How to install Android on Orange Pi 5 including Google Play

[@SKIPWIRE1]

Instructions continue to work as of April, 2023. Thanks mate for all of your hard work making the video.

[@helpingninja]

Thanks for update. Glad I could help!

[@ابوداوود-ط5ظ]

Very good and informative

[@helpingninja]

Thank you!

[@jimakos75]

thank you very much. I have a question, whats the difference between orange pi OS vs Android image?

[@helpingninja]

Hi there, you're welcome. Well, the Orange Pi OS (droid) version and Android image are both based on android itself, but there are few differences. The most visible one is that Orange Pi OS is visually attempting to imitate Windows 11. You can google a few pictures to get the feeling. Android version is just "pure" android. The other thing is, that according to few benchmarks Orange Pi OS outperforms pure Android image. By not much ... but still by a few percents.

[@jimakos75]

@@helpingninja as i can see, orange PI OS has already Play store, if i am not wrong.

[@thomasbordeaux]

I have the Orange Pi 5B and there are 3 android images to choose. The one with LCD, Box and normal. I'm building an emulator that's is gonna work like a console (no LCD screen), so witch one should I pick and what is the difference between the normal and the box versions?

[@helpingninja]

Right of the bat I don't know what the Box version is. But I would go with the normal version. Sounds like it will do everything you need.

[@dogsauce19]

Was able to get the standard android install to work with gapps but not with the box version of android

[@3dmixer552]

Will it use usb camera on android?

[@janakaaluthge]

Thank you!

[@helpingninja]

You're welcome!

[@jjcampis]

Hi, it didn´t work in orange pi zero 2w and the magisk version is 27... when i download it doesnt download a .bin file it just downloads a .zip but when i try to install it just crash and close the magisk app please help

[@2020gaurav]

This is exactly whats happening with me. magisk is keep on crashing when I am choosing to install any of the magisk gapps version.

[@Romaster85]

I must trie it in my orange pi zero 2w with android SO. Thanks for your tutorial bro 👌💯

[@helpingninja]

More than welcome!

[@Romaster85]

Update: .... It does not work on Orange Pi Zero 2W with Android TV 12, gapps are needed for Android TV 12.0 with ARM architecture (32-bit) and API 31. I tried to install the litegapps but Google Play is not compatible with the version of Android TV that it comes with

[@helpingninja]

@@Romaster85 sorry to hear that, but thanks for letting us know

[@2020gaurav]

@@Romaster85 Did you find any workaround?

[@cilantrof190]

AWESOME got my pi5 up and running. Prepping it to run a vtt player side. Just for the maps, making a digital battle mat. Gotta say, the android os worked leaps and bounds over the debian,arch, and Ubuntu counterparts *edit... xD thank you, I was banging my head on my desk to get this to work

[@helpingninja]

You're welcome! Well, android has better 3d hw video support. But if you want to try...checkout the ubuntu image by Joshua Riek, he did great work or ubuntu image. github.com/Joshua-Riek/ubuntu-rockchip

[@CyclingNeko]

Is orange pi got gps chip on it ? I was wondering if it will work with google map for navigation after you install google playstore.

[@BerninoFalya]

Hi, thank you for the video. Is the Android OS support Ethernet connection? thanks

[@helpingninja]

Hi, you’re welcome! Yes it does, I’ve tested it that way.

[@nicholayriviera3270]

Should this procedure work on a Orange Pi 5 Plus?

[@helpingninja]

Hi, I don't see a reason why it shouldn't work. Just download the proper Android image for Orange Pi 5 Plus and you should be fine. But I have not tested it in person with 5 Plus yet. Can you keep us posted if everything works fine?

[@nicholayriviera3270]

Sure- I haven't received my Orange Pi 5 Plus yet but plan on trying it when I get it. One other question- have you tried the "box" android image with this method? There is a box version which I gather is like an Android Box for TV viewing/streaming. @@helpingninja

[@helpingninja]

I'm sorry, I did not try the box version.

[@AlanMaldonadoB]

nice video, do you know if there is any alternative to do this on mac os?

[@helpingninja]

Thank you. I’ve not thought about that, I’ll look into that…but from the top of my head..how about running virtual windows on your Mac and using the tool there? Like Parallels or VMWare Fusion?

[@AlanMaldonadoB]

@@helpingninja yeah I guess that is a good workaround for now.

[@joewerner1351]

When i open the SD tool, it doesnt show my SD card from the drop down... any suggestions?

