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Flashing ROMs

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Sidharth Sharma edited this page Oct 12, 2025 · 40 revisions

Prerequisites

  • A laptop or PC with platform-tools installed
  • Nothing Phone (2a)/(2a+) with unlocked bootloader
  • The original USB-C to USB-C cable from Nothing
  • ROM files downloaded and ready

Important Notes

  • Make sure you're on the latest Android 15 firmware before flashing
  • We assume you have already unlocked your bootloader. If not, please follow the bootloader unlocking guide first
  • ALL YOUR DATA WILL BE WIPED during this process
  • USB debugging must be enabled from developer options
  • We are NOT responsible for any damage done to your device because of the following guide

1. Choosing Your ROM

This guide covers installation for two custom ROMs that the lead developers maintain:

1.1 YAAP (Yet Another AOSP Project)

Download from: XDA Forums

Available for: Nothing Phone (2a) Pacman and Nothing Phone (2a+) PacmanPro

1.2 LineageOS

Download from: Nothing-2A releases

Available for: Nothing Phone (2a) Pacman ONLY

2. Downloading Required Files

2.1 YAAP

There will be two folders in the link you will be provided:

  • Pacman - Nothing Phone 2a
  • PacmanPro - Nothing Phone 2a+

Inside each folder, you'll find two variants:

  • GAPPS - Contains Google services pre-installed
  • VANILLA - Contains MicroG pre-installed but no Google services

Required files:

  • vendor_boot-gapps.img OR vendor_boot-vanilla.img (depending on your chosen variant)
  • boot.img
  • super_empty.img
  • YAAP-16*.zip

2.2 LineageOS

LineageOS only comes with the GAPPS variant.

Required files:

  • boot.img
  • vendor_boot.img
  • super_empty.img
  • lineage-23.0-*.zip

Important: Keep all these files inside the platform-tools folder and boot your phone into bootloader mode.

3. Flashing ROMs

3.1 YAAP Installation

Once your phone is in bootloader mode, run the following commands:

For VANILLA variant:

fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash vendor_boot vendor_boot-vanilla.img
fastboot wipe-super super_empty.img
fastboot reboot recovery

For GAPPS variant:

fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash vendor_boot vendor_boot-gapps.img
fastboot wipe-super super_empty.img
fastboot reboot recovery

Complete the installation:

  1. Once you are in recovery after the last command, you will be in YAAP recovery. Use the power buttons to navigate the menu.

  2. Navigate to Format Data and format data from there.

  3. Navigate to Apply Update from ADB and select it.

  4. Now, paste the ROM zip in your platform-tools folder.

  5. Run the following command:

    adb sideload YAAP-16*.zip

  6. The ROM will start flashing. This might take a while (around 4 minutes).

  7. Once complete, reboot your device

3.2 LineageOS Installation

Once your phone is in bootloader mode, run the following commands:

fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash vendor_boot vendor_boot.img
fastboot wipe-super super_empty.img
fastboot reboot recovery

Complete the installation:

  1. Once you are in recovery, you will be in LineageOS recovery. Use the power buttons to navigate the menu.

  2. Navigate to Factory Reset → Format data/factory reset and confirm.

  3. Navigate to Apply Update → Apply from ADB and select it.

  4. Now, paste the ROM zip in your platform-tools folder.

  5. Run the following command:

    adb sideload lineage-23.0-*.zip

  6. The ROM will start flashing.

  7. Once complete, reboot your device

4. Post-Installation

  • The first boot may take 5-10 minutes.
  • The device may overheat in the first few minutes of booting.

5. Updates

You may get updates in the form of zip packages (as of writing this guide), you will need to manually dirty flash them in order to update your ROM.

5.1 Updating YAAP

  1. Download the update zip

    • (1) Download the update zip, choose your variant properly.

  2. Install via YAAP Updater

    • (1) Head over to Settings > System > YAAP Updater
    • (2) Press on 'file' and choose the zip of the update. Then wait for it to install the ROM and reboot when it asks you to.
  • You can also sideload the update from the recovery the same way you first flashed the ROM, but without formatting data.

5.2 Updating LineageOS

  1. Download the update zip

    • (1) Download the update zip, choose your variant properly.

  2. Install via Local update

    • (1) Settings -> System -> System Update -> Click on the three dots -> Local update and select the downloaded .zip package from here
  • You can also sideload the update from the recovery the same way you first flashed the ROM, but without formatting data.

6. End

You have now successfully installed an aftermarket ROM on your 2a/2a+.

  • You can contribute by making pull requests in the device tree, opening issues for bugs in the issue tracker, or just by supporting our devs.

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