Install Official Android Nougat on Galaxy S7 Active SM-G891A

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Here’s a guide on how to install the official Android 7.0 Nougat update OTA on your Galaxy S7 Active SM-G891A powered by At&t.

Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Active, which comes under the umbrella of At&t is currently receiving the Android 7.0 Nougat update. After the update rolled out for non-branded variants of the Galaxy S7, it started making its way to all the carrier branded Galaxy S7s and Galaxy S7 Edge smartphones. You can easily update your waterproof smartphone to the latest and greatest Android version and you are just about to do that.

The process for updating your At&t S7 Active to Nougat is pretty simple. You have to flash a few files on your phone through the stock recovery. The number of files that you have to flash on your phone totally depends on which firmware you currently are. Rest assured, this tutorials is completely safe to follow and involves no risk at all. It won’t change the status of your phone, which means in any case you will stay completely stock and official. The only thing you need to be sure about is, you need to follow the instructions carefully.

Before we start updating the phone, here’s how you will download the appropriate file for your device. Let’s suppose your phone is currently running on G891AUCU1APE7, you will download all the files and flash them one by one from 1 – 6. If your phone is running on G891AUCS2APL1, you will only download the 5th file and flash that. The same goes for other version numbers, if you are running on 3rd firmware, you will download the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th files and flash them to reach the latest firmware.

Download the update files for your phone

1. SS-G891AUCU1APE7-to-U1APG7-UP: Download (G891AUCU1APE7 -> G891AUCU1APG7)
2. SS-G891AUCU1APG7-to-S1APH1-UP: Download (G891AUCU1APG7 -> G891AUCS1APH1)
3. SS-G891AUCS1APH1-to-S2API2: Download (G891AUCS1APH1 -> G891AUCS2API2)
4. SS-G891AUCS2API2-to-U2APK2: Download (G891AUCS2API2 -> G891AUCU2APK2)
5. SS-G891AUCU2APK2-to-S2APL1-UP:  Download (G891AUCU2APK2 -> G891AUCS2APL1)

6. SS-G891AUCS2APL1-to-U2BPL4-UP: Download (G891AUCS2APL1 -> G891AUCU2BPL4)

Go to your phone’s settings > about device > software info and have a look at the build number of your phone.

  1. If your phone’s build number is PE7, you will flash the files in this manner PG7 > PH1> PI > PK2, PL1 > PL4.
  2. If your phone’s build number is PG7, you will flash the files in this manner PH1 > PI > PK2, PL1 > PL4.
  3. If your phones build number is PH1, you will falsh the files in this manner  PI2 > PK2, PL1 > PL4.
  4. If your phone’s build number is PI2, you will flash the files in this manner PK2, PL1 > PL4.
  5. If your phone’s build number is PK2, you will flash PL1 > PL4.
  6. If your phone’s build number is PL1, you will only flash the PL4 file.

Rename the downloaded file to Update.zip.

Preparations

  1. The update is intended only for the Galaxy S7 Active SM-G891A. Do not try this on any other phone.
  2. Backup everything including text messages, contacts, call logs and media content.
  3. Make sure that your phone doesn’t say “custom” in the download menu. Here’s how to flash an official firmware on your Samsung Galaxy S7.
  4. Enable OEM Unlocking on your At&t Galaxy S7 Active.
  5. Disable the reactivation lock on your phone. To do so, go to settings < Lock Screen & Security > Find my mobile > disable reactivation lock.
  6. Decrypt your SD card. To do so, go to settings > Lock Screen & Security  > Encrypt sd card > DECRYPT. Enter your PIN or whatever it asks for in order to DECRYPT it now.

Install Official Android Nougat on Galaxy S7 Active SM-G891A

  1. Access your phone’s external SD card either on your phone or on your computer.
  2. Create a new folder named as “fota” in the root (main) directory of the external SD card.
  3. Copy the update.zip file that you got above in this “fota” folder.
  4. Turn off your phone now.
  5. Boot it into download mode. To do so, press the Volume Down + Power + Home Key. Upon getting a warning, press Volume Up to continue.
  6. In the download mode, make sure that the bootloader status is “Official” and not custom. If it says custom, then go back to the preparations and follow step# 4.
  7. Now boot into recovery mode. To do so, turn off your phone again. Now turn it on by pressing and holding Volume Up + Power + Home button. As the phone turns on, leave the keys.
  8. As your phone brings the recovery up, navigate using Volume Up/Down keys and press power key to select “apply update.zip from sd card”.
  9. Now in the apply update.zip from sd card menu, select the update.zip file that you copied to fota folder and press the power key once again.
  10. Press power key on the “Yes” option and it will quickly flash the OTA on your At&t Galaxy S7 Active.
  11. Keep flashing all the files until you’re done flashing the latest Nougat update.zip file on your phone.
  12. Once done flashing all files one by one, reboot your device and find it running Android Nougat.
  13. That’s all.

Found this method working well? Don’t forget to reach us out if you have got any queries. That’s all.

Credits

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Usama is a software engineer by profession and at TechBeasts.com he uses his expertise to solve everyday consumer tech problems with his main areas of interest being Android, iOS and Windows.

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