Most of the devices are tested with LineageOS (official and some unofficial releases) as well as LineageOS for MicroG or PixelExperience when available. But you can use the OpenAndroidInstaller to install all kinds of custom Android ROMs.
If your device is currently not supported, you have basically two options.
If you have some experience with flashing Android ROMs, you can find more details on how to contribute here: How to contribute?
You can also open a github issue and ask for support for your device. There might be reasons, that your device is not supported and likely will not get support.
No. Everything on the device will be deleted. Make your own backup manually.
Don't rely on automatic backup solutions, especially vendor ones since they will most likely not work afterwards.
Addons are optional, additional apps and services that are useful to have. Most notable Google Apps and Services as well as MicroG to replace them or the F-Droid FOSS App-Store.
There are different packages of Google Apps available.
You can find out more about MicroG here: MicroG. The recommended way to install MicroG is to use the zip file provided here: FriendlyNeighborhoodShane/MinMicroG-abuse-CI. The best way to get an installable zip for F-Droid can be found here: F-Droid App-Store.
While we don't like Google apps, some people feel that they need them to leverage the full experience of their Android devices. We believe people should be free to do what they want with their devices. So installing them is supported as well.
It is still recommended to use ROMs with built-in Google Apps like PixelExperience.
Sometimes things will hang with showing "waiting-for-device" in the "Advanced output" view or fail to send the recovery or image to the device correctly.
What you can do in this case:
Sometimes the selected ROM image will not boot properly. Usually, in this case, the image is not suited for the specific device or is broken.
What you can do in this case:
Of course, there are other things that can go wrong. If none of the above helps, write an e-mail or raise an issue on GitHub.
First of all, this tool will not help you bypass any vendor locked bootloaders in non-official ways.
Devices by Samsung, Google, OnePlus, Fairphone and others make it relatively easy to unlock the bootloader and get good support in the installer.
For some devices, it is necessary to unlock the bootloader manually. You usually need to create an account on the manufacturer's website, wait for a certain time and obtain a code from there. OpenAndroidInstaller will try to guide you as far as possible. These vendors include Sony, Motorola and Xiaomi amongst others.
Other phone manufacturers no longer allow you to unlock the bootloader. Nothing can be done if you have not unlocked your device in time. These manufacturers include Huawei, Honor, LG and ASUS. Support for these manufacturers will always be very limited.
Here is a brief overview of the bootloader policies of some of the most popular brands (may be incomplete/inaccurate):
| Brand | Flashing tool | Unlocking Method | Loss of guarantee* | Supported models |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fastboot | OEM/Flashing unlock | No | Pixel and Nexus | |
| Samsung | ODIN or Heimdall | Download mode | Yes | Galaxy S and A series (Increasing complexity on and after S10) |
| OnePlus | Fastboot | OEM/Flashing unlock | No | All |
| Fairphone | Fastboot | Code
from manufacturer (Already unlocked until FP2) |
No | All |
| Xiaomi | Fastboot | Mi Unlock Tool | Yes | Mi 4c, Redmi Note 3, Mi Note Pro, Redmi 3, Mi 4S, Mi 5 and all devices from 2016 onwards |
| Motorola | Fastboot | Code from manufacturer | Yes | Almost all except carrier specific models (e.g. Verizon, AT&T, Tracfone) and certain other models |
| Sony | Fastboot | Code from manufacturer | Yes | All except XQ-CT62 (1Ⅳ US) & XQ-CQ62 (5Ⅳ US) |
| Huawei | Fastboot | No official codes since 2017/2018 (Unofficial methods available) |
Yes | Mate 9/9Pro, P10/P10Plus |
| Honor | Fastboot | No official codes since 2017/2018 (Unofficial methods available) |
Yes | Honor 8 |
| LG | Fastboot | Impossible since December 2021 | Yes | |
| ASUS | Fastboot | Impossible since May 2023 (ASUS unlocking App) | Yes |
* In the EU you won't loose your standard 2 years of the warranty when you unlock your bootloader, flash your device or root it. (source)
You can find more information about the brands and their bootloader policies here (in French).
In some virus scanners the OpenAndroidInstaller shows up as a virus or trojan. This is a false positive. We
explain the issue here:
The code and build process of the distributed files is completely open source and can be found on GitHub. So
people can verify that it's not malicious software.
The Installer is bundled and compiled python code made into an executable file. This is done with pyinstaller. As it turns out, false positive issues are known and people encounter them regularly.
As far as we know, there is no real solution to this issue.
It seems like sometimes fastboot (the tool used for flashing the recovery) doesn't work properly. A possible solution weirdly can be to try a different USB-cable and/or different USB-Ports.
For the Flatpak, the logs are located in
~/.var/app/org.openandroidinstaller.OpenAndroidInstaller/data/openandroidinstaller.log.
If you are running the executable directly, the logs are located in the same directory as the executable.
This error (and similar dll issues) are usually resolved by installing Visual C++
Redistributable für Visual Studio 2012. Make sure to also install the 32-bit version, named
VSU4\vcredist_x86.exe, since heimdall runs on 32 bit. (To be sure, reboot the PC before trying the
Installer again.).