[Guide] How to root the Pixel 3a with or without twrp & take OTA updates once rooted

[darkmeridian]

See above comment for a great explanation of why you can't unlock your TMobile carrier device.

My point is that you should remove the SIM right out of the box

 

[jmtjr278]

My point is that you should remove the SIM right out of the box

Again, due to it being a TMobile carrier phone it wouldn't matter. It is not eligible to be unlocked according to the smart poster 3-4 posts up. Please, have a look and read it again.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

 

[rantoca]

If you bought your Pixel 3a from T-mo or Verizon for you can unlocked completely ,you need to paid off first and wait like 24hrs for the system register, on other case some time need to wait 30 days for pay off completely remember the carrier want you there
happen to me when i unlock my galaxy 9 and lgg6 when i was on T-mo

 

[googlephoneFKLenAsh]

I powered it on without a SIM card inserted (out of the box) and connected it to wifi and was able to enable OEM unlock.

If you do a factory reset and do the same (set it up without the SIM inserted) you should be able to as well.

I am almost 100% sure your device is not a t-mobile pixel 3a or you have sim unlocked your phone.

 

[totib38]

Hello,
I will receive my pixel 3a tonight and I want to root it since the beginning to have more possibilities with it.
But I'm not an expert to root Pixel phone.
I have a OnePlus 6T who was easy to root.

Can anyone create a little tuto or guide to root the pixel 3a with magisk ?

Thanks for your help ?

 

[engMTW]

If you bought your Pixel 3a from T-mo or Verizon for you can unlocked completely ,you need to paid off first and wait like 24hrs for the system register, on other case some time need to wait 30 days for pay off completely remember the carrier want you there
happen to me when i unlock my galaxy 9 and lgg6 when i was on T-mo

Wrong. The Verizon pixel is bootloader locked forever. You're talking about SIM unlocking, judging by your mention of the Galaxy S9.

 

[darkmeridian]

I was relying on the earlier post that you could unlock the bootloader if you started the phone and connected to wifi without the SIM card being present. I would believe that because starting the process without the SIM would show me the option of connecting to Project Fi. I don't know if it's true or not.

 

[pbanj]

Hello,
I will receive my pixel 3a tonight and I want to root it since the beginning to have more possibilities with it.
But I'm not an expert to root Pixel phone.
I have a OnePlus 6T who was easy to root.

Can anyone create a little tuto or guide to root the pixel 3a with magisk ?

Thanks for your help

super simple. I'll assume you use windows
should be noted that unlocking it wipes the phone.
standard you do at your own risk warning applies

update your adb and fastboot I just toss these 4 highlighted files into the windows folder, but you may have a different set up(I put them in the windows folder so I don't have to add them to PATH.

you may also need the usb drivers

- run through the initial setup(don't bother logging into your google account).

- enable dev options(settings>about phone>build number>tap it 7 times)

- go into settings>system>advanced>dev options>oem unlocking, click the toggle

- while still in dev options scroll down a little and enable usb debugging

- plug your phone into your pc
if/when the phone asks you to trust the computer make sure to check the "always allow this computer" check box
- open up command prompt(powershell works to but i always use command prompt) type into the command prompt

adb reboot bootloader

the phone will reboot into fastboot mode.

- now type into the cmd window

fastboot devices

and see if it lists a device, if not you need to install the drivers i linked to

right click the start menu icon, click device manager, then locate your phone(should have a yellow symbol on it, right click it, then click update driver, then click browse my computer, click the browse button and then navigate to where you extracted the drivers, click the main folder(usb_driver) and then click ok, then click next and ok through any prompts

- if you had to install the drivers try the fastboot devices command again after installing them, it should list the device now.

- now type in

fastboot flashing unlock

you will then have to use the phone to select yes to the unlock. you use the volume keys to select and the power button to confirm

- now you can flash the boot.img I provided that matches your build number using

fastboot flash boot "whatever the boot.img is named"

if the cmd window location does not match the location of the boot.img you will have to enter that too examples

fastboot flash boot C:\Users\pbanj\Desktop\boot.img

or you can do

cd C:\Users\pbanj\Desktop

and then just do the normal fastboot flash boot whatever the boot.img is named.

if flashing fails use the command

fastboot getvar current-slot

it will tell you the currently active slot, either A or B. run the flashing command again but this time instead of boot do boot_"slot letter" example

fastboot flash boot_a boot.img

- after that finishes flashing you can reboot the phone by typing in

fastboot reboot

- now go through the setup and actually set your device up.

- after it is set up open up the magisk manager and it will tell you it needs to install the real manager, select ok

- now open the real magisk manager and it will prompt that it needs to install so extra stuff, select ok, and then reboot when it asks you to.

- you're now rooted, add what you want to magisk hide, and install the magisk mods you want, although i wouldn't go too crazy until we have twrp. if pay doesn't work follow the steps i gave in the main post.

- to update magisk just select the direct install method.

MAKE SURE YOU GO INTO DEV OPTIONS AND TURN OFF AUTO UPDATES.

- follow this to do an ota update

also a shameless plug. if you want to make opening command prompt or powershell in your current folder a bit easier you can use My tools menu but iirc it only works on English windows 10.

 

[googlephoneFKLenAsh]

I was relying on the earlier post that you could unlock the bootloader if you started the phone and connected to wifi without the SIM card being present. I would believe that because starting the process without the SIM would show me the option of connecting to Project Fi. I don't know if it's true or not.

