2015-10-31, 00:00
For now, if you want/need gapps, here is how I do it and it's worked great for me. If you do it right, you will be able to restore your phone back to how it was, gapps and all.
I know, it looks like a lot. It's just a lot of little steps.
Don't be scared to hit the +rep button if this helped you. If you have any questions, don't be shy.
By the way, things would be ***infinitely*** easier if they'd provide a single combined system.img. If anyone knows a way to successfully combine all those little system.img parts into a single one, that would make our process 1000x easier.
I know, it looks like a lot. It's just a lot of little steps.
- PC flash to latest China version (see guide in the sub-forum)
- Boot into stock recovery and factory reset
- Boot phone into Android
- Boot into temporary TWRP (see guide in the sub-forum)
- Restore previous TWRP user data backup (if you have it. If not, just go to next step)
- Install **pico** (very important. Do not use another) ARM64 5.1 (
) - Install SuperSU if you want root
- Clear dalvik and cache (not user data)
- Reboot
- When phone boots into Android it will be stuttery and slow, perhaps not even able to get to homescreen. **just let it sit for a minute or two**
- Power off
- Power on
- Let it sit again for a few seconds after booted again into Android
- If any force closes, go into system settings of that app info and clear cache and data
- When next update becomes available, boot into temporary TWRP and backup *user data* only (deselect system etc...). Use it on step #4 of this guide on next update.
Don't be scared to hit the +rep button if this helped you. If you have any questions, don't be shy.
By the way, things would be ***infinitely*** easier if they'd provide a single combined system.img. If anyone knows a way to successfully combine all those little system.img parts into a single one, that would make our process 1000x easier.