How to Get Android 13 Developer Preview 1 on Your Google Pixel Phone

We’ve warned you in a couple of separate posts that downloading and installing the Android 13 Developer Preview 1 on your Pixel phone is probably not a good idea right now, unless you are a developer. Google made it crystal clear in their announcement that they’ll open Android 13 up to more in Beta builds, probably around April. But look, we know you and that you can’t help yourself.

So if you really, really, really need to get Android 13 DP1 on your Pixel 6 or Pixel 5 or Pixel 4 or the other supported Pixel devices, you can do so. You will need to manually flash through adb at the moment, but if this is what you must do, you can manage a couple of commands.

• READ: What’s new in Android 13 Developer Preview 1?

How to install Android 13 Developer Preview 1

1. Supported Google Pixel phones: in order to run Android 13 DP1, you need to own a supported Pixel phone. At this time, Google is providing the preview for the Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 5a, Pixel 5, Pixel 4a 5G, Pixel 4a, Pixel 4, and Pixel 4 XL.
2. Factory image or OTA update? Google is making the update to Android 13 DP1 available as either a factory image or OTA file. The differences there are that updating with a factory image requires that you wipe all data from your phone (like a factory reset) and unlock your phone’s bootloader, potentially making it less secure. If you don’t want to do that, the OTA file can be sideloaded if your Pixel is currently running Android 11. For non-developers, going the OTA/sideload route is probably the best option.
3. Download the Android 13 DP1 factory image or OTA file: This may change, but to start, you’ll need to download the Android 13 DP1 factory image or OTA file for your specific phone. You can find the newest files from Google’s Android 13 developer page: factory images | OTA files
4. Instructions to flash the Android 13 DP1 file: To start, it looks like you’ll have to manually flash the DP1 factory image or OTA files from above through adb. There are instructions all over the internet on how to do this, including this set from us – flash factory image or flash OTA file.

And that’s really it. You need a supported phone. You need to download the correct Android 13 DP1 file for your phone. You then flash that file onto your phone using a computer.

Enjoy, risk takers!