It's not ture. You can only unlock the bootloader of t-mobile pixel 3a after you sim unlock it. Some people having military account can sim unlock without fully payment for the EIP. Others have to make full payment to sim unlock and then unlock the bootloader.

 

[crackedvenom2]

I was relying on the earlier post that you could unlock the bootloader if you started the phone and connected to wifi without the SIM card being present. I would believe that because starting the process without the SIM would show me the option of connecting to Project Fi. I don't know if it's true or not.

I bought mine straight from Google but once I first booted it up, it asks me about Project Fi if I don't have a sim inserted. Not sure how the others work.

 

[krabman]

Good tutorial up there, you forgot to mention one tidbit though, after you have enabled debugging and first plug in the phone to the pc with the correct drivers installed you will get a toast asking if you want to always allow it to connect or something to that effect, you gotta say yes or the phone wont connect in fastboot. Also after you unlock the phone will reset itself and you will have to go into the menu and enable developer and debugging again and will again have to say yes to the same toast. Usually if you got it to work for the unlock command and it doesn't work when you go to flash the boot.img it means you spaced going back and enabling debugging again.

Edit... I said you, I know you know, I meant that for the fellow just starting out. Didn't phrase it very well.

 

[pbanj]

Good tutorial up there, you forgot to mention one tidbit though, after you have enabled debugging and first plug in the phone to the pc with the correct drivers installed you will get a toast asking if you want to always allow it to connect or something to that effect, you gotta say yes or the phone wont connect in fastboot. Also after you unlock the phone will reset itself and you will have to go into the menu and enable developer and debugging again and will again have to say yes to the same toast. Usually if you got it to work for the unlock command and it doesn't work when you go to flash the boot.img it means you spaced going back and enabling debugging again.

Edit... I said you, I know you know, I meant that for the fellow just starting out. Didn't phrase it very well.

whats funny is as i was writing it up i was like "i should prob mention it" but couldn't remember the exact wording lol

 

[krabman]

Yeah, me neither, barely even notice it nowadays, just part of the procedure.

 

[jmtjr278]

Just a heads up if interested. Flar just released ex kernel for the pixel 3a xl that works for our device. Running it now

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

 

[krabman]

Looks like it's still a little rough, I'll wait for him to get things sorted out a better. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[pbanj]

Looks like it's still a little rough, I'll wait for him to get things sorted out a better. Thanks for the heads up.

thats why i didnt say anything here lol.

 

[totib38]

super simple. I'll assume you use windows
should be noted that unlocking it wipes the phone.
standard you do at your own risk warning applies

update your adb and fastboot I just toss these 4 highlighted files into the windows folder, but you may have a different set up(I put them in the windows folder so I don't have to add them to PATH.

you may also need the usb drivers

- run through the initial setup(don't bother logging into your google account).

- enable dev options(settings>about phone>build number>tap it 7 times)

- go into settings>system>advanced>dev options>oem unlocking, click the toggle

- while still in dev options scroll down a little and enable usb debugging

- plug your phone into your pc

- open up command prompt(powershell works to but i always use command prompt) type into the command prompt the phone will reboot into fastboot mode.

- now type into the cmd window and see if it lists a device, if not you need to install the drivers i linked to

right click the start menu icon, click device manager, then locate your phone(should have a yellow symbol on it, right click it, then click update driver, then click browse my computer, click the browse button and then navigate to where you extracted the drivers, click the main folder(usb_driver) and then click ok, then click next and ok through any prompts

- if you had to install the drivers try the fastboot devices command again after installing them, it should list the device now.

- now type in you will then have to use the phone to select yes to the unlock. you use the volume keys to select and the power button to confirm

- now you can flash the boot.img I provided that matches your build number using if the cmd window location does not match the location of the boot.img you will have to enter that too examples or you can do and then just do the normal fastboot flash boot whatever the boot.img is named.

- after that finishes flashing you can reboot the phone by typing in

- now go through the setup and actually set your device up.

- after it is set up open up the magisk manager and it will tell you it needs to install the real manager, select ok

- now open the real magisk manager and it will prompt that it needs to install so extra stuff, select ok, and then reboot when it asks you to.

- you're now rooted, add what you want to magisk hide, and install the magisk mods you want, although i wouldn't go too crazy until we have twrp. if pay doesn't work follow the steps i gave in the main post.

- to update magisk just select the direct install method.

- follow this to do an ota update

also a shameless plug. if you want to make opening command prompt or powershell in your current folder a bit easier you can use My tools menu but iirc it only works on English windows 10.

Thanks a lot for your answer ?
It works well.
I will use the phone as my daily driver for a week to test

 

[jmtjr278]

Looks like it's still a little rough, I'll wait for him to get things sorted out a better. Thanks for the heads up.

Running pretty well for me. Just don't touch the high brightness mode toggle! I'll report more as time goes

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

 

[Fentadroid]

Anyway, just received my 3a.
Even if you don't root the phone, unlocking the bootloader won't let you use GPay...... So i guess we need to wait twrp and a proper version of Magisk.....

 

[jmtjr278]

Anyway, just received my 3a.
Even if you don't root the phone, unlocking the bootloader won't let you use GPay...... So i guess we need to wait twrp and a proper version of Magisk.....

Just use the boot.img provided above and install magisk to use gpay with unlocked bootloader. Best to unlock when you first get the device rather than setting it up twice because unlocking wipes the device.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk