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How to change the boot animation on your smartphone

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If you like customizing your smartphone, you’ve probably already tried out different launchers and changed the theme of your device a few times. However, have you ever tried to change the boot animation on your phone? We’ll show you how you can get some custom animations on your smartphone and shake up that boring old boot up animation.

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What is a boot animation?

To begin with, what is boot animation? It's actually the little startup animation that plays when you turn on your Android smartphone, while the system is launching. It often features the manufacturer's logo.

There are several methods to install a new boot animation on Android. I'll present the simplest ones, which work for me almost all of the time. Both methods work on any Android device, provided you have rooted it.

Install a boot animation manually

You need to install a file explorer that manages root rights. Root Explorer or Root Browser work very well, for example, but others are also suitable.

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  • Once the root permissions have been activated, go to the root of your device, locate the System directory and go to the Permissions menu, depending on the app, by a long press on the folder or by opening the menu key and selecting Properties
  • Here, depending on the application you will see 9 boxes, sorted by "Read" or "-r","Write" or "-wr" and "Execute" or "-x". 
  • Once you’ve opened Properties, you will need to make sure you give it all the read, write, and execute options under Permission.
  • Once you’ve done this, head into the System file now and then go to Media or Multimedia (depending on your device). 
  • You’ll find a file named bootanimation.zip. or similar (for Samsung, for example, you can find bootsamsung.qmg) Rename it to "bootanimation. zip1": you have just saved your boot animation in case you need it later.
  • Now all you have to do is find an animation that you like and copy it to this folder, renaming it bootanimation and not touching its extension (". zip" or ". qmg"). You will be able to find various options online.
  • Restart, and there you go! 

Change boot animations using an app

If the manual method isn’t your piece of cake, you can also use the following app as long as you have root access on your device.

Boot Animations for Superuser offers a ton of boot animations right off the bat, so as soon as you get tired on one, you can swap them out very easily. Unfortunately, many of the things found in this app require payment, so not all the animations are free.

boot animations android
Change the boot animation easily using Boot Animations. / © NextPit

For the record, I have had some problems with the application in the past, which doesn't work sometimes. In this case, uninstalling and reinstalling fixed everything.

Have you ever tried to change your boot animation? Which animation did you choose? Let us know in the comments.

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Pierre Vitré

Pierre Vitré
Head of Content

Pierre has a strong passion for new technologies and mobile since its first StarTac. Android user since 2011, Pierre became totally hooked. He never leaves his smartphone and smartwatch and still believes in the success of Google Glass. That's why he joined AndroidPIT.fr to be the head of content.

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8 comments
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  • 3
    Edward Crowley Mar 20, 2020 Link to comment

    There are 2 boot animation files for Samsung devices: bootsamsung.qmg & bootsamsungloop.qmg


  • 25
    Deactivated Account Jan 22, 2019 Link to comment

    Thank you 😊
    First time I have come across an article explaining different ways to change boot animations in smartphones.


  • Rnfnr 1
    Rnfnr Feb 17, 2018 Link to comment

    Hi,
    I've encountered a problem when changing boot animation on my samsung device. The phone boots up to lock screen before the animation finishes. Is there a way to fix this ? Or to slow down boot time of the phone ?
    Thanks


  • Dwarfer66 25
    Dwarfer66 Jan 23, 2018 Link to comment

    Come on guys, and article from 9 months ago now, do NEW stories etc, not rehash old articles.

    Rusty H.


  • 1
    Akshay Singh Apr 2, 2017 Link to comment

    nice working


  • CJ Brown 29
    CJ Brown Jun 8, 2014 Link to comment

    You will find quicker / precise answers in android pit forum


  • 3
    Steve May 29, 2014 Link to comment

    the reviews for 'Boot Animations' suck.. do you have an alternative?


  • 10
    Byron Garay May 29, 2014 Link to comment

    I try it out on my Note 3 but couldnt find the Bootanimation.zip after i did the process, any help please?

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