[@iFuugz]

I'm having an issue when I put the android image onto the SD card. It opens 10 windows saying I need to format the drives on the SD card before loading the file. It's a brand new SD card, and I'm unsure if it's in the wrong format or what I'm doing wrong. Definitely gave me a scare when I saw all the windows opening lol.

[@helpingninja]

Hi there, seems like a weird one. I sounds like windows trying open partitions on the sd card that it cannot read. Does it actually work when you put the sd card into the opi?

[@iFuugz]

@helpingninja yes and no. Very strange. So with my 256g sd, ignoring the format warnings, it would not boot. But ignoring all the prompts to format using a 32g card worked, which kinda seems strange but whatever I guess. Finally got it working. I just need to figure out why I can't hear my opponents lol

[@tarasovic7]

​@@iFuugz Same here with my 512GB sd card. I have ignored all those warnings regarding disc formatting, turned pc off after flashing sd card and it works :)

[@fabienbure]

Hi, thanks for your video. Do you know how i can install netflix ? The app for the Orange pi 5 is not in the play store. Thanks

[@helpingninja]

Yep, someone mentioned in comments below that they downloaded Netflix apk from some webpage, installed it and it work fine.

[@youngingenuity]

HI, Thank you for your detailed presentation. But during the procedure, I got "Google Play Service Keeps Stopping" message message pops up. I can remove by clicking surrounding area, but still it is comming back. So I can not move on to next steps. Any idea to solve this problem ???

[@helpingninja]

Hi there, I had not run into this issue, I'm sorry. Could you try some of the fixes mentioned here helpdeskgeek.com/help-desk/google-play-services-keeps-stopping-10-fixes-to-try/

[@Matheus29001]

@Young Hong I'm having the same problem. I can't open Google Play, it's crashing all the time. I've tried to correct but nothing solves.

[@Matheus29001]

Returning here to update, I discovered my problem. It was because when downloading the Gapps, instead of going into "Files" and selecting Android 12L (at 3:38), I downloaded it directly from the main green button on SourceForge, which caused problems. Maybe you did the same thing by accident. After reinstalling the correct Gapps (12L) via Magisk, Services was installed and got the popup saying it was not certified as in the video. Ah, the "Device ID" App used in the video didn't work for me, I downloaded that "blue" one from ApkPure and collected the Google Service Framework (GSF) to use on the website (converting to decimal). Google Play is already working normally!

[@helpingninja]

Glad to hear you made it work after all 👍👍

[@coreywarner168]

When I follow these instructions, Android comes up in recovery mode and I am not sure how to get around that. Any ideas?

[@ColdCappa9]

I remember with the raspberry pi, you are limited to 1080p for video service. Do your steps bypass this issue?

[@helpingninja]

What video service do you have in mind. The chip is capable of transcoding 4k, but only in h265 encoding. 4k KZbin was fine on android, but on ubuntu it dropped a lot of frames.

[@ColdCappa9]

@@helpingninja Netflix, Hulu, Crunchyroll, etc.

[@ColdCappa9]

Netflix, Hulu, Amazon video, etc.

[@helpingninja]

@@ColdCappa9 I'm sorry, can't tell right now. I gave away my Opi5. But my best guess is it won't be an issue. The device supports 4k output.

[@Boymoder420]

Any tutorials for this on Linux?

[@helpingninja]

Do you have anything particular in mind?

[@Boymoder420]

@@helpingninja how would you flash the android OS for the orange pi using a Linux or Mac computer

[@helpingninja]

@@Boymoder420 well, their documentation doesn't utter a word about this. but I would suspect, that you need to compile that rockchip devtool by yourself. something can be found here: wiki.radxa.com/Rock5/install/rockchip-flash-tools and the sourcecoude is on github github.com/rockchip-linux/rkdeveloptool Hope you have some luck, I have not tried it yet

[@BikelifeJanto]

my wifi dosent work for some reason. it turns off when i turn it on

[@YesYesOfCourse]

Which magisk module do I need for orange pi 3B?

[@helpingninja]

Hi, I'm not sure what are you reffering to. Unfortunatelly I can't test it as I don't have the 3B (yet). But I would presume, that the process should be quite simillar to Pi5.

[@YesYesOfCourse]

@@helpingninja After using the same Magisk module as in the tutorial, the google apps were installed alright, but no matter what I tried I couldn't find the Google Services Framework Id. This made me think that maybe I had to use a different module than the one in the tutorial in order for Google Services to work. Is there any way I can fix this?

[@helpingninja]

@@YesYesOfCourse You need to get the device ID. And that has nothing to do with Magisk. You need to download an app like the "Device ID" from apkpure, that will show you the ID of your device, than convert it from hexa to decimal code and than register it with google the same way the video shows.

