How do I go back to JellyBean from Kitkat?

[Android Central Question]

I bought an old Android phone and upgraded from Jellybean to Kitkat. What can I do to go back?

 

[hallux]

You'd have to find the flash files and tools to do it, but I have some doubts about those still being available for such an old device and some device manufacturers won't have the files or tools available. I'm not sure it's worth running EITHER OS though, both are quite old and are rapidly losing support from apps as they update.

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[kitbean]

If KitKat is the last supported OS for the old Android phone, would going higher than that be more doable than going lower from Kitkat to Jellybean?

 

[hallux]

I don't see it as a long term solution. Those versions of Android are now 7 and 8 years old, to have any long-term app support would require moving to at least a Marshmallow or Nougat ROM, which simply won't run well on that device.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Is there a particular reason why you need to have the phone on such an old version? Do you need to use an app that is no longer available for newer Android versions?

 

[kitbean]

The phone I'm using goes up to Kitkat but not higher than that.
Kindle has better functions on JellyBean than Kitkat.

I used to have this phone and read kindle books on it a lot, then it broke so I got a another one that was used on ebay.

I downloaded Kindle on it, and noticed that an option to view the list of highlights as well as the search function, is not there at all. The Android phone uses Kitkat (that's as high as it goes).

When I used a Jellybean for Android on the same phone a long time ago, it used to be that not only it showed list of highlights, but also showed it in whatever font the system font was set to be, making it better than the current Kindle for Android which only shows it in one single serif font.

However I'm also worried that even if I go back to Jellybean, it still might have lost those two things I mentioned (Maybe Amazon decided to remove those on purpose on for older Android OS to encourage people to buy Kindle? Because it wouldn't make sense for Jellybean kindle to have it but not Kitkat Kindle. It also wouldn't make sense why they would do this to older OS which most people don't use nowadays instead of current one, if they wanted people to move onto Kindle device.)

 

[kitbean]

I got an Android phone for free from someone about 5 years ago and used to read a lot of books on it on the Kindle app. I don't know if it was on Jellybean or if it was upgraded to Kitkat before it was given to me.

It broke so I bought another phone of the same kind from eBay. When I got it and upgraded it to Kitkat and downloaded Kindle. I noticed that an option to view the list of highlights was gone, as well as the search function.

When I used Kindle App before the original phone broke, it used to be that not only it showed list of highlights, but also showed it in whatever font the system font was set to be, making it better than the modern Kindle for Android which only shows it in one single serif font. (I'm guessing it was on Jellybean, since Kitkat Kindle lost those two things).

Which is why I would prefer to go back to Jellybean rather than go up to Nougat or above, to see if Kindle app will show the list of highlights in system font as before (if it doesn't I'll have to think about going up to Nougat)

 

[Mooncatt]

Welcome to the forums and thanks for registering to elaborate.

I'm with the others that neither OS is recommended these days, primarily due to security issues that are now fixed. That aside, I don't think that is your underlying problem. This sounds more like an issue specific to the Kindle app, which is likely a newer version than you had. You may have better luck searching for an earlier version of the app than rolling back the OS (which wouldn't necessarily roll back the Kindle app anyway).

I'm not personally familiar with Kindle, but did a quick search for "viewing Kindle highlights," and got some recent results. I would suggest you do the same and read through some of the results to see if they suit your needs. Just keep in mind those results are not likely to apply to such an old version of the app, but current versions. To get the current version would require a currently supported OS version, which means buying a newer phone.