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I installed the KitKat upgrade on my Nexus 7, but I am unhappy with it. Is it possible to roll back to an earlier version of Android (Jelly Bean)?

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    There are no OTA's for downgrading. However as you have a nexus 7 you can easily download the factory images of 4.3 oder 4.2 for your Nexus 7 from the following site developers.google.com/android/nexus/images and flash your nexus 7 back to whatever version you like.
    – Chrisii
    Nov 27 '13 at 0:05
  • @DanHulme: indeed. I will delete my comment then ;-)
    – Patrick Honorez
    Jul 15 '15 at 19:04
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Yes, it is possible.

One of the advantages of rooting is the ability to control the operating system that resides on your phone.

With that control, you can change the version of Android. There are two ways to go about doing this:

  1. Flash the stock image https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images
  2. Install a custom ROM. If you know what an operating system is on a computer, a ROM is basically an OS for your phone. Just check XDA-developers for some great custom ROMs that offer any Android experience, with additional features!

I know for a fact Cyanogenmod still haven't released a KitKat based version and offer a close to stock (unmodified) experience with features that are actually useful. I would recommend to try them out.

Enjoy the freedom!

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    Trying this (4.4.2 back to 4.3.1) I get "Device version-bootloader is 'FLO-04.02'. Update requires 'FLO-03.15'."
    – Andrew
    Dec 18 '13 at 1:27
  • Both of the methods I have listed require (to my knowledge) you to have an unlocked bootloader. Please note downgrading and unlocking the bootloader wipes all user data. This is why you should unlock the bootloader earlier, not later ;) To unlock the bootloader of a Nexus device just run fastboot oem unlock in the same directory on your computer that you have the fastboot binary.
    – p1xel
    Dec 18 '13 at 3:29
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  • Download factory image for your device from the official source
  • Extract image (you can use 7zip to extract *.tgz files)
  • Download and install ADB, Fastboot and drivers (install system wide). Download from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=48915118
  • Connect your Nexus device to the computer with USB cable
  • Turn off your device

  • Boot your Nexus to bootloader mode by pressing and hold Volume Down + Power buttons until you see bootloader menu

  • On your computer open terminal (win+r -> cmd.exe -> enter) and go to the folder extracted in the second step (this folder should contain flash-all.sh file)

  • Run flash-all.sh command in terminal

Take this instruction from here

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