 has been available for Pixel phones for a few days now, but some users may not have received it as an automatic update yet. You can check for pending updates by going to Settings> About Phone> System Updates on your Pixel; The update will most likely hit your Pixel in the coming days, but if you want to install Android 10 and don’t want to wait on Google, you can manually download the new OS version instead. This method works for any pixel model, and we’ll show you how it works.
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There are a few things you should do before upgrading to Android 10 , such as backing up important files. While upgrading to Android 10 using the steps in this guide should keep your files intact, it’s still worth spending a few extra minutes backing up in case something goes wrong or you need to rollback due to errors .
After backing up your files, here’s what you’ll need to sideload Android 10 to your Pixel:
- Your Pixel phone.
- USB-C charging cable.
- PC (Our guide covers steps for Windows, but Google also has alternative steps for Mac and Linux ).
- ADP and Fastboot tools are downloaded and installed on your computer. We’ve covered how to do this elsewhere , but the easiest way is to use this 15 second all-in-one installation package from the XDA forums.
- The right Android 10 OTA file for your phone. They are available on Google – just make sure you download the latest update for your device. You must save the file in an easily accessible location and remember to write down the file name as we will need it later to execute update commands.
Downloading Android 10 to Pixel phones
- Turn off your Pixel phone.
- Press and hold the Power and Volume Down buttons at the same time until the phone restarts and displays the bootloader screen.
- Use the volume buttons to enter recovery mode, then press the power button once to select it.
- Wait until you see the Android mascot lying, then press the power and volume up buttons at the same time to enter recovery mode.
- Once again, use the Volume buttons to scroll through the menu, highlight Apply Update from ADB , then press the Power button to select.
- Connect your pixel phone to your computer via USB.
- On your PC, open Command Prompt by pressing Windows key + R, then typing CMD to find and run the program. In a command prompt window, run the following command:
adb devices. Your device should be listed with the word “unpublished download” next to its name. - Then enter
adb sideload [filename]using the name of the OTA image you downloaded earlier and press Enter. You should see some kind of dialog box on your device and then the update should start. Wait for the installation to complete. - When the update is complete, highlight Restart Now, then use the power button to select it. When your pixel starts up again, it should be running Android 10.