Flash CM 13 Android 6.0 Nightly ROM on Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4

CyanogenMod is an alternative operating system created with one intention in mind: to replace the one pre-installed on your beloved Android devices. Is your device Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4 missing some important features or do you find it limited in functionality, as compared to other more recent smartphones from the company? A boost in its performance is the answer to your problems and that is exactly what you can get by flashing the latest CM 13 Android 6.0 Nightly ROM on it.

So, that is how you can get all the stock Android 6.0 features and tons of extra goodies added by the CyanogenMod Team, but be careful. This is not a guide for newbies and it comes with a few risks that you should know about from the start. Do not update other Android devices with the Android 6.0 M files found in the tutorial part of this post or I can assure you that you’ll brick them.

Moreover, your Verizon Galaxy S4 has to be running a rooted firmware and a custom Recovery based on the latest version of CWM or TWRP should be installed on it too. Since this is not a final build, you should know that after installing this CM 13 firmware update, your Samsung Galaxy S4 can get errors, several other bugs and even apps might not work as you are used too.

To fix these sort of issues, you must reinstall stock firmware or any other stable custom ROM. And that’s possible only with the help of the backup option, even though the Factory Reset process wipes clean the system memory partition. It’s true that this has nothing to do with the data found in the internal storage, but it’s better to be prepared for the worst.

And as a reminder, this guide can only be completed by advanced users and I cannot be blamed in case you brick your Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4 phone nor in case you lose any important data in the process. Are you willing to accept this responsibility?

Then, read the entire post, do not skip or mix the steps and let me know if I can be of any help.

How to Flash CM 13 Android 6.0 Nightly ROM on Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4:

1. To begin, download the CM 13 Nightly zip from here;
2. Download Gapps for Android 6.0 ROMs from here as well;
3. Transfer the downloaded CM 13 and the GApps zip in your Galaxy S4 by using the original USB cable;
4. Then, you must switch your phone off;
5. Boot into recovery mode. To do so, just press and hold the volume up, home and power keys at the same time;
6. Do not forget to perform a nandroid backup (I have already told you of what great importance this step is);
7. After performing the ROM backup, return to the main menu and tap the wipe button;
8. Then, select Advanced Wipe, as well as Dalvik Cache, System, Data, and Cache;
9. Next, swipe to confirm;
10. From the main menu, choose the Install option;
11. Find the CM 13 zip and start the installation by swiping;
12. You must flash the Gapps zip in the same way too;
13. From recovery select “reboot” and enjoy.