How to Turn Any Android Smartphone into a Google Pixel

Android’s flexibility means manufacturers can build their own versions of the OS to suit their hardware, but there’s an elegance to the stock Android experience found on Google’s devices—one that other Android smartphones can’t match.

Several Android manufacturers, like Samsung, tweak the standard Android operating system to cater to their own app ecosystems—away from Google’s services, too. Worse, devices purchased from a network provider are often packed with extra software and features that are absent from unlocked phones. This can be frustrating for those want a purer Android experience (or those who prefer Google’s products).

Thankfully, it’s easy to recreate the Pixel experience on most contemporary Android devices—scraping away some digital cruft in the process. All it takes is little tinkering and the help of a few third-party apps. Best of all, you can do it without rooting your device. Here’s how.

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