How To Downgrade An Android App Using ADB Without Losing Data

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Downgrading an Android app can be useful if the latest update has bugs or changes you don't like. Sometimes the latest version of an app may not be compatible with your version of Android, so an older version is required to work.

Of course, you can download an older version of the app by installing the APK, but by doing so, you will lose your data and settings. And while you can find some apps for this purpose on Google Play, they require root access, which isn't for everyone.

So, let's see how to downgrade an Android app using ADB (Android Debug Bridge) without losing any data or settings.

Downgrade an Android app with ADB without data loss

Before you start, you need to install ADB on your computer and enable USB debugging on your Android phone. If you don't know how to do it, read the complete guide "What is ADB and how to use it?". This will also help if you are using Linux or macOS. In this guide, we are using Windows.

Then, if all goes well, proceed with uninstalling the problematic app.

Step 1. Check the version of the application and download the previous APK

First, check which version of the app you have installed. This information is usually available in the "About" or "Settings" section of the application.

Visit one of these safe Android APK download sites now (we recommend APKMirror) and download an older version of the app in APK format. Move this file to the default ADB folder on your computer to continue working with ADB commands.

Step 2. Download the APK file on your Android phone.

The adb push command is used to copy a file from a computer to a device. The first argument to the command is the file you want to copy, and the second is the destination on your phone. This is what it looks like:

adb push xyz.apk /data/ locale /tmp/

So this would be a command to copy a file called "xyz.apk" to the "tmp" folder of your phone. You need to rename the file to the name you want to copy.

Now open a terminal, PowerShell or command line in the ADB folder where you put the APK file. To do this in Windows 11, right-click on the folder and select Open in Terminal . In earlier versions of Windows, hold down the Shift key while right-clicking on a folder and select "Open command window here" from the context menu.

Enter the command, replacing the APK name with the name you are using. For example, we wanted to copy a file called "linkedin-4-1-780.apk" to our Android phone and we used this command:

adb push linkedin-4-1-780.apk /data/ locale /tmp/

Step 3: Downgrade with the ADB command

Once the APK file is in the appropriate folder on your phone, the next step is to downgrade the app while keeping the data with the following command:

adb shell pm install -r -d /data/local/tmp/xyz.apk

Again, you need to replace "xyz.apk" with your file name. So, in our case, we change the command as follows:

adb shell pm install -r -d / data / local /tmp/linkedin -4 -1 -780. apks

Now you can run the app and check its version number. I should have been sitting down, with data and settings. Here is our result. The latest version is on the left of the screenshot, and the smaller version is on the right.

NEAR

Downgrade applications without data loss

When using these ADB commands, each space and period is counted. Therefore, if you have to insert them for any reason, you must be very careful. However, we recommend that you copy and paste the commands as often as possible.

If you like using ADB commands, you'll be surprised what else you can do with ADB. You can use it to install or uninstall apps, reboot your device, and more.

ADB Tutorial: How to use ADB