How to install Android P beta on the vivo X21

This quick guide will walk you through the process of installing Android P on your vivo X21 and vivo X21 UD. Don’t worry, it’s easy!

Read: vivo X21 review – Fast and fun, but not without compromises

Even for folks who aren’t familiar with rooting and ROMing, vivo makes it pretty easy to install Android P on the vivo X21. You just need to download the image from vivo’s developer site, copy it to a folder on your device, and open it. That’s a welcome change from other devices, like Essential Phone, which make you jump through hoops to install Android P.

There are two versions of vivo X21: the regular version known simply as vivo X21 and a version with an under-display fingerprint scanner known as vivo X21 UD. Luckily, both versions share the same process of flashing Android P beta. You don’t need to worry about file versions either, as both models use the same image.

Without further ado, here’s how to install Android P on the vivo X21 and vivo X21 UD.

How to get Android P beta on the vivo X21/UD

Before you begin, make sure to back up all the data you want to keep, as the Android P installation process wipes the phone.

Here are the Android P installation instructions, as outlined by vivo on its developer website:

• Step 1: Download the Android P beta (developer preview) image by clicking on this download link. You need to download the image on your computer. The file is called “PD1728_A_3.0.13-update-full_1525666147” and is roughly 2.3GB in size. Pro tip, start downloading as soon as you can, as transfer speeds are pretty low.
• Step 2: Connect your phone to the PC via microUSB (in file transfer mode) and copy the downloaded system image to the top (“root”) directory of the phone’s internal storage.
• Step 3: Using the phone’s default file manager, navigate to the downloaded system image on your vivo X21 and tap on the file. This should begin the installation process.

There you have it, how to get Android P beta on the vivo X21 in just a few steps. So what’s new in Android P? We have a full rundown of the features here.