Recently, Google announced Android 13, the next major update to the Android operating system. Although the company does not share much of what comes in the pipeline for consumers, it has indicated that it will focus on the personal operating system.

Android 13 is available today as a developer preview, which is not heartbreaking, suggesting that Google’s timeline final release could be by August. Meanwhile, the beta release is coming in April and more users will be able to access it.

As expected, we are saying goodbye to the Pixel 3a and 3a XL, which are offering Android 13, Pixel 4, Pixel 4 XL, Pixel 4a, Pixel 4a 5G, Pixel 5, Pixel 5a 5G, Pixel 6, and Pixel 6.

What’s new in Android 13?

While a huge improvement over the Android 12 platform and the Android 13 is a smaller, more focused update. New features include a system-wide photo picker, individual app language settings, optimization for large screen devices such as foldable and more.

How to Download Android 13 Preview on a compatible device?

At the developer preview, you can only side-load the Android 13 build on pixel devices. Update not available via broadcast update. That functionality was later reserved for beta releases.

If you are unaware of manual sideloading updates, we strongly encourage you to wait for the final release. However, if you can not wait to get the latest and greatest ones, here’s how to set it up.

• Download the required files.
• Boot into recovery mode.
• Navigate to ADB sideload.
• Connect the handset to the computer where the ADB tools are installed.
• Enter the sideload command.
• Reboot your phone.

Download Android 13 Preview

First, you can install the factory image, wipe your phone and start everything from scratch. Alternatively, you can try an OTA file that can be installed on your current version of Android without having to wipe your phone.

You can download the beta OTA file from Google’s full OTA image hosting site. That site includes OTA downloads for side-loading various updates, including Android 13 on every Pixel and Nexus device ever created, so you need to scroll down to make sure you are downloading the file associated with your device. OTA downloads are available here.

Boot into Recovery Mode

Next, you will boot your pixel into recovery mode. To do this, turn off your handset completely. Next, hold down the Power button and the Volume Down button at the same time until you come to the boot loader page. When you see an Android figure lying on the screen you know that you are in the right place.

Using your volume buttons, scroll down to Recovery mode. Select it by clicking on the Power Button. Alternatively, if you are already connected to the computer with ADB, you can use the Reboot Recovery command.

Now, you should see a small Android with an exclamation mark. From here, press the Power button and the Volume up button for a second to enter full recovery mode. Releasing the Volume up button will take you to recovery.

Navigate to the ADB sideload

Using the volume buttons, scroll down to apply the update from ADB and select it with the power button. It launches a mostly blank screen with text indicating how to sideload OTA for Android 13 Developer Preview.

Connect the device to the PC where ADB tools are installed

You need to keep ADB and Fastboot tools in a convenient location. You can download ADB tools from the Android Developers website (or SDK tools only here). You can also use the Universal ADB drivers from ClockworkMod.

Enter the sideload command

Just after that, you can now sideload the OTA file. In Windows, make sure your command prompt is redirected to the ADB tools folder and type adb sideload. If you are on macOS or Linux, do the same in the terminal (use the “cd” and “ls” commands to Google to make sure your terminal is in the correct folder) but type ./adb sideload.

After the sideload you just need to enter the file name of the .zip folder you downloaded from Google and press Enter to start the process.

If everything is working properly, you should see some dialogs indicating the sideload and installation process on your computer and handset.

Reboot your phone

After installing OTA, you will be taken back into Recovery Mode. The last step to moving into the new update is to select the Reboot Now option with your power button.

Note: This process will not erase your device, but if something goes wrong, it is a good idea to back up any irreplaceable data.