As a part of the May 2025 update for Pixel devices, Google has added a note/warning to the factory image page, letting owners of the Pixel 6 and Pixel 8 know that they are getting a new bootloader and can’t rollback to older versions of Android 15 once they update to this latest build.
For many of you, especially those who have no idea how to rollback to an older version of Android or flash a factory image, none of this will matter. However, there are those of you who like to tinker and you should probably be aware of this. There’s always a chance that the May update does something you don’t like, which leads to you considering rolling back to the previous build, which would now not work, according to Google.
On the factory images page for Pixel devices, Google says that the May 2025 update for the Pixel 6, 6 Pro, and 6a, as well as the Pixel 8, 8 Pro, and 8a contain a “bootloader update that increments the anti-roll back version for the bootloader.” This change means that you can’t flash and boot older Android 15 builds going forward. Again, not many of you will ever need to, so this is just a bit of info to know:
Warning: The May 2025 update for Pixel 6 (6, 6 Pro, 6a) and Pixel 8 (8, 8 Pro, 8a) devices contains a bootloader update that increments the anti-roll back version for the bootloader. This prevents the device from rolling back to previous vulnerable versions of the bootloader. After flashing the May 2025 update on these devices you won’t be able to flash and boot older Android 15 builds.
Google describes a way to get around running into issues with this change, including flashing an OTA image of the newest build to give you a bootable bootloader in the inactive slot of your device (a seamless updates thing). This would allow you to fix your device if running into flashing issues.
For more info, head over to the factory images page for Pixel devices.
