New Pixel 6a update will let you install your choice of Android software

Google Pixel 6a recently began shipping in India at an unamusingly high price. As an Android phone, users were expecting to tinker with the new Pixel 6a, only to find they could not. Now, Google is rolling out an update to fix an issue that did not allow users to unlock the bootloader and install an Android software of their choice. The first update that began rolling out to Pixel 6a last week includes the fix. Also Read – How to turn on speed limit warning on Google Maps

A bootloader is essentially a piece of software that, when you turn on a device, loads the software. Unlocking the bootloader gives you full control over your phone’s software. This is a process called rooting, but for it to work, the phone needs to support the unlocking of the bootloader. The Pixel 6a had been lacking that support until now. Also Read – Google Pixel 6a can be unlocked by any fingerprint, say some users: Details here

Rooting, or unlocking the bootloader, will let you install modded versions of Android, called ROMs. So, essentially, you could install your preferred choice of Android software on the Pixel 6a. And this is different from other Android phones. Unlike other OEMs, Google lets you unlock every bit of the software and lets you customise it. While that aspect may draw some criticism, it is one of the few things that Android purists ask for. Well, Google has now delivered. Also Read – Google has no plans of ‘shutting down’ its gaming platform Google Stadia

A Google spokesperson told Android Police that the latest Pixel 6a update brings a fix to the problem that prevented the unlocking of the bootloader. But that same is not a part of the patch notes of the update. Maybe because Google does not want many people to know that the bootloader can now be unlocked. One of the biggest selling points of the Pixel phones, cameras aside, is the clean and stock software.

As for the update, Google said the new Pixel 6a update will continue to roll out over the next week. That, of course, will depend on your carrier. In the case of India, Google has not said a word about the rollout timeframe, but hopefully, users in India should expect the update soon.

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