Just a few weeks back, biggest tech giant Google has unveiled it’s latest mid range smartphone twins, the Pixel 3a and the Pixel 3a XL. The devices are almost half the price of Google’s flagships, equipped with above the average internals yet retain the same design, features and even the same high quality camera as well.
In term of best smartphone camera, Google’s Pixel units are leading in that department. As mentioned above, even it’s mid rangers are going head to head in competition with the top level flagship smartphones of 2019. Since Pixel devices are offered by Google so the devices come with stock Android UI and latest Android Pie UI.
Another great thing about Pixel smartphones is that the all the devices are development friendly, so allow you to easily unlock bootloader, root and install custom recovery to flash different custom ROMs. We have already posted a guide to unlock bootloader on Pixel 3A and Pixel 3A XL, now in this tutorial we are going to show you the process in detail to root Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL with Magisk.
Pixel 3a/3a XL root instructions
We recommend you to read necessary instructions before rooting.
Warning!
Before we go ahead for the rooting process let us tell you that the warranty on your device will be expired. Since rooting your device is not recommended by the device manufacturer so think twice before proceeding ahead to root Pixel 3a or the Pixel 3a XL.
Pre-requisites:
Now once you have made your mind to root Pixel 3a/3a xl then it’s the time to set up for the pre-requisites for the rooting process.
Install latest USB drivers on PC
- You need to install the latest USB for Pixel devices on the PC, USB drivers are necessary to establish a connection between the smartphone and PC.
- Download Google Pixel latest USB drivers.
Set up adb and fastboot drivers on PC
- Adb and fastboot drivers are the primary source of driving command between the phone and the PC, so grab the latest adb and fastboot driver from our quick installation guide below.
- Download adb and fastboot drivers on PC (withing 15 seconds)
Other necessary things you need to do
- You will need a working USB data cable.
- Enable USB debugging, follow instructions if you don’t know how to do that.
- You phone’s battery should be charged up to 60%.
- Create a secure backup of your important data including Messages, Call Logs, Apps, downloads and gallery stuff. (Because unlocking bootloader on your device will format your phone completely).
How to root Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL with Magisk without TWRP recovery
What we have seen so far is that, rooting any device needs the Magisk flash via TWRP recovery, since Pixel 3a/3a xl are a newer entry in the market so TWRP recovery is not available at the moment. So we need to perform all the modification and patching the bootloader via fastboot, the same way TWRP recovery does for us.
Necessary downloads:
First you need to download stock OS for your device. See the build number from the firmware detail section on your device and download it accordingly. For you ease we have mentioned the download link for the latest firmware below.
Extract the downloaded firmware using any archive manager and you will find the boot.img file which is the stock bootloader image that we’ll need.
Download Magisk Manager apk and install it on your device.
Process to patch the boot.img via Magisk Manager
- Now connect your device to PC and transfer the extracted boot.img file on the internal storage of your device.
- Open Magisk Manager and open settings. Tap on Update channel and select Beta.
- Then on the main Magisk screen, then choose Install > Install > Patch Boot Image File.
- It’s the time to choose the stock boot image file that you have copied earlier.
- Let the process complete and once it is completed the patched_boot.img file will be saved into the Downloads folder on the device.
Process to root Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL
- Once again connect your phone to PC and but this time move the patched_boot.img file from downloads folder to adb folder on PC.
- Reboot your phone to bootloader mode, by typing “adb reboot bootloader” in the command window.
- Once your phone boots into download mode, issue the final command to root your Pixel 3a/3aXL.
fastboot flash boot patched_boot.img
That’s it! You have successfully rooted Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL using Magisk. Now go to Google Play and download any root checker app for your satisfaction. Cheers!