CM13 is right around the corner but there are already some custom ROMs based on Android 6.0. So let me show you how to download the Gapps 6.0 package.
As you already know, a custom ROM doesn’t contain any Google applications in the main firmware download. These custom ROMs simply aren’t allowed to package Google’s proprietary applications with their free software. Thankfully though, these applications can be installed separately.
I would say that most of the time a user will want to download the custom ROM file along with the Google Apps package that goes along with your current version of Android.
This is the important part. You can’t use a Google Apps package that was meant for Android 4.4 KitKat on a custom ROM install that is based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. This just won’t work and you’ll likely have tons of force closes that prevent you from doing anything with Android once you boot up your device. So be aware of what version of Android your custom ROM is based on and only install Gapps packages that are based on that specific version. There’s also something else you need to make note of.
You’ll need to know which type of processor you have in your smartphone. The page that I will link to below will give you multiple choices and you’re going to need to know if your smartphone is based on x86, ARM or ARM64 architecture. It’s rare to find a smartphone that is x86, but that isn’t impossible. So most of you will only need to figure out if your device is 32-bit(aka regular ARM) or if it is 64-bit(which would be ARM64). If you don’t know off the top of your head, check out this page if you have a Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC, or check out this page if you have a Samsung Exynos SoC.
The Exynos Wiki page has two sections, one for 32-bit and one for 64-bit, so it should make it pretty easy to find out which one you have. The Qualcomm page is a bit more confusing because they don’t have these separated like this. So instead, you’ll have to look and see if your chips has the ARMv8 CPU instruction set. Anything that is ARMv7 and below is not 64-bit.
Gapps 6.0 Download
- Go to the Open Gapps Page
- Select the Appropriate Platform
- Select 6.0 for the Version of Android
- Select the Variant of Gapps You Want
Explanation
So, you should already know if your phone or tablet has a 32-bit or 64-bit SoC. This means you just need to click/tap on that platform option and then make sure you have the Android 6.0 option selected as well. Now, when you get to the Variant column, this is where things get interesting. If you are doing this on a Desktop PC then you can hover the mouse over each option in the Variant column and get a little description about what these mean. Excluding the Aroma option, the ones highest up contain more applications than the ones closer to the bottom. I think that 9 times out of 10, you’ll want the Stock option, but if you want a minimal or complete package then you can pick something like Nano or Super.
After you have completed the form and picked out all the ones you want, you’ll get a file name and size total right next to the download FAB. This just lets you know big the package you are about to download is. When ready, tap/click on the download FAB and it will download the zip file that contains all of the Google applications for the variant you selected. Just like with the custom ROM zip file, you just need to copy/move this to the internal storage directory on your smartphone or tablet and then you can flash it in a custom recovery after you have installed your custom ROM.