[@rcso2010]

Does it play DRM content such as Netflix or Prime Video?

[@helpingninja]

it does

[@lagz89]

is the android the best os for the orange pi 5, regarding games/emulation ?

[@helpingninja]

I’d say yes. Depends on what do you want to play. Check also Batocera Linux.

[@absyalazek-vv1sq]

Can for orangepi zero 2w...??

[@2020gaurav]

No, I struggling to find solution to install gaaps on OPI 2W. Magisk is crahing when try to install MagiskGApps. No solution yet. Please reply if you find any workaround

[@nordinrhninou6322]

Is this image free of the boot problems?

[@helpingninja]

Didn't run into any issues...

[@bagashadess]

Is it rooted already? Can i unroot it

[@Startouze]

Unfortunately in March 2024 this seems to not work. Their SDDiskTool is broken. It detects the card but even with the recommended SanDisk one we have the "Error:RestoreUpgradeDiskProc-->FormatDrive failed,err=-13,lastcode=50" in the logs (still better than "Failed to create SD Card")

[@helpingninja]

A lot of people are using the tool. I doubt it's broken. Check the version. The 1.72 is still on their web.

[@mibrahim4245]

Thanks, does this work with Android 9 on Orange Pi 3 LTS ? another question, will it be seen as a rooted device "and thus some apps won't work" ?

[@helpingninja]

You're welcome. I don't see a reason why it should not work if you use the right image. Link to it: www.orangepi.org/html/hardWare/computerAndMicrocontrollers/service-and-support/Orange-pi-3-LTS.html I don't think it will act as rooted, but never have I tested it. Could you let us know?

[@mibrahim4245]

@@helpingninja I'll give it a try and will let you know 👍🏻

[@IMOM-f3w]

Hi Thank you for this tutorial. Very interesting! Would you be able to tell me if we can run Android on a previous model of the orange pi? Let's say for example Orange Pi Zero Plus2 - OP0006. Also once Android and play store installed, is it possible to put the display in portrait mode to use the apps from google store? Thank you

[@helpingninja]

Orange Pi Zero Plus2 has it's own official Android image, so yea, you should be able to run it. But I can't tell you more about the Play store - I have not tested that Orange Pi model.

[@TheSquigy]

I cannot get SD_Firmware_tool.exe to open by double clicking, or y right-click and run as admin. When I try to execute it from the command line it tells me that permission is not granted and CHMOD has no effect. any advice?

[@helpingninja]

I'm kinda confused by that "chmod" you mentioned. chmod is unix/linux command to change permissions, but "exe" file is executable in Windows. Try re-downloading the tool to be sure from their website. It shoud work.

[@shane6845]

Great video! I think the most recent uploads of Orange Pi OS and Android image files for the Pi 5 are broken. Ubuntu and Armbian work great, but the other two do not boot. Have you ever had this issue?

[@hansyulian3671]

hi, im here may 2023, i have same issue too. it is OrangePi-OS_Droid_OPi800_EN_v1.0.0.tar.gz

[@helpingninja]

Guys, by the name of the file I think you are downloading the wrong image. Orange Pi5 and 800 are different devices.

[@celsovelarde]

Hi! i followed your excellent video and all went ok except for sound, I don't have any… any ideas on how can I fix it? (it is connected to the tv via hdmi)

[@helpingninja]

Hi there! Longshot - but when I played around with this I noticed the audio was there, but it was very very quiet. Just to be sure - try to raise the audio on your TV a lot. For me the audio worked right after the installation, so right off the bat without more information I'm afraid I wont be able to help :-/

[@coreymurphy-jb2jj]

When ever i try to create the disk it give me the error clearing MBR failed

[@helpingninja]

Maybe corrupted SD card? Did you try to check it?

[@vincentnunna510]

Hi Ninja. I made it successfully 10 months ago thanks to your video. Today i've created a restricted profile on Android. (owner account for me and restricted profile for my doughter). But on the secondary user profile i Still got the message ''Device is not certified''. And play store doesnt work. I dont know how to do. Can you help ?

[@helpingninja]

Hi Vincent, well to be totally honest I've never tested a scenario like that. And I've gave away my OPi5 in a giveaway...so unable to test it right now. But in theory it should still work if you register the device under daughters account. The procedure should be the same as for your account. Resources: www.google.com/android/uncertified/?pli=1 and support.google.com/android/answer/10248227?hl=en#zippy=%2Cdevice-isnt-certified

[@helpingninja]

Let me know if you were able to make it work for her ;)

[@vincentnunna510]

@@helpingninja unfortunally it doesnt work. it's maybe a bug of this Android version

[@That_guy8819]

How to install android on 5b Emmc storage ?

