As we in. closer and closer the ultimate android q release, the time for developers to update their applications shortens. though android 9 Pie (API level 28) has nevertheless to succeed in the vast majority of devices, Google Play’s API level needs, that you must already be awake to, can force you to focus on API level 29 in 2020.
If you haven’t already updated your app to focus on android 9 Pie, then you’ve got till August if you plan on launching a brand new app or till November if you intend on change an existing app.
For those of you WHO want to get started on developing for the next android version, you’ll be able to already take a look at your app on the android Studio emulator or on physical hardware if you own any Google component smartphone.
This year, though, Google is providing developers in our own way to check their apps against the most recent android version: flashing an android q beta GSI onto a Project Treble-compatible device.
Project Treble may be a major initiative to boost the speed at that smartphone device makers will push software and security updates.
Table of Contents
Requirements
Before we tend to go any further, it’s price mentioning that flashing a GSI would force you to perform a full wipe of the userdata partition. this suggests that you just can lose all photos, videos, music, documents, or
the rest on the device’s internal and external (/data/media) storage. Thus, creating an off-device backup before going any longer is extremely suggested.
Next, detain mind that these GSIs haven’t passed CTS, therefore if your app uses the SafetyNet Attestation API to check for device integrity with a CTS profile match, then that won’t work.
Also, these builds aren’t meant for daily use, therefore don’t be surprised if one or additional basic hardware functions don’t work on prime of the already documented bugs in android q.
Google has already listed many noted issues with the GSI, that you’ll be able to realize here. Any new bugs that you just realize should be filed here.
Confirming Treble-compatibility
Run the following command:
adb shell getprop ro.treble.enabledIf the response is false, then your device is not Project Treble compatible, and you should not continue. If the response is true, then you’re free to move on.
Next, check for cross-version support by running these commands:
adb shell
cat /system/etc/ld.config.28.txt | grep -A 20 "\[vendor\]"In the output, look for the section [vendor], and then within that section, look for namespace.default.isolated. If the value for that attribute is true, then your device should support booting the Android Q GSI on top of an Android 9 Pie vendor image. If the value is false, then your device can only use the GSI for the same on-device version of the OS.
Downloading the GSI
Download links for official builds of the android q beta GSI are accessible from Google here. you must transfer the suitable version supported your device’s design, that you found out within the previous step.
The transfer are fairly large if you transfer the build with GMS, or Google Mobile Services, one thing we extremely recommend therefore you can test your app on a build with Google Play Services.
Once the file has finished downloading, you’ll be able to unzip it. Contained inside are 2 files, system.img, and vbmeta.img.
Flashing the GSI
- Reboot to your device’s bootloader using either a button combination or by issuing the command:
adb reboot bootloader - Next, we need to disable Android Verified Boot (AVB). You can do this by entering the following command:
fastboot flash vbmeta vbmeta.img - Next, let’s wipe the system partition:
fastboot erase system - We can finally flash the Android Q GSI with:
fastboot flash system system.img - Once that’s done, wipe the userdata partition with:
fastboot -w - Reboot your device using either the power button or entering:
fastboot reboot
Hopefully, it should boot after a few minutes. These steps were validated on a Pixel 3 XL, but should work universally. We can verify that the Android Q beta 2 GSI does not boot on the OnePlus 6T, but it does boot on the Xiaomi Mi 9. It may work on the Sony Xperia XZ3, but we’re told that it doesn’t boot on the Moto G7. Your mileage may vary as Google’s requirements only confirm same OS version GSI compatibility.
