In this guide, we will show you the steps to change the boot animation on your Android device. To give it a personal touch, every OEM has its own distinguishable startup screen. While some like to take the basic route, others add a few customizations to the same. With that said, though it remains on your screen for only a few seconds, yet it is the first piece of content that you would be seeing after powering on your device. Well, as the popular saying goes, the first impression is indeed the last impression.
The same could be applied here as well. Imagine booting up the screen with hundreds of lines of codes in Matrix-style running continuously. Or incorporating the Linux logo to the startup screen would surely give your device a tech geek look. All in all, there are a plethora of reasons why you would want to change that boring, dull and monotonous boot animation on your Android device. So with that in mind, let’s start off with this guide.
Table of Contents
How to Change Boot Animation on Android Phones
The entire instructions have been listed out in separate sections for ease of understanding. Proceed ahead in the exact same sequence as mentioned. They might not be able to function along the expected lines in Samsung Phones and in some heavily customized Android ROMs.
Furthermore, you are ready to try it out, then make sure to take a backup beforehand. Droidwin and its members wouldn’t be held responsible in case of a thermonuclear war, your alarm doesn’t wake you up, or if anything happens to your device and data by performing the below steps.
STEP 1: Verify System R/W
First and foremost, your system should be r/w [read/write]. If it is just r [read], then you’ll only be able to view the files in the system partition but cannot edit or make changes to any file. In other words, if your system is r, then you wouldn’t be able to change the boot animation on your Android device.
To bypass this issue, you could either take a slightly complicated route and make the system r/w via this guide or simply flash a custom ROM. Nowadays. most custom ROMs come r/w out of the box, so you could directly proceed ahead to change the boot animation without having to worry about the r/w aspect.
STEP 2: Root your Android Phone
The next requirement to carry out this task is that you will need a rooted device. This is because the stock boot animation that we are going to change is placed in the system partition of your device. To access this partition, you would need administrative-level privileges. So before moving ahead, make sure to root your device via our guide: How to Root Android 13 via Magisk Patched Init_Boot/Boot.
STEP 3: Download the Custom Boot Animations
Next up, you will have to grab hold of your preferred boot animation. For that, this XDA post (credit: XDA senior member mauam) might come in handy as it has a plethora of boot animations (over 200!) spread across various domains. It is definitely worth a checkout. Once you have got the desired boot animation, it’s time to install it onto your Android device. Follow along.
STEP 4A: Install Custom Boot Animation on Android via File Manager
- First off, rename the downloaded file to bootanimation, so that the complete name will be bootanimation.zip. Now transfer this file to your device.
- Then download and install Solid Explorer File Manager.
- Now launch it, tap on the hamburger menu, and select Root.
- You’ll get a Magisk SuperUser request, tap on Grant.
- Navigate to the following location: system > media.
- On some devices, it might be under product/media.
- Within that, you will already find the file bootanimation.zip. This is the original boot animation provided by the OEM. As of now, don’t delete it rather take its backup.
- For that, the best way is to rename it to something along the lines of bootanimationbackup.zip.
- Now copy the custom boot animation file that you had named bootanimation.zip and transfer it to this directory (system > media).
- Now select this file and head over to its Properties section.
- Within that, go to the Attributes tab and you need to give it the Permissions- 666 (RW-R–R–) :
- Owner: R, W
- Group: R
- Global: R
- Once the required file permission has been set, save the changes by hitting the Apply button.
- You may now reboot the device and enjoy the newly set custom boot animation.
STEP 4B: Install Custom Boot Animation via Magisk
Newer boot animations come with support for flashing directly via Magisk. Not only it’s the easier of the two methods, but it’s mostly automated, you don’t have to manually transfer the file to the media partition nor do you have to change its permission. Everything will be taken care of by magisk itself. So with that in mind, let’s get started.
- First off, transfer the Magisk-supported boot animation to your device [such as Unix Boot Animation].
- Then go to Modules, select the boot animation, and hit OK in the prompt.
- It will now be flashed. Once done, hit Reboot. Your device will now reboot with the new boot animation.
- To remove this boot animation and go back to the stock boot animation, just uninstall this Magisk module.
That’s it. These were the two methods to change the boot animation on your Android device. Do let us know your preferred boot animation that you ultimately ended up applying on your device. Talking about which, if you have any queries with the instructions, do let us know in the comments section below. We will get back to you with a solution at the earliest. With that said, let’s now turn our attention towards the next section.
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How to Fix Bootloop after Changing Boot Animation
While the chances are extremely rare, but we should never say never when it comes to custom developments and bootloops! So if your device ends up in a bootloop after changing the boot animation, then there is quite an easy way out to fix it. here is what needs to be done:
- To begin with, your device needs to have the TWRP Recovery installed. If that is not the case, then refer to our detailed guide: How to Install TWRP Recovery on Android.
- Boot your device to TWRP Recovery. Once that is done, head over to Mount and enable System.
- Now that the system partition has been mounted, go to the Advanced section of TWRP.
- Select the File Manager option and navigate to the following directory:
System > System > Media
- Now select the bootanimation.zip file and tap on Delete. With this, you have deleted the custom boot animation file.
- Then select the bootanimationbackup.zip file and tap on Rename File.
- Change its name to bootanimation.zip and perform a right swipe to save it. This way you have restored the original boot animation file.
- You may now reboot your device to the OS. For that, go to Reboot and tap System.
So this was all from this guide on how to fix bootloop on any Android device after installing a custom boot animation. Still, have any queries? Drop them in the comments below!
UPDATE 1: Pixel 9 Pro Boot Animation is Now Live!
We now have the Pixel 9 series boot animation for your Android device! The animation comes in two screen resolutions- 1080p and 1440p. The first one is a module that you can simply flash via Magisk whereas the second one requires your system to be R/W, which could be done via this guide.
After that, you could use the File Manager method to replace the stock bootanimation.zip file with the Pixel one located under system/product/media [make sure to take a backup of the original bootanimation.zip file beforehand]. While all this calls for quite a lot of effort, but until a Magisk module for the 1440p is live, this is your best or rather the only course of action.
