With the news that Android 4.4, KitKat is headed to the Nexus 7 (both 2012 and 2013 models) and Nexus 10 WiFi models, we’re pretty sure that a lot of you out there have been hitting the “Check for Updates” button. A lot of you might have even returned to stock in order to get a hold of the update. Well, if you’re running a 2013 version of the Nexus 7, the URL link has been discovered as Android Police is reporting. Meaning that you can flash the update onto your device no matter what recovery you’re running or if you’re rooted.
It should be noted that you must be running Android 4.3 with a build number of JSS15R for the OTA to even work. You’ll also need to make sure that you have adb and fastboot installed on your PC. Be it from the Android SDK or from a toolkit. If you’re not familiar with how to use either adb or fastboot, then it’s probably best that you just sit tight and wait for the OTA to hit your Nexus 7.
You can download the file here from Google’s servers. Once you’ve got it downloaded it, you can go ahead and sideload the ZIP using ADB. You need to do this by entering recovery on your Nexus 7 and then open up adb, connect it to your PC and from a command prompt or terminal window type “adb sideload filename.zip”, where “filename” is whatever you choose to rename the file from Google.
Once done, you should have stock Android 4.4 KitKat on your device, with a build number of KRT160. Remember, this is only for the 2013 models of the Nexus 7 and only for the WiFi model. Don’t try this on your 2012 model.
As you might have thought, the Google Experience Launcher doesn’t seem to be included in the OTA, it’s not in the AOSP either so, it’s looking like this might be exclusive to the Nexus 5. However, it’s pretty simple to install it on to your device as it is. Let us know if you guys got the OTA or if this worked successfully for you guys. Now that more of you might be able to actually enjoy KitKat you can read more about it in our review, as well as our Nexus 5 review.