[@helpingninja]

I don't have the 5B yet, but there is pretty good explanation how to do this in their Orange Pi 5B User manual. You can do it via usb-c cable or via SD card.

[@ESCRoutine]

How can I solve the SD card error alert?

[@helpingninja]

Didn't run into that. What is it saying? Maybe the card is faulty?

[@cuncunlim49]

Unsupported SanDisk SD card - This device doesnt support this SanDisk SD card. Tap to set up in a supported format.

[@cuncunlim49]

The alert was there since 1st boot, so I ignore it, because all other process are still being executed successfully

[@helpingninja]

@@cuncunlim49 Well, what are the specs of this particular sd card? Maybe it's something obscure that isn't recognized/supported but works anyway. Did you try any other sd card?

[@turbo2ltr]

Trying this on a 5 plus and all I get is solid red with a "heartbeat" aqua blue light, but no HDMI output other than waking up the monitor. Can't find the blinky light meanings anywhere. Now I know why Raspis are out of stock.. These Orange Pis are definitely not as user friendly when it comes to software....especially the icky feeling having to run Chinese software to mage an SD card.

[@helpingninja]

Did you download the correct version for Orange Pi 5 plus? It's not exactly the same as Orange Pi 5.

[@turbo2ltr]

@@helpingninja yes, it turned out the OPi didn't like my HDMI to DVI cable (or the monitor I'm using). I used a HDMI monitor or USBC to DVI cable and it works fine.

[@helpingninja]

@@turbo2ltr glad to hear everything works (y)

[@lagz89]

Hi! I followed every step of your tutorial, including play store. Can you help me with an issue? Every app that I install and every file that I download gets erased from the system after I reboot or turn off the device. thats a very strange behaviour. Have you ever seen something like this ? Thanks!

[@helpingninja]

Well that is in fact strange behaviour. How did you manage to install that google playstore? It's installation requires few reboots I think. It's hard to say what went wrong ... maybe there's something wrong and your system (sd card) is mounted only as read only and everyhting you do is stored in memory and lost after reboot? Hard to identify the problem only from this short description. Thinking about it now you didn't even specify if you use sd card or internal storage on your OPi5.

[@lagz89]

@@helpingninjaI followed the procedure, its on the sd card. I think its not write protected since the play store remains there after a system reboot. A few apps such as KZbin and Ppsspp dont go away after reboot as well.

[@forgame-xw1hl]

same issue here and I even can't format my micro sd card. Android os can't be deleted from micro sd card

[@helpingninja]

@@forgame-xw1hl that's strange. can you burn a "default" downloaded linux/ubuntu image to it? let's say via balena etcher? There should be no problem doing that.

[@dinnydino4737]

hi, can you please help me. I keep getting an error of a"su" binary not for magisk has been detected. Please remove any competing root solution and/or reinstall Magisk. now i have tried reinstalling many times but this error persists. Any idea how i can fix this?

[@helpingninja]

I did not run into that problem, but try to check this forum - people are talking about the same issue: forum.xda-developers.com/t/abnormal-state-su-binary-not-from-magisk-has-been-detected.4472035/

[@hansyulian3671]

I have issue: A "su" binary not from Magisk has been detected. Please remove any competing root solution and/or reinstall Magisk how to solve this?

[@helpingninja]

I did not run into that problem, but try to check this forum - people are talking about the same issue: forum.xda-developers.com/t/abnormal-state-su-binary-not-from-magisk-has-been-detected.4472035/

[@hansyulian3671]

@@helpingninja hi, thx, looking into that

[@putimir]

Hello, can you please help? I've used your tutorial maybe half year ago on my Opi 5B with succes 💪(magisk + gapps). Recently, I stared getting OTA update, which download ok and un pack, but did not install successfully. After some time I thought to myself, maybe it was magisk install etc...I decided to disable gapps module (BUT sadly, I also updated magisk to latest version). The ota stil did not install so I re-anabled gapss back and after reboot, the PI does not boot, it is forever stuck at the "orange slice" logo...Is there any way to try to boot? (safe mode, disabling gapps module somehow....). I REALLY don't want to reinstall everything as I spent month configuring it as retro games station :(

[@helpingninja]

There's so many updates you're mentioning...I've no idea what went wrong on your end. Backups are everything. Let me say it again. Backup everything at least before updates. I would suggest putting the SD card into your PC, locate the logs a try to figure out why it's not booting. There's still a possibility you won't be able to make everything work, but at least you will know what went wrong. I'm sorry to say it, but I'm unable to help you with this one.

