Its usually thrilling to learn that a major update / upgrade has been released for your Mediatek (MTK) Android phone. The excitement however begins to wane when you discover serious bugs (lagging and overheating being one of the most unbearable) and just wish you were back to the times when your phone was – at least – stable. The good news is that you can easily downgrade your MTK Android phone to a more stable Android OS.
Why would I want to downgrade?
Its actually a good idea to downgrade when you just can’t cope with the bugs in an update. If other builds of the update still aren’t any better then you might want to downgrade and wait out the ‘Guinea Pig’ phase of the Over The Air (OTA) update.
How do I downgrade a MTK Android phone?
First, you need to know what version of Android the phone was running on before the update / upgrade; this is the firmware you’ll need to download then flash to the phone. To downgrade:
- Download the firmware for the version of Android you wish to revert / downgrade to. The firmware should be for your exact phone model so you do not brick your Android phone by flashing the wrong firmware. Visit https://www.hovatek.com/forum/forum-89.html to download some MTK Android firmware
- Install VCOM drivers on the PC following the guide at https://www.hovatek.com/forum/thread-440.html
- Turn off the phone (still with battery inside) and don’t yet connect it to the PC via a USB cord
- Flash the firmware you downloaded above to the phone using the SP flash tool guide at https://www.hovatek.com/forum/thread-159.html
- Do Not interrupt SP flash tool till flashing is complete (Green OK prompt). If you accidentally do then see https://www.hovatek.com/forum/thread-808.html
- If the battery is removable then take it out and reinsert after flashing. Ignore this if the battery is inbuilt
- Boot the phone into recovery mode after flashing the firmware and do a factory reset (see https://www.hovatek.com/forum/thread-479.html)
- Boot up the phone then follow the Setup Wizard
Note:
If you encounter any problems then post your questions as a comment here or at the Hovatek Forum and we would gladly assist you.
Funziona per Redmi Note 11 Pro+?
Processore MediaTek Dimensity Grazie
Sì, ma i telefoni Redmi hanno l’anti-rollback, quindi il downgrade potrebbe causare problemi
Da recovery Stock potrebbe funzionare il downgrade? grazie
Can this be used for downgrading a Chinese Mediatek MT6582 tablet from Android 9 to 8? The tablet works, but some of the apps I use in my LG Android 8.1 won’t even populate on the tablet.
You can only downgrade when you had initially upgraded from 8 to 9. Some models have anti-rollback which prevent downgrade
Apparently some apps won’t populate on Android 9’s Play Store, but work’s fine on Android 8. You get a message saying “Your device isn’t compatible with this version.” Installing each app separately the apk route is a step backward considering Android 9 is supposed to be an upgrade, and that’s if you can find an apk file that actually works. That’s why I was trying to downgrade to 8.
This must be a limitation with the app itself (wasn’t listed as supporting Pie). Maybe the developers will fix that
Thanks for your post on your issues with downgrade or flashing Roms on your MTK vs. LG.
I present have both an LG k6 and an MTK pretty new device but don’t like the pre installed Android 13 and it’s bootloader.
Also working on my Gmail account and Google. Thanks for reaching me.
TT
Are all the apps that can run on the original Version of Android 9 run on an MTK phone?
I must have the proper restore image to downgrade to before I use a SP flag firmware image. Thanks.
My infinix X557 is hanging because of is update what and how should I downgrade it pls
Did you take not of the build number before the update?
to downgrade…. I must select firmware upgrade option
Exactly. It sounds contradictory but that’s how it’s done in SP flash tool. Firmware upgrade is simply a flashing algorithm, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s for only upgrading
can I downgrade a mediatek Android phone that have anti-theft on and device protection on to lower OS that doesn’t have any of those security features
Do you mean Privacy Protection Password?
Sure you can just dont forget to remember the passwords 😉 otherwise you wont be able bke to unlock the phone
how can i root alcatel onetouch 918
what version of Android and chipset?