How to Get the Android N on a Nexus (Using Android Beta) (Video)

Google surprised everyone this week and, instead of announcing their new Android verison developer preview at their developer I/O conference (in May), they randomly announced it.

Android N as it is being called (Nougat maybe when it’s final?) seems to most a small bump up from Android Marshmallow, 6.1 maybe instead of a full 7.0. With new notification actions and look, new settings menu with more info, and a few other slight overhauls, it’s still shaping to be a nice evolution of the OS.

How to Get Android N Right Now

If you want to play with it now, and happen to have a Nexus device, as per the usual, you are in luck. Since Nexus devices get updates straight from Google they also are eligible for the latest developer previews so we can flash it to any of the newer Nexus devices that support it including:

• Nexus 5X
• Nexus 6
• Nexus 6P
• Nexus 9
• Nexus 9G
• Pixel C
• General Mobile 4G (Android One)

Have one of those and want to try out the new version of Android? Here’s how.

Android Beta: New Way to Flash

So, normally, I’d be showing you how to unlock your bootloader and flash a factory image from Google’s site. You can still do that (head to my tutorial for Android M and just replace the file with one from here for your phone), but along with Android N Google released a new way to try out their newer Android versions in a program called Android Beta. It’s a lot easier and will also make sure you get updates as they exist instead of having to flash a newer version every time manually like you would have to do with the older method.

To begin, do the following:

1. Make sure you are signed in to your Google account on your Nexus phone and that it is one of the above supported devices.
2. Head to the Android Beta site.
3. Log in with the same Google account that is on your device.

After that you’ll see all of the devices that are eligible (basically any Nexus device associated with that account that is on the supported list) and you’ll click Enroll Device on the one you want to use.

Keep in mind that if you opt-out from the beta program after this it will erase your device and get it back to a stable version of Android so perform any backups you need before clicking Enroll Device.

Flash Android N

Now, we can install the update on the phone just like any other OTA update.

1. On the phone pull down the notification shade and tap the gear to get to settings.
2. Go to About Phone and tap on System Update.
3. Tap Check for Update.
4. When it finds the Android N update, tap that and wait for it to download (best to be on Wifi for this as it is a big file and make sure you pretty charged up or plugged in to an outlet as it won’t let you start the update without doing that and it’s just a good idea).
5. After it downloads, tap Restart & Install and wait for that as well.

And that’s it, once it reboots you are running Android N. If you ever want to undo this, simply head back to the Android Beta page where you enrolled the device and select Unenroll Device and follow the steps there to get back to a stable version.

From now on, by the way, you’ll always get the latest version of Android directly on your device as it is ready which is just awesome frankly.

Let me know if this worked for you or if you are having issues in the comments below.