Last Updated on November 16, 2019 by Mathew Diekhake

These are the guidelines to installing the Fake Nexus custom ROM on the Google Nexus 4 phone using a custom recovery and a computer to download the file. Once the guide is complete, you will find your device automatically reboots with the Fake Nexus ROM installed and it will forever be installed until you choose to flash another ROM on your device which will wipe it in the process.

The Fake Nexus ROM is better than the name suggests, and the only reason it takes the name “fake” is that it stays close to the original stock ROM and can be mistaken for it should you not know any better. However, it does come with some changes as you would expect. You can read the official XDA-Developers thread that is made for the Fake Nexus custom ROM to read up on what exactly those changes are.

Google Nexus 4

Files You Need

  • Download the Fake Nexus custom ROM file for the Google Nexus 4 smartphone from here.
  • You must install a custom recovery on your Nexus 4 handset before you can start this guide to installing a custom ROM on the phone.
  • You will need to get the Google Nexus 4 smartphone rooted before you can start this guide for installing a custom ROM on the smartphone.

Note that the content in the tutorial will be referring to Team Win’s TWRP Recovery and not any of the other custom recoveries such as ClockworkMod Recovery. You will have no problems following the same guide no matter your version of custom recovery as each recovery partition comes with the same features that are required. However, you should expect the wording of the buttons to vary slightly between TWRP Recovery and something like that of the ClockworkMod custom recovery. They do this because they want to create an original custom recovery partition that isn’t copied, but the features are still the same.

Installing the Fake Nexus custom ROM on the Google Nexus 4 smartphone

  1. Download the Fake Nexