Occasionally, you may have for sure known or seen that; despite having a new, powerful phone running the latest version of Android, some of the high end games are not compatible with your device !!
Not only games, you find that some of the apps provided in Google Play are not compatible to be installed on your phone. To circumvent that, we can force the incompatible app to operate on Android by editing the build.prop system file. You may wonder why Google Play is not allowing you to install the app !! A simple reason to start with is the app perhaps is tested to run on a limited handful of devices as the developer doesn't have the resources to provide wider support.
Whatever be the reason, you are not able to install it. So here is a way that you can trick Google Play into thinking that your mobile is compatible by editing the build.prop file. The process is simple, but RISKY. Editing create.prop is not something you do everyday and should decide on to do without having a Nandroid backup. This may be a high-risk edit, one that can brick your device, so perform at your own risk; i will not be responsible for bricking your phone. I am only educating users, how to circumvent it.
Prerequisite: Rooted phone
Tools required: Root Explorer, Online Nandroid Backup
Here is a shorter and logical version of the steps to be performed, in programming style :)
10 Take Nandroid backup
20 Edit build.prop in root explorer
30 Make relevant alterations
forty Save and reboot
50 If successful, device will boot. Download app then enjoy, else goto 60
60 correct nandroid backup
Now lets take it up step by step.
Method A: The longer and manual way
Step 1: Ensure Android os is rooted
In order to access the build.prop file, you’ll have to root your Android phone.
Step 2: Take Nandroid Back-up
Install Online nandroid backup from here. Take a full backup of your system, it might accept hardly 5 mins. If you’re not backing up, make a copy of build.prop and save that it to your SD card or favorite cloud storage. This way, should the worst occur, you have go to recovery mode and restore it.
Step 3: Explore build.prop file
Download Root explorer from here. Open the Root explorer, go to /system and find the build.prop file.
Step 4: Open develop.prop for editing
Long Press on the build.prop file to open up the menu and select open in text editor
Build.prop is basically an ID card for your device, outlining the model and other ‘fingerprint’ info for Google Play and your apps. These details can be employed to adjust how an app would run.
Step 5: Disguise the details
You’ll need to adjust some fields in the build.prop. Together with ro.device.model=, change
ro.build.version.release= that specifies the android os build version, and ro.product.brand=
Go to step 7 to see if it works.
Step 6: Additional changes
If the initial changes don’t work after a reboot, take a look at ro.product.name=, ro.product.device=, ro.product.manufacturer=, and ro.build.fingerprint=. If you are unsure and want more help on the parameters, check XDA-Developers.com.
Step 7: Save changes
With your changes made, use the back button on your device to prompt the text editor in order to save many adjusted build.prop file. Agree to the changes, then restart Android.
Step 8: Download app
Open Bing Play, you should be able to browse the app you want and install it without any problems.
Step 9: Troubleshoot
As mentioned already, tweaking build.prop is potentially risky. If you have made any errors, you will likely find that the device cannot boot correctly. In this instance you will need to restore your Nandroid backup or find a method to restore the build.prop backup from your SD card.
Method B: Use the tool Build.prop editor
Download the application from Google Plat here and make changes.
Keep in mind that the algorithm available is same, only the interface / editor changes
Feel free to comment or ask if you have any queries.
