Before following these instructions please ensure that the device is on the latest Android 15 firmware.
If your device is currently using a newer or older version than the required version, please upgrade or downgrade to the required version before proceeding with your /e/OS installation.
The required version is Android 15 , which may be lower than the /e/OS version you are about to install - this is not an error! If there are multiple updates of that version (e.g. security updates), make sure to use the latest!ââ
However there is no way to install android 15 since it was removed by google. I read that it caused some issues.
My question is: is it really necessary to install android 15 before installing /e/os? If so why?
If yes, how can I get this version?
On the other hand since android 15 causes issues on Pixel 6a, is it safe to install /e/os based on that version?
The âwhyâ is that when devs liberated the device and then built the current /e/OS they used the âFactoryâ A15 as a foundation. (âMatching foundationâ would have been similar for previous Android versions and other devices.) So now when we install /e/OS system the devs consider it necessary to have that matching âfoundationâ on the phone.
I guess and loosely speaking Google withdrew previous builds due to a security weakness in the hardware which they fixed, and added anti-rollback so that this weakness could never be exploited. However the anti-rollback seems to have bricked a number of phones. There are two cases of bricked Pixel on the forum. So now both the âexploitableâ versions and the anti-rollback_containing_versions are withdrawn.
My opinion /e/OS could not be installed without risk until it is at a supported Android version (so A16 atm).
If you install it, you will brick your device.
I know that, because i bricked mine.
If you want to move away Form standard Android, grapheneos or iodeos are your options.
Both work fine.
So you could say that Pixel 6a is not supported at this point. This is very disappointing since I specifically bought the device, because it was on the supported devices list. I even read through installation instruction but I didnât expect that I wonât be able to downgrade to android 15.