It did not take long for the development community to start bringing Android 9 Pie to older devices. The source code of Android Pie was uploaded on August 6th after the launch of official updates for Google Pixel / XL and Google Pixel 2 / 2 XL. For Xiaomi devices, the development community has brought Android Pie to older devices, even here very quickly.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 received a stable version for Android 9 Pie, and later also Xiaomi Redmi 4X received the same treatment. Other Xiaomi phones like Xiaomi Mi 3 / Mi 4, Xiaomi Mi A1 and Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro have received AOSP versions of Android 9 unofficial, as well as the Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1. For some hours now the news has come that even Motorola Moto Z Play and Moto G 2015 are added to the list of phones that have received unofficial Pie versions.
Recently, Motorola’s update record with Android version updates was not particularly brilliant. For example, the Moto G5 and Moto G5S series have not yet received an adequate launch of Android Oreo. In addition, the Moto E5 series will not receive official updates of Android Pie, although the phones have been released in April this year.
In this case, however, the Motorola Moto Z Play receives this unofficial version of Android Pie, albeit without encryption and VoLTE and without support to Moto Mods.
Moto Z Play users must have an Android Nougat or Android Oreo bootloader, otherwise, TWRP will deny the installation by presenting an error message to the user.
Users can upgrade to the new bootloader by following the instructions in the related discussion. The developer also reiterates that cryptography is not yet supported, which means users will need to format the data via TWRP or use the “userdatacommand” quick deletion. This way, all data in the internal archive, including apps, photos, and downloads, will be lost.
