As the first phones to be made by Google, the new Pixel and Pixel XL have several slick customizations that you won’t find on any other Android device. There’s tons of functional stuff like the new Google Assistant and a much-improved camera app, but also a few aesthetic tweaks to help class up the joint.
If you manage to get your hands on a Pixel, the first visual improvement you’ll notice is an all-new boot animation. Four colored dots whimsically bounce against a solid white background, then swirl around and morph into the new Google “G” logo, making it obvious that Google put some serious effort into this new animation.
But if you balked at the Pixel’s $649 starting price, you don’t have to miss out on this polished new animation. The folks at Verdictforu pulled the Pixel’s bootanimation.zip file out of a leaked system dump, so now, you can get a taste of the Pixel experience on any rooted Android device.
Requirements
Step 1: Download the Boot Animation
First things first, you’ll need to download the Pixel’s new boot animation file. It’s a ZIP, but it’s not flashable, so simply download the file to your phone’s SD card or internal storage.
Step 2: Rename Your Old Boot Animation File
Next up, open your favorite root file browser and head to the /system/media folder on your root partition, then make sure it’s mounted as read/write. From here, long-press the existing bootanimation.zip file, then select “Rename” from the context menu. Next, simply add a “.bak” to the end of the file name, meaning the file should now be called bootanimation.zip.bak.
Step 3: Copy the New Boot Animation File & Set Permissions
Next up, head to the Download folder on your SD card or internal storage partition. From here, long-press the bootanimation.zip file that you downloaded in Step 1, then press “Copy.” After that, head back to the /system/media folder, then paste the new file in this location.
Next, long-press the newly-copied bootanimation.zip file, then choose “Permissions” from the context menu. From here, make sure that the Owner category is set to “Read/Write/Execute,” while all other categories are set to just “Read.”
Step 4: Reboot & Enjoy
When you’re done there, simply reboot your phone, and you’ll be greeted by the new boot animation. As you can see in the GIF below, it’s a playful, yet sophisticated look—but you didn’t have to pay $649 to get it.
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