Get Android Pie GSI on any Android phone [Project Treble]

The Android Pie Generic System Image has been released. Android Pie GSI is based on the AOSP. It’s time to take the Project Treble supported phone to the work it was meant for. The Android Pie GSI is built by XDA phhusson, who previously built the LineageOS and Resurrection Remix GSIs as well. The Android Pie GSI can be installed on the phones that official support Project Treble and also the phones that were made compatible with Project Treble unofficially.

Android Pie GSI AOSP Experimental ROM

Android Pie GSI is in the experimental stages. That features that work in this ROM completely depends on the device. For example, the ROM runs perfectly fine on some devices, and on some devices, some of its features do not work.

Here is what doesn’t work in this GSI at the moment.

• RIL on MTK phones running Android Oreo
• Hotspot
• NFC
• Front Camera on Razer hone
• Stock AOSP Camera on some phones – This can be fixed by using OpenCamera app.
• Android 9 Vendor
• Graphics Glitches on Moto E5

What works:

• Everything that is not mentioned above.

These are the devices that have already been tested with Android 9 Pie GSI

1. Galaxy S9 Plus – Exynos
2. OnePlus 6
3. Blackview A20
4. Cubot X18 Plus
5. Pixel 2 XL
6. Koolnee Rainbow
7. Moto E5
8. Razer Phone
9. Huawei Mate 9
10. Huawei View 10
11. Allview V3 Viper

The above-mentioned phones are the ones on which the users installed Android Pie GSI and found it working well. If you have Android-Oreo powered phone, you can check it for Android Treble support. If your Android phone supports the Project Treble, you can go ahead and give a try to the Android Pie GSI on your phone.

Here are the guides:

• List of Project Treble supported Android phones
• How to check Android phone for Project Treble support

Before installing the Android Pie GSI, make sure that your phone supports Project Treble.

Get Android Pie GSI on any Android phone

Preparations to install Android Pie GSI on Android

• Your phone must support Project Treble. The guides are linked above.
• The bootloader of your phone must be unlocked.
• The Android phone you are using must have a TWRP recovery installed on it.
• Backup each and everything from your Android phone.
• Follow all the instructions carefully now.

Note: Unlocking the bootloader and flashing TWRP recovery voids the warranty of an Android phone. Furthermore, this ROM is not fully stable. Make sure that you understand all the risks involved. Flash the ROM at your own risk.

Download required to get Android Pie GSI

Download the AOSP Android Pie GSI ROM according to your phone’s architecture. If you are not sure what architecture your phone is running on, check out this guide: How to check which of the Processor, ARM, ARM64 or x86, powers your smartphone.

• system-arm-aonly-vanilla-nosu.img.xz
• system-arm64-ab-vanilla-nosu.img.xz
• system-arm64-aonly-vanilla-nosu.img.xz

Extract the downloaded .xz file to get the .img file. Copy the .img file to your phone’s internal or external storage.

• Download the latest Magisk.zip file. Copy it to your phone as well.

Follow these instructions now to get Android Pie GSI on any Android phone.

Install Android Pie GSI on your phone

1. On your phone, boot into the TWRP custom recovery.
2. In the recovery, click on Install > Install Zip > Install Image.
3. Now locate and select the ROM.img file that you downloaded above.
4. Select System Partition when it asks the location to flash the ROM.
5. Similarly, go to Install again. Install Zip > Locate Magisk.zip file and flash it.
6. Once done flashing, go to Wipe > Advanced Wipe > Select Cache & Dalvik Cache > Swipe screen to wipe.
7. Reboot into the system now.

That’s all with the installation of Android Pie GSI on the phone. This ROM doesn’t have Gapps at the moment. That is because of the ROM is in experimental stages. The ROM will have the gapps support once it enters its stable stage. For now, the ROM is good enough to get a glimpse of Android Pie on the phone. Some users have even reported the ROM to be running so well that they decided to keep it as a daily driver.

If you have any queries, feel free to reach out to me through the comments section below.