Install /e/os on Google Pixel 5 with android 14

/e/OS Devices Google
1

Hi,
Before all, thanks for /e/OS, it’s a great project !
I just got a Pixel 5 under Android 14 but seen that stable redfin build is based on Android 13.
I understood that installing an /e/OS based on Android 13 over an existing Android 14 could result in an unstable installation.
Have you any advice ? should I try to downgrade my Android 14 to Android 13 before trying to install /e/OS ? I see that there is a bunch of tutoriels to do so, do you know if it’s easy ? or do you know if an /e/OS build based on Android 14 will be available soon ?
Thanks in advance for your help, I’m a little bit lost.

2

… well it is required …

Never tried … but here are the links

https://developers.google.com/android/images

You will probably need to … preferably do some slow reading ! before scroll down to Acknowledge then you can reach https://developers.google.com/android/images#redfin

… “soon” ?? as in … next equinox … probably.

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3

Hello Eo5,

I’ve just posted my reservations about the same situation (in July) but for a Pixel 6 which came to me running updated Android 14.

The main issue seems to me to be the ‘Anti-Rollback’ problem. I hesitate to downgrade 14 to 13, even using Google’s own Android Flash Tool, without better understanding it.
I watched 9to5google’s process on YouTube, apparently successful, but…

If you went ahead, can you tell me how it turned out?

Cheers,
KJU

4

Downgrading from A13 to A12 was done without issue, i don’t doubt that will be the same for A14 to A13.
(or wait about 3 month if you prefer…)

5

After reading through the official google documentation provided by aibd, you can see in the section Updating Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, and Pixel 6a devices to Android 13 for the first time that the anti rollback protection only applies to the Pixel 6 line, and they provide developer images that emulate Android 12 for development purposes here: Developer Support images for Pixel  |  Android Developers

You should have no issues rolling back from Android 14 to Android 13 as it appears that the rollback prevention will only prevent you from rolling back to an operating system before Android 13. From what I have seen, I would not advise attempting to install an e/OS version based on Android 12 to any device in the Pixel 6 line. Please read all of Google’s documentation.

For future reference on people who need to roll back from Android 14 to Android 13 on a Pixel 5 (only device I have personally tested it with, but will likely work with other devices) the steps I took were

  1. Ensure you have android developer tools installed on your system. Documentation from the e foundation is here: Installing adb and fastboot on a Linux PC

  2. Unlock the bootloader for your device by following the section Unlocking the bootloader on your device’s respective command line installation guide.

  3. Download the Android 13 Factory Image from Google’s official factory image website as provided by aibd.

  4. Unzip the contents of the factory image

  5. Reboot your device into fastboot mode, the easiest way I know if is to run the command adb reboot bootloader with your device in developer mode and usb debugging unlocked

  6. Within the factory image directory, run the flash-all.sh script. This will wipe your device and install whatever official version of android you downloaded from Google’s factory images. Wait for the process to complete.

  7. Ensure the device has been rolled back to the android version you downloaded.

  8. Return to the command line instructions you found in step 2 to begin installing e/OS to your device. You will need to reboot into fastboot mode, but your bootloader should be unlocked already. You can check this by verifying “Device state: unlocked” is shown on the fastboot screen. If it reads “Device state: locked”, simply unlock the bootloader with fastboot flashing unlock

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