Are you looking to update your phone? Then here is the easiest way to update your phone with minimal effort. The situation arises when you can’t download update to your phone, or the downloaded update cannot be installed on your phone. In this case, you can use the ADB sideload method to update your phone by downloading the update zip file to your computer. In this guide, you will learn what is ADB sideload and how to apply update from ADB sideload.
What is ADB?
Android Debug Bridge (ADB) is a new method included in AOSP from the android jellybean version. Since the v4.3 version, adb comes by default to all Android phones. With the ADB, one can do many tasks on your phone with just tiny command lines.
Applying an update to an Android phone just got easier for developers and ordinary users like me. They can now apply update from the ADB method without waiting for an OTA update. You can push the update file with just one command.
Advantages of ADB system –
- Push files to the system with just command lines
- Pull files from the system with command lines
- There is no need to save the file on your phone to apply update from the ADB sideload method.
Download ADB Drivers for Windows and MAC –
To update your phone using ADB sideload, you need ADB drivers installed on your PC. We have covered this part also. Download ADB drivers and know how to install them on your PC.
Download ADB drivers for Windows –
Download ADB drivers for Windows from here
How to install ADB drivers for Windows 7/8/10/11
For installing ADB drivers on your PC, you need to enable USB debugging from your phone. To enable it, go to settings-about – tap on build number seven times- go back- click on the developers’ option- enable USB debugging.
- Download the driver’s zip file from the above download button.
- Extract the files using WinRAR/WinZip
- Click on ADB drivers universal EXE file.
- Now connect your device to your PC using the USB cable
- Once the device is connected, the ADB tool shows your phone’s manufacturer name and status (whether ADB drivers are installed or not)
- Now, click on the install button and wait for the process to complete.
- From your phone, a popup message shows to ask Allows USB debugging. Click Yes.
Once done, ADB drivers are now successfully installed on your PC. You can use your windows pc to apply update from ADB sideload.
If you can’t install adb drivers on windows 10 or 8 , you need to disable driver signature enforcement from windows settings. You can disable this signature by going into windows advanced boot options – startup settings. Now restart your pc and enter 7 or F7 to disable driver signature enforcement.
Download ADB drivers for MAC –
Download adb drivers for MAC from here
How to install ADB drivers for MAC?
- Download the drivers zip file from the above download button.
- Extract the zip file and remember the extracted folder location.
- Open a terminal window.
- Type = cd / path-to-ADB-folder. E.g., if you downloaded the file to the desktop, then type
cd /Users/Abhijeet/Desktop/platform-tools/
- Now, connect your device to your Mac using the Supported USB cable.
- Now, in the terminal window, type –
adb devices
- Click on OK when a popup screen appears on your device to allow USB debugging.
- Again, type ADB devices, and see the device listed in the terminal window. (with some random number)
Now you can run ADB commands on your MAC PC for android phones to apply update from ADB sideload.
How to apply update from ADB sideload?
Now that you have installed ADB drivers on your Windows/Mac PC, you can easily sideload an update to your phone using the following method.
- At first, you need to download an update zip file of your phone. You can head over to XDA to find your phone’s dedicated forum and update the zip file.
- Connect your phone to your windows/Mac PC using the USB cable.
- Rename the downloaded zip file to update.zip
- Now, copy the update zip file to the desktop.
- Now for windows – on the desktop, shift + right-click simultaneously, select “open command window here” or “Open PowerShell here”.
- For Mac – open the terminal by pressing right-click on the desktop and selecting terminal.
- From the command terminal, type –
adb devices
- Allow USB debugging and select always allow from the popup window on your phone.
- Now, type –
adb reboot recovery
- Once your phone is in recovery mode, select “apply update from fast boot“.
- Now, on the terminal window, type-
adb sideload update.zip
- Wait for the flashing process to complete.
Your device is now updated using the ADB sideload method, and you can now run updated software on your phone.
FAQ –
How install OTA update using ADB?
You can instal OTA update using adb sideload method. You just need to locate the OTA ZIP file location on your smartphone and then copy the file to your computer. You can then follow the ad sideload update.zip command to update your phone from the computer.
How do I sideload Android updates?
You can download the ZIP file of the latest update from the manufacturer's website and then perform an adb sideload command to begin the phone update process.
What does apply update from ADB mean on Android?
Apply update from ADB simply means that you can update your phone via PC using the Android Debugging tool. If the OTA update takes longer, you can download the update zip file from the manufacturer's website and update the phone by performing simple adb commands.
What is a side load update?
Sideloading update means you can update your phone using the computer. adb sideload is android feature which lets you control and perform some task on android phone from your computer.
Summary –
ADB is the new method to perform a system-level task for your android phone using a PC through a command line. ADB helps to apply update from ADB sideload method for updating your phone to the latest version when you can’t update your phone from the OTA method. This guide also explains how to install ADB drivers on Windows and Mac PC before you apply update from ADB sideload method.