Android 12L

Android 12L beta on Pixel offers no official exit path, but there’s a workaround

Ben Schoon | Mar 14 2022 - 7:02 am PT

Android 12L has been in beta for a few months, but it finally saw its formal release early last week. However, Pixel owners who had enrolled in the Android 12L beta were left with a dilemma, as there was no clear way to exit the beta track. As it turns out, there is a solution.

Normally, Android versions betas are easy to get on board with, but difficult to exit without waiting things out. The only way to roll back to an older version of Android, technically, also wipes your device in the process. In the case of most beta programs, that’s not necessary, as the stable release of that beta version is delivered to your device when the final version is released. Android 12, for instance, delivered its stable version to Pixel owners in the beta last October.

That wasn’t the case with the Android 12L beta, though. Google immediately opened up a new beta program for its June Feature Drop, which kept the cycle going for Pixel owners who had enrolled in the Android 12L beta. As such, they couldn’t easily move to the stable release, at least by official means.

We confirmed as much with Google last week, as the company confirmed to us that opting out of the Android Beta Program following the stable release of Android 12L would wipe your smartphone, and not simply exit the beta to install the stable 12L update. Our Abner Li reports:

Google confirmed to us that after opting out, “all user data on the device will be wiped.” There is no “window of opportunity to unenroll without wiping your device” like there was following the public launch of Android 12 in October but before the 12L Beta started in December.

That’s the bad news. The good news, though, is that there is a workaround to get Android 12L’s stable release on your Pixel, should you have been caught up in this newfound messy beta program. If you have not already upgraded to the QPR3 Beta, you can simply flash the stable Android 12L OTA on your device (Pixel 6 aside, for now). A handful of users on the Android Beta subreddit confirmed that this method works, and doesn’t wipe your data. You can see more on how to flash the Android 12L stable release on your Pixel here. To reiterate, this does not work if you have already installed the QPR3 (June Feature Drop) Beta on your device.

Of course, after you arrive on the stable Android 12L release, you need to opt out from the beta program to avoid being pushed further beta releases.