Downgrade Galaxy Note 10/10+ to Android 11 One UI 3

Sadique Hassan•Updated Jan 24, 2022

In this guide, we will show you the detailed steps to downgrade your Galaxy Note 10/10+ device to Android 11 One UI 3 from the current Android 12 One UI 4.0. The latest OS build has just been released for the Note series. As a result, a slew of intriguing features are on the cards. These include the likes of the Material You theme, new widgets recommendations, and enhancements to the overall privacy domain. However, don’t be surprised if a few bugs and issues also creep in along with the update.

Device crashing upon interacting with the Home button, tons of apps not working, or crashing and typing lagging terribly are just some of the bugs out of a plethora of ones that users have to currently deal with. While there does exist a few workarounds to deal with these errors, however, they wouldn’t cover all these issues and even the ones that they end up fixing are giving out a variable success rate.

So what could be the best course of action to deal with this fiasco? Well, you could either wait till the OEM releases the hotfix or roll back your device to the earlier stable and bug-free build. While the first approach isn’t within our reach, the second one is something that we could carry out right away. So without any further ado, let’s get started with the steps to downgrade your Galaxy Note 10/10+ device to Android 11 One UI 3 from the current Android 12 One UI 4.0.

Table of Contents

Downgrade Galaxy Note 10/10+ to Android 11 One UI 3 via Odin

Do note that the below process will wipe off all the data from your device, so please take a complete device 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: Download Samsung USB Drivers

In most instances, as soon as you connect your device to a PC via USB cable, the associated USB drivers are automatically installed. However, if that isn’t the case with you, then you may manually install the drivers as well. To do so, get hold of the official USB Drivers from the below link and launch the setup file. Then proceed with the on-screen instructions to install onto your PC.

Download: Samsung USB Drivers

STEP 2: Download Odin

Next up, download the Odin Tool. This will be needed to flash the Android 11 OneUI 3 firmware onto your Galaxy Note 10/10+ device in order to downgrade it. So grab it from the below link and then extract it to any convenient location on your PC.

Download: Odin3-v3.14.4.zip

STEP 3: Download Galaxy Note 10/10+ One UI 3 Android 11 Downgrade Firmware

You will now have to download the Samsung One UI 3.1 downgrade firmware. When it comes to downloading the stock firmware, the Frija Tool is usually the go-to choice. However, the tool only lists out the latest stable version. Since your device has received the Android 12 update, it would only show the One UI 4.0 firmware (see below image), which wouldn’t be of any use to us in the current scenaro. So as of now, you should instead use the SamMobile website or the Update site.

STEP 4: Extract Galaxy Note 10 OneUI 3 Firmware

Once you have downloaded the firmware, extract it to any convenient location on your PC. Doing so shall give you the AP, BL, CP, and CSC files, which we will be using to downgrade your Galaxy Note 10/10+ device from One UI 4.0 (Android 12) to One UI 3 (Android 11).

STEP 5: Boot your Note 10/Note 10+ Device to Download Mode

You will now have to boot your Samsung device to Download Mode. This is because Odin is only able to recognize and hence interact with your device in this mode. So to boot your device to this mode, you may refer to our detailed guide: How to Boot any Samsung Device to Download Mode. Or refer to the shorter instructions:

To begin with, power off your device.
Then press and hold the Volume Up and Down keys together and connect your device to PC via USB cable
You will now get the Warning screen, press the Volume Up key to boot your Samsung device to Download Mode.

STEP 6: Install One UI 3 Downgrade Firmware via Odin on Galaxy Note 10/10+

To begin with, connect your device to the PC via USB cable. Make sure it is booted to Download Mode.
Then head over to the folder where you had extracted Odin and double click on the Odin3_v3.14.4.exe file to launch the Odin Tool.
You should now see the ID:COM port of the tool being highlighted. This signifies that the tool is able to recognize your device and the connection stands successful. So you may now proceed ahead to load the BL, AP, CP, and CSC files to Odin.
First off, click on the BL button, navigate to the extracted firmware file and select the BL file from there.
Then click on AP and upload the AP firmware file. This might take some time.
After this, click CP and load the CP firmware file.
Finally, click CSC and upload the Home_CSC file (make sure it’s the Home_CSC file and not the normal CSC).
Once you have loaded all four files, this is how the Odin Tool should look like.
Now, go to the ‘Options’ section of Odin and check Auto Reboot and F.Reset Time (see below image).
Finally, hit the Start button and wait for the process to complete.
As soon as the installation is done, you should get the PASS message and your device will boot to the OS. You may now disconnect it from your PC and close the tool.
These were the steps to downgrade your Galaxy Note 10/10+ device from Android 12 to Android 11, i.e from OneUI 4.0 to OneUI 3. Once your device boots up, you will have to set it up from scratch as it has undergone a reset.

Concluding Remarks: Downgrading to Rectify Official OS Issues? It couldn’t have gotten worse!

While the rollback process discussed above will rectify all the underlying issues, it is still a sad state of affairs that users would have to go through such a lengthy process just to rectify issues caused by installing an official update. However, this is how things stand at this moment, and there’s nothing much that could be done from our end. What about the official patch?

Well, there is no ETA for such an update and moreover, there is no guarantee that it would fix all these issues either. So as of now, downgrading to an earlier OS build seems to be our best bet. On that note, we round off this guide. If you have any queries concerning the aforementioned steps, do let us know in the comments. We will get back to you with a solution at the earliest.

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