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How to Get the New Android 6.0 Marshmallow Boot Animation on Any Android Device

Aug 17, 2015 10:51 PM

Aug 19, 2015 05:34 PM

It's official: The next version of Android will be code-named "Marshmallow," and we're getting a whole number bump to version 6.0. Lots of exciting new changes are coming to the world's most popular operating system, including a "Now on Tap" feature that will give you relevant information about any screen at the press of a button.

Don't Miss: Get Android Marshmallow on Your Nexus Right Now

But rather than waiting until later this fall to enjoy all of the cool new functionality, you can have a piece of Android Marshmallow right now with just a little bit of work. We went ahead and pulled the awesome new boot animation out of the latest Android 6.0 preview build, and all you have to do to try it out on your rooted Android device is copy it over to a folder, set permissions, then reboot!

Copy the New Boot Animation & Rename the Old One

Before we begin, I want to stress that this method requires a rooted Android device. If you meet that requirement, there's one additional note: Most Samsung devices are not compatible with traditional Android boot animation files such as this one, so this won't work on any Galaxy devices unless you're running an AOSP-based custom ROM.

But to get started, simply point your Android device's web browser to this link, then the new boot animation file should begin downloading immediately. When it's done, use any root-enabled file browser to navigate to the Download folder on your internal storage, then copy the bootanimation.zip file.

How to Get the New Android 6.0 Marshmallow Boot Animation on Any Android Device

Menu options for a mobile application including actions like Open WiFi, Extract All, Delete, Rename, Copy, Move, Permissions, Properties, Add Bookmark, and Send.

From here, head to the root partition of your device, then open the system folder. After that, open the media folder, then be sure to mount this folder as read/write so that you can make changes to the files that it contains.

File directory view with options for media files.

Next, long-press the existing bootanimation.zip file that you'll find in this folder, then choose "Rename." From here, add a ".bak" to the end of the file name, then press "OK."

File management interface showing folders and a file selection.

Options menu with actions: Open WiFi, Extract All, Delete, Rename, Copy, Move, Permissions, Properties, Add Bookmark, Send.

File rename dialog showing the name 'bocanimation.zip.bak' on a mobile device.

Paste the New Boot Animation & Set Permissions

With the new bootanimation.zip file still in your clipboard, go ahead and press the "Copy Here" or "Paste" button in your file browser. Next, long-press the newly-copied bootanimation.zip file, then choose "Permissions."

Screenshot of a media file directory displaying folders and documents.

Menu options for a mobile application, including actions like Open Wiki, Extract All, and Permissions.

From here, make sure that the "Owner" category is set to Read and Write, while all other categories are set to just Read. When you're done here, press "OK," then you'll be ready to try out the new Android Marshmallow boot animation.

File permission settings with checkboxes for Owner, Group, and Others: Read and Write permissions selected for Owner, Read permission selected for Others, and no permissions for Group. Options to Cancel or OK.

To see the new boot animation in action, just reboot your phone. From now on, you'll be greeted by the new Android Marshmallow boot animation every time you boot your phone or tablet.

Now that you've had a little taste of Marshmallow, what Android 6.0 feature are you looking forward to the most? Let us know in the comment section below, or drop us a line on Android Hacks' Facebook or Twitter, or Gadget Hacks' Facebook, Google+, or Twitter.

Cover image (Android Marshmallow logo) via Google

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