Some people are happy to download and install the latest software update on their Samsung Galaxy S22 series devices but others tend to not like it when things change. This can cause people to have to relearn basic tasks and force them to hunt down where their favorite features have moved to. But there are also times when a new Android update introduces critical bugs to smartphone or tablet. This can cause issues like massive battery drain, bugs, poor performance, a laggy user interface, or even broken apps and services that end up Force crashing in the background.

While we rarely recommend that people should downgrade to an older version of Android, we do understand that sometimes there isn’t a better option if you are having an issue with the latest Android 13 update on your Samsung Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22 Plus, or the Galaxy S22 Ultra.

The first thing that we recommend is to try to do a factory data reset so that you can get things back to a clean slate. This is something that not everyone wants to do but it is normally the best solution to fixing bugs that were introduced from a new Android over-the-air update.

However, if you really want to downgrade then that is something that we are going to show you how to do in this article. Downgrading a Samsung smartphone or tablet is only possible if the bit number matches. We like to use a website called samfw.com to download older versions of Samsung Firmware as they include this piece of data on their download page.

So, if you are wanting to downgrade any of the Samsung Galaxy S22 series devices then look at the smartphone model on this website and make sure you see the same numbers in the bit column. Since the first Android 13 over the air update is labeled bit2 and the last Android 12 over-the-air update has the same bit number then we can successfully downgrade from Android 13 down to Android 12.

This guide will also work if you want to downgrade from your current Android 13 firmware to an older version of Android 13 and will also work if you are wanting to go from a version of Android 12 to an older version of Android 12.

The process is only dependent on making sure that the bit number is the same as the firmware you are wanting to downgrade to. To begin we need to download the firmware that you are wanting to downgrade to and we need to download a copy of Odin to flash the firmware with.  Before going further down the procedure, make sure back up all your important data before downgrading as during the process there will be a forced factory data reset which will delete all the data on your device. So, back up all your important data before proceeding with this tutorial.

How to Downgrade the Galaxy S22 Series from Android 13 OneUI 5.0 to Android 12 OneUI 4.1

There are a few requirements that you need to fulfill in order to complete the process:

Download ODIN on your computer as you need to flash firmware files from ODIN.

Download One UI 4.1 based on the Android 12 firmware file on your computer for your specific device as well. You need to download the exact firmware file that matches the version number of the firmware that you are currently on.

Once you have downloaded the firmware files and ODIN, Boot your device into the download mode. You can check our guide on how to boot your Galaxy S series device into download mode if you are not familiar with the download mode.

Extract the firmware file which you downloaded earlier on your PC. Connect your device to your PC via USB while your device is in Download mode and also open ODIN on your PC.

Make sure that ODIN recognizes your device, if not, then reconnect your device and also check if you have the proper USB drivers installed on your PC. You can update or install the USB drivers if they are missing from the PC.

Open the firmware folder which you extracted. You will see multiple files in that folder. To downgrade your device, you need to load all these files in ODIN and flash them on your device.

In ODIN, click on the BL button, then locate the folder which you extracted and select the file that starts with the Letter “BL”.

Then go ahead and click on the CP button and select the file that starts with the letter “CP” from the firmware files.

Next up click on the CSC button and select the file that starts with the letter “CSC” in that folder. We recommend to people load the file that begins with CSC as that will instruct Odin to wipe the device clean when the downgrade process is completed. You can try to load the file that starts with the home_CSC file if you want as that will tell Odin to keep all of your data intact but we cannot recommend this since any underlying issues with your firmware may still be left floating around if you don’t wipe the data upon downgrading the Galaxy S22 device.

Lastly, click on the AP button and select the file that starts with the letter “AP”. It is a big file and it takes some time to load up so be patient. You are likely going to see Odin not responding while the file is loaded and that is normal if you see that, just be patient and it will eventually work itself out and you will see that the AP file has been loaded into the AP slot.

With that done, click on the start button at the bottom of ODIN to start the process. ODIN will begin flashing all files onto your Samsung Galaxy S22. The process will take some time so be patient.

Your device will restart on it’s own once the process finishes and it will be booted back into Android 12. The boot process will also take some time as it is now booting back for the first time into the Android operating system.

You can go and check the Android version on the about page of your device once it has booted back into Android.

Experiencing difficulties with your Device, check out our “How To” page on how to resolve some of these issues.