Android has always been an open system where users can customize their device however they want. Unfortunately, Google and other smartphone companies have been limiting these privileges. It’s not the first time we’ve seen a smartphone company raise its requirements for bootloader unlocking, and with the May 2026 update, it becomes impossible for some Pixel phones to roll back to older Android versions.
Google has released anti-rollback measures with the latest security patch update. However, these restrictions are for the Pixel 10 series phones. It includes the Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 10 Pro XL, and Pixel Fold. These devices won’t be able to roll back to an older bootloader version, as well as an older Android build.
Rolling back to older Android versions now restricted on the Pixel 10 series phones
The same happened for the Pixel 6 series and Pixel 8 series last year with the May 2025 update, so it has always been coming. Nevertheless, Google has explained the reason for these restrictions.
Warning: The May 2026 update for Pixel 10, 10 Pro, 10 Pro XL and 10 Pro Fold 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 2026 update on these devices you won’t be able to flash and boot older Android 16 builds.
After taking an May 2026 update and successfully booting the device post update, an Android 16 build resides in the inactive slot (seamless updates for more information on slots) of the device. The inactive slot contains an older bootloader whose anti-rollback version has not been incremented. If the active slot is then flashed with a build that fails to boot, the fallback mechanism of seamless updates kicks in and the device tries to boot from the inactive slot. Since the inactive slot contains the older bootloader, the device enters an unbootable state.
To avoid hitting this state, if you are flashing an impacted Pixel device with the May 2026 update or newer for the first time, flash the bootloader partition to the inactive slot after successfully updating and booting into Android 16 May 2026 at least once. This can be done by following these steps:
After a successful boot into Android 16 May 2026 for the first time, sideload the full OTA image corresponding to that build and reboot the device to ensure that both slots have a bootable image.
These restrictions will not really affect average users, as it’s rare to see them roll back to an older Android build. Everyone wants the latest Android build on their device. The same can’t be said for developers, as they develop for Android, they probably test for different Android builds. Additionally, something might break, and when it’s on a device that can’t be rolled back to an older version, it becomes an issue.
Anyway, that’s for developers, but we are certain most people won’t care about these changes. We may see more strict measures in the future, but it would be nice for the company to exempt some people, especially developers, or just raise the requirements for rolling back to older Android builds.
