OnePlus recently rolled the Android 12 beta update for the OnePlus Nord devices globally which brings a new revamped UI, new notification style, privacy dashboard, and many more to the table. If you have installed Android 12 and want to downgrade back to Android 11, then this guide is for you.
As we all know, the Android 12 may contain bugs that can make your device unstable to use as a daily driver. In this tutorial, we will guide you on how to roll back from Android 12 to Android 11 on the OnePlus Nord. This guide is easy to follow, all you need is a computer with a working USB cable to connect your device to the computer.
OnePlus Nord Device Overview:
OnePlus Nord is powered by the Snapdragon 765G chipset which is 5G enabled. The phone is coupled with 6-12 GB of RAM and offers storage options of 64/128/256 GB. OnePlus Nord does not have a dedicated microSD card slot. The phone sports a 6.44-inch display with 1080 x 2400 pixels, a 20:9 ratio, and 408 PPI. The device has the protection of Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and features a 90Hz refresh rate with
HDR10+ display.
It comes with Android 10 OxygenOS 10 out of the box and with a remarkable OnePlus software update policy, this phone is eligible to receive Android 11, 12, and even 13 updates, whenever that comes out. FYI, OnePlus offers 3 major firmware updates along with 3 years of security updates, which is the best in class alongside Google Pixel.
In the camera department, OnePlus Nord features a quad-camera setup. It has a 48 MP primary lens, 8 MP ultrawide, 5 MP depth, and 2 MP microlens. It can record 4K video @30fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, and also has gyro-EIS. In the front, a dual-camera setup is housed in a dual-punch hole display. OnePlus Nord comes with an under-display fingerprint scanner, and a 4115 mAh battery with Fast charging support up to 30W.
Downgrade OnePlus Nord from Android 12 to Android 11
First of all, download the appropriate firmware package for your device from the below link. Once that is done, proceed with the instructions and steps that follow.
Pre-Requirements:
- Supported device: OnePlus Nord
- Make sure to charge your device more than 50%
- You need a PC or Laptop with a USB cable.
- Take a complete backup using any method given below
- Download Drivers: Qualcomm USB Drivers and OnePlus USB Drivers
Download Rollback Package
- Device: OnePlus Nord
- Download: Link
Now that you have downloaded the rollback package from the above section, just create a complete device backup before proceeding with the below-mentioned steps. This is because the installation steps require a wipe of the data. Once you have done so, here is everything you need to be aware of regarding the downgrade of the OnePlus Nord from Android 12 to Android 11.
Downgrade Instructions
- First of all, Turn off your device.
- Now reboot your phone into bootloader mode by pressing and holding the VOLUME UP and POWER buttons simultaneously.
- Now connect your device to your PC using the USB cable.
- Open the extracted firmware folder to flash it using fastboot mode.
- Enter the below code to boot your device into fastbootd mode.
fastboot -w
3. Now flash the following files by entering the code
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash cpucp cpucp.img
fastboot flash dtbo dtbo.img
fastboot flash modem modem.img
fastboot flash oplusstanvbk oplusstanvbk.img
fastboot flash oplus_sec oplus_sec.img
fastboot flash qweslicstore qweslicstore.img
fastboot flash shrm shrm.img
fastboot flash splash splash.img
fastboot flash vbmeta vbmeta.img
fastboot flash vbmeta_vendor vbmeta_vendor.img
fastboot flash vbmeta_system vbmeta_system.img
fastboot flash vendor_boot vendor_boot.img
fastboot flash vm-bootsys vm-bootsys.img
4. Now reboot into userspace fastboot, aka fastbootd. If you don’t do this, the remaining files cannot be flashed:
fastboot reboot fastboot
5. Flash the remaining files:
fastboot flash abl abl.img
fastboot flash aop aop.img
fastboot flash bluetooth bluetooth.img
fastboot flash devcfg devcfg.img
fastboot flash dsp dsp.img
fastboot flash featenabler featenabler.img
fastboot flash hyp hyp.img
fastboot flash imagefv imagefv.img
fastboot flash keymaster keymaster.img
fastboot flash multiimgoem multiimgoem.img
fastboot flash qupfw qupfw.img
fastboot flash tz tz.img
fastboot flash uefisecapp uefisecapp.img
fastboot flash xbl xbl.img
fastboot flash xbl_config xbl_config.img
fastboot flash product product.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash system_ext system_ext.img
fastboot flash vendor vendor.img
fastboot flash odm odm.img
6. Now reboot your device into the system using the below fastboot command:
fastboot reboot
7. If everything worked your phone should now boot into OxygenOS.
The files will be flashed to your currently active boot slot. If any of them fail to flash, switch to the other slot and start over from the beginning. I wasn’t able to flash ODM, product, system, system_ext, and vendor to slot a, and had to use slot b instead. To check the current slot:
fastboot getvar current-slot
To switch slots:
fastboot --set-active=a
or
fastboot --set-active=b
So this was all from this guide on how to downgrade or roll back from Android 12 to Android 10 stable build on your OnePlus Nord devices. The first boot after the rollback could up some time, this is completely normal. Since a device reset has been taken place as well, you might have to set it up from scratch. Rounding up, here are some iPhone Tips and Tricks, PC tips and tricks, and Android Tips and Tricks that deserve your attention too.
I tried to perform this downgrade on my new Nord n10 5g but the System Update setting for local upgrades is telling me to place the update file in the root of storage. So I had it there, but the system would not find it automatically and there was no option to browse and select. Should I be renaming the file to something else, that will be recognizable as a system update? Thanks for any help.