Test builds, for evaluation only
Install from your browser
Put OBSIDIAN on a Pixel 8 from this page, using Chrome, Edge or Brave on a computer. There is nothing to install on the computer and nothing to type. Everything on the phone is erased.
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- 1
Get the phone ready
On the phone, open Settings, go to About phone, and tap Build number seven times. Go back to Settings, then System, then Developer options, and turn on OEM unlocking. The phone needs to be on Wi-Fi for this. Check your phone first if you are not sure it is a Pixel 8.
- 2
Start it in bootloader mode
Turn the phone off. Hold Volume Down and press Power until a screen with a start arrow appears. Connect it straight to the computer with the cable that came with it, not through a hub.
- 3
Connect
Your browser will ask which device this page may use. Choose the phone.
- 4
Unlock the bootloader
This lets a different operating system be installed, and it erases the phone. You confirm it on the phone itself.
- 5
Download OBSIDIAN
About 2 GB, from this site. It is checked against the published SHA-256 as it arrives, and it is not used unless it matches.
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Install
Takes about ten minutes. The phone restarts several times on its own. Keep it plugged in and keep this page open.
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First start
The first start takes a few minutes. The phone sets itself up while you wait: it installs Tor Browser and takes the settings that keep it locked down. Then set a screen PIN, open the chat app and choose a username. Your keys are made on the phone at that moment.
Leave the bootloader unlocked. These are test builds, signed with test keys, and a phone locked to an operating system it cannot verify refuses to start. The phone shows a warning when it starts because of this. Locking comes with the first proper release.
If something goes wrong
The phone is not in the list
Check it shows the start arrow screen, and that the cable goes straight into the computer. On Linux, set up USB access first, as described on the install page. Windows 10 and 11 need nothing extra at this stage.
On Windows it stops at the fastbootd screen
Partway through, the phone switches to a screen titled fastbootd, and some Windows computers do not attach a driver to it. Open Device Manager and right-click Pixel 8, which has a yellow warning sign. Choose Update driver, then Browse my computer, then Let me pick. Pick Universal Serial Bus devices, then WinUsb Device in both lists, and confirm. Then press Reconnect. Each computer needs this only once.
It says the phone is in use
Another program is holding it. Usually that is adb, which keeps running in the background even after its window is closed: run adb kill-server, or restart the computer. Then unplug the phone, plug it back in, and connect again.
It stopped part way
Nothing is lost by starting again. Put the phone back into bootloader mode, connect, and install again. The download is kept until you close this page.
The phone says it is corrupt
That is expected after an install stops part way: the phone has the new start-up files but not yet the new system, and they do not match. Hold Power and Volume Down until the start arrow screen appears, then install again.
Going back to normal Android
You can put Google's software back at any time. The install page shows how.