[@Kai-Made]

Not working for me. I get as far as "registered device successful" then my various windows close, then all that is left open in APKpure and DeviceID. Waited 30 -45 minutes and restarted and still says device not registered. I am kinda of lost at this point. It seems as tho the 5 and 5+ are getting more attention then the 5B...which is odd because they are very similar. BUT, I have had some terrible luck. All in the name of getting more than one controller for dolphin to work...smh

[@helpingninja]

I'm sorry to hear that. A lot of people reported that this worked for them. I'm afraid I won't be able to help any further as I'm not able to fiddle more right now my Opi.

[@Kai-Made]

​@@helpingninja I think this is more about Google than it is your video. I was able to get what I needed from the source, and skip the store aspect of it. BUT your video certainly helped me gain full control of my android makeshift device. Thanks.

[@codmGeoPayne]

Market play not working

[@ScottHopkins-fr1gw]

So, the one file we need, the TF File Image, is missing. Of course. The hardware may be great, but the OS installations are a joke. Even if you find the file, PhoenixCard and SDDisk tools don't work. Raspberry Pi is beginning to look better and better if we cannot perform a simple installation

[@helpingninja]

Well, the "rpi imager"-like sw would be nice of course. To which missing tf image file are you referring to? The SD card and TF card are the same thing.

[@MicheIIePucca]

I found it really weird, when I download the android image, it asked if I would allow multiple downloads, and then in the end, I had eight zipped completed downloads all different sizes from 1,931,300 to 960,281 kb.

[@helpingninja]

Yep, that sounds really weird. I haven't met issue like that before. It should be one file.

[@johnkunze5362]

Lots of work...thanks. now how do you write code. (assembler) on native android for native android on the pi?💕🙏,jpk

[@helpingninja]

Hi, I'm not sure I understand the question. If you need to write code (whatever that might be, even assembly) on you Android I can suggest using VSCode application.

[@johnkunze5362]

Also, how to multi-boot armbian, Ubuntu, and or android? Either from a select boot or docker?💕❤️🥰,jpk

[@helpingninja]

Well it's not that easy as on classic computer. Far quicker and easier solution is to have multiple SD-cards with different OSes and switch them as you need. With the price of SD-cards today it's just not worth the trouble.

[@dora_techie]

Orange Pi screen orientation was not working. Let me know, If anyone know about how do fix that.

[@VieraKapinova]

O2. Cz ?

[@helpingninja]

Yep that's them

[@VieraKapinova]

If its O2. cz your Are Czech

[@helpingninja]

Yep that's a correct deduction 😉

[@VieraKapinova]

Aha ďakujem za odpoveď

[@kinetic1259]

Thanks Slavic Tom Hardy 👍

[@helpingninja]

You just made my day! :D :D Thank you!

[@rcso2010]

There's a way to install netflix?

[@helpingninja]

Can't you install it via Google Play store?

[@rcso2010]

@@helpingninja Nope, I dl'ed from apk mirror and installed it withouth any issue, thanks!

[@johnkunze5362]

Also, how to snap(?) a current image to make a (re-)installer💕❤️🥰🙏🤗,jpk

[@helpingninja]

I think you can just clone the SD card to backup image file. And then just burn it back to SD card. Depends on what OS are you using. Windows=win32diskimager ; Linux and MacOS "dd" command in terminal.

[@kamertonaudiophileplayer847]

Perhaps it will replace my NVIDIA Shield

[@helpingninja]

For a fraction of the price

[@asherlol]

I have a Orange Pi 5 Plus and this doesn't work.

[@helpingninja]

Well, sorry about that. I've tested this on OPi5.

[@helpingninja]

But it should work on OPi5+ if you adjust the steps.

[@asherlol]

@@helpingninjawhat steps should i adjust?

[@helpingninja]

​@@asherlolI would say just download the right image for your Opi5+ and then follow the steps. Maybe if you provide us with information on which part of the tutorial "doesn't work" for you, we'll be able to point you in the right direction to solve it.

[@lagz89]

thanks

[@helpingninja]

Happy to help 👍

[@cuncunlim49]

Hi.. is it normal that warning for “play protect certification” keeps coming even after 1 hour? Does it mean the device registration process was failed?

[@helpingninja]

Hard to say. How about now after almost a day?

[@nodefaster]

not .img yes tar.gz