I used a Windows 11 PC to unlock the bootloader and used just powershell commands to force the previous image onto the device. I did not have to root the phone and did not use Magisk or Pixel Flasher.

⚠️ Warnings (Read First)

• This wipes ALL data (bootloader unlock + flashing). Back up photos, contacts, files before attempting.
• Downgrading carries brick risk. If something goes wrong mid-flash (poor data cable, wrong driver, interruption during the process), the phone may not boot.
• Banking apps and Google Wallet will stop working while the bootloader is unlocked. Relocking after a downgrade is risky on Pixel 4a (anti-rollback), so leave the bootloader unlocked.
• Do NOT touch the phone during flashing. If a menu appears on the phone screen and prompts you to press some button, DO NOT PRESS, wait and watch PowerShell only. Do not press anything on the phone until PowerShell says Finished and Press any key to exit.

Step 1: Download Factory Image & Android Platform Tools

• Download factory image: I used this 82902ea9 version (2.11 GB) sunfish-tq3a.230805.001.s1-factory-82902ea9.zip. Download this official S1 factory image from here.
• Check SHA256 for security verification after downloading. Open PowerShell (Windows Search → type "PowerShell" → Enter). Type the command below:

​

Get-FileHash 

• Then drag and drop the downloaded zip file into the PowerShell window (this auto-fills the path) Press Enter. PowerShell will output a hash value . Compare it exactly to this:
• 82902EA98C80F1A22706279A30D2BC46AA55CBE60703C9A02BA043BD052C6D99
• If it does not match exactly, stop. Delete the file and re-download from somewhere else.

1. Download Android platform-tools (around 8 MB) from Google's official developer site (search "Android platform-tools download"). Extract to a short path like C:\platform-tools.

Step 2: Enable Developer Options on Phone

1. Settings → About phone
2. Tap Build number 7 times until it says "You are now a developer" .
3. Go back → System → Developer options
4. Turn ON USB debugging
5. Turn ON OEM unlocking

Connect the phone to PC with a good data cable (not a charge-only cable). On the phone screen: a confirmation menu appears for USB debugging asking if you Trust this device. Press ALLOW ALWAYS.

Step 3: Unlock Bootloader (Wipes Data)

• Shift + Right cick inside your platform-tools folder (for example C:\platform-tools) and select Open PowerShell window here. Type:

​

adb devices

• You should see your device serial number. Then type on powershell:

​

adb reboot bootloader

• Wait for the phone to enter Fastboot screen. Then type on powershell:

​

fastboot flashing unlock

• On the phone screen: a confirmation menu appears.
• Use Volume Down to highlight "Unlock the bootloader".
• Press Power to confirm.
• Then wait. The phone wipes itself and reboots. Do not touch it until it reaches the setup screen.
• After setup, re-enable USB debugging (Developer options → USB debugging). Keep the data cable connected at all times.

Step 4: Flash the Factory Image

• Extract the downloaded factory image zip to a short folder, e.g. C:\s1. Inside there should be a folder containing flash-all.bat.
• Shift + Right cick inside this folder (e.g. C:\s1\sunfish-tq3a.230805.001.s1) and select Open PowerShell window here. Type:

​

adb devices

• You should see your device serial number. Then, to put the phone back into bootloader, type on powershell:

​

adb reboot bootloader

• Now type on powershell:

​

.\flash-all.bat

• Now do nothing on the phone. PowerShell will scroll lines like sending sparse..., OKAY. The phone screen may change, may show a Fastboot menu, may reboot. Ignore all of it. Only watch PowerShell.
• When PowerShell shows Finished. Total time: xxx and Press any key to exit, press any key to close the window . Phone will automatically restart. You do not need to do anything.

Step 5: Setup — Skip Wi-Fi

• When the setup wizard appears, skip Wi-Fi or cellular data. Stay offline. Finish setup to reach the home screen.

Step 6: Block Updates (Mandatory)

• Enable USB debugging again by enabling Developer options.
• Connect phone to PC, Shift+Right Click inside Platform Tools folder and enter adb device to find your phone.
• Then type on powershell:

​

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.gms/.update.SystemUpdateService

• Network level blocking: Use NextDNS or PiHole and add ota.googlezip.net to the denylist .

Step 7: Clear Downloaded Update Leftovers

• Settings → Apps → See all apps → Google Play Services → Storage & cache → Clear all data.

Step 8: Verify

• Settings → About phone → Build number. It should be:

​

TQ3A.230805.001.S1

• Leave Bootloader unlocked. Locking after a downgrade on 4a can brick due to anti-rollback. Google Photos Unlimited storage at compressed quality works. Banking apps won't.

My phone is working fine now!

Has anyone installed LineageOS 24.0 on the Pixel 4a yet? Is it running well, and have you noticed any issues?

Update: Cool, thanks for all the comments! I’m now on LineageOS 24 with GApps too. Everything went smoothly— I followed the official upgrade instructions, just like usual.

After 6 years, I finally have a new phone. I really loved my pixel experience but the newer pixels were not convincing enough to me. Especially the price point. I purchased my 4a for 30k INR and I think it was a sweet spot for for that kind of phone. And spending 40k and 50k+ for pixel felt too much now.

Moved to S25 and honestly loving it. The UI feels fresh and new. Battery might be an issue for many, but I am not a heavy user so I think it will be ok.

But the feel and size of the phone is amazing.

Some time ago, I got a Pixel 4a and I tried the stock ROM. After a while, I decided to try LineageOS, which also worked; I also experimented with root etc.

But then I tried putting postmarketOS (now known as Nura) on it. Their installer isn't supported officially on macOS, so I tried using OrbStack to install postmarketOS. It didn't work, so then I tried using AI to maybe install it manually (not proud of it; I have another laptop which has Linux on it now but it had Windows before and when I tried installing postmarketOS I probably didn't have Windows backed up so I didn't install Linux yet), but that broke things even more.

I tried restoring to the stock ROM, which worked, including recovery and fastboot, but booting into Android didn't work. My friend fixed it though. The stock ROM was working again.

I also wanted to try LineageOS, but I forgot to update the stock ROM in Android settings, so I broke it again... Then I restored to the stock ROM once again, and, it's basically the same as it was after flashing the stock ROM after trying postmarketOS.

If I make the slot bootable again (as I tried booting it several times so it made the slots unbootable) with fastboot set_active a and then rebooting with fastboot reboot it's able to show the Google logo, then it shows it again but with different colors and then changing the Google logo into a G, along with "Powered by Android" appearing at the bottom of the screen. It's supposed to show a progress bar under the G logo after some time, but it doesn't on my 4a, and instead reboots and goes into fastboot after 3 attempts.

I've tried some things but they didn't work. If you know how to fix the stock ROM, please let me know! It's the latest factory image.

Thanks in advance.

For the past 6 + years I have only used my phone to make calls and 2 factor authorization texts. It is in mint condition : ) Spectrum acquired Cox and later this week when I go in to switch Internet plans Spectrum is offering free mobile for a year. Current plan is Mint Mobile. Any of you use the Pixel with Spectrum's Verizon network and care to comment what if any problems I might encounter running Android 10. Upgrading the OS is a non starter for me. TIA.

I thought my Pixel 4a is dead. I thought it might never come back to life. but to my surprise, I noticed that the battery only degraded and the back shell. I’m going to change them very soon. I’ve ordered them from AliExpress like two different marketplace, AliExpress and Amazon. I’m gonna get them soon and I’m gonna reinstall, like replace the battery and the back shell and get a nice and good-looking cover for my phone so that it’s ready to use again. I’m gonna clean everything inside the phone, then like I’m gonna reset it and then give it to my sister, so that she can use it as her primary phone.

Actually, she was waiting for this phone for a long, long time. And she was telling me that she loves the camera of pixel for a, so she wants to use it to take pictures good pictures in nighttime and daytime as well, good for her. She’s, she’s gonna get it very soon. She’ll be very happy.

Pixel4a,pixel

Screen has started going black. Touch still appears to work. What happens is that during use the screen just goes completely black with no background glow, sometimes flickering beforehand. Pressing the power button several times eventually turns on the display again, but it usually dies again shortly after. For several weeks, after this happened the screen would return to a stable 'green mode' in which everything had a heavy green tint but it was at least usable. But now the green mode doesn't occur as often, leaving me with a phone that has a working display for 2 seconds before I have to press the power button repeatedly for 2 minutes to turn it back on again, and so on. Sometimes having it plugged into a fast charger helps, sometimes it doesn't, and less so recently.

Chatgpt can't decide if its a battery issue or the display controller. Battery life isn't yet horrendous. The overheat warning comes up more often than it did in the past, but I dont know if thats just the recent extreme weather .

Over the last month or so, my phone has started turning off the sound on texts, and my notifications from Signal and Facebook messenger. The only way I can get the sound back is to turn off the phone and turn it back on again. However, this only works for a few hours and I have to turn it off and on again. Is this happening to anyone else?

After holding onto my beloved Pixel 4a as my primary daily driver, I finally decided to take the leap today and had the battery replaced at an independent repair shop. My goal is to keep using this lightweight, compact phone for as long as possible.

To verify that the repair shop actually installed a brand new battery and didn't leave the old one in, I generated Android bug reports (dumpstate_board.txt) right before and immediately after the repair.

this overview was generated with gemini:

Here are the key diagnostic metrics compared side-by-side from the raw BMS (Battery Management System) data:

1. Battery Serial Number (POWER_SUPPLY_SERIAL_NUMBER)

• Old Battery: 13G8230020501AL0B580F7T...
• New Battery: 13G8230015901AA4AU2B49H...
• Result: A completely different hardware ID, confirming a physical replacement was performed.

2. Battery Revision / Batch Analysis

• Old Battery: Contains product code 8230020501 (LSN battery batch). This was the specific batch known for severe degradation and safety-throttling issues in system updates.
• New Battery: Contains product code 8230015901 (ATL battery batch). This is the good, unthrottled revision that does not suffer from the manufacturing defects of the LSN batch.

3. Battery Charge Cycles (POWER_SUPPLY_CYCLE_COUNT)

• Old Battery: 915 cycles
• New Battery: 0 cycles
• Result: Confirms the replacement is a factory-new cell, not a used pull from another device.

4. Full Charge Capacity (POWER_SUPPLY_CHARGE_FULL)

• Old Battery: 2,969 mAh (Design capacity: 3,265 mAh)
• New Battery: 3,261 mAh (Design capacity: 3,275 mAh)
• Result: Full original capacity restored to near-factory spec (~99.5% of design capacity).

5. Estimated Time to Empty (POWER_SUPPLY_TIME_TO_EMPTY_AVG)

• Old Battery: ~7,266 seconds (~2.0 hours under active load)
• New Battery: ~14,225 seconds (~3.95 hours under active load)
• Result: Estimated active runtime nearly doubled instantly at 53% state of charge.

Overall, the process went smoothly. I opted to keep the device powered off with the PIN locked during service, and everything was intact upon pickup. Looking forward to getting another few years out of this phone!

( SOLD )Selling my Google Pixel 4a 4G in good condition.

📱 Model: Pixel 4a 4G

📍 Location: Bengaluru

💰 Price: ₹ 8k

📦 Condition: good, volume buttons are not there.

🔋 Battery: Good Condition.

DM me if interested. Can share photos and details.

Hello, is anyone else experiencing a new round of bootloops on their Pixel 4a?

I survived the last issue with the wifi/location bug, and it worked well since then. But suddenly this morning my phone stopped working and went into a bootloop.

I did the ADB sideload reinstall and my phone is still in bootloop (safe mode screen flashes for an instant and then restarts). I tried an ADB reboot but nothing worked.

Anyone else have a new issue?

(I am From jaipur India)

I’ve checked a few local repair shops, but they don’t have the battery

Does the official Google service centre still provide battery replacement for the Pixel 4a? If yes, what’s the process and approximate cost?

Any recommendations for a reliable repair centre would be appreciated

A couple of days ago I got a ? On my batty I left it for 2 days and nothing changed. So I thought maybe shutting down my phone will fix it but now it won’t turn on. It just shows a ? Symbol on a battery. Do anyone know what or how I should do / fix it

Hey
I’m looking for a pixel 4a in working condition.
If anyone can sell their phone at a reasonable price I would like to buy.

Location: Hyderabad, India.

Selling my Pixel 4a in Bangalore. Please go through the description and reach out, if interested.

Can Google Create this masterpiece again. Pixel 4a was one of the best in lineup. I miss this phone badly. Is there any way we can crowdfund this or someone can reach out to google to create this gem again

I want to replace my update affected LSN battery with an ATL manufactured one. Does anyone know where can I find one? All the online sellers are selling the LSN one with no return policy so can't take that risk. I sent it to service but they asked for 7k as they said they have to replace the back cover and a few other parts as well which I dont' want to so I got it back. I can do a DIY repair but need the battery, any leads would be appreciated. Thanks

It was a hard decision as I was planning to fix my old pixel but there was a problem with getting a screen. thanks to this sub I have chosen the model, it's been a week with s23 now, so i did not experience everything but can compare all the basic functionality. looking forward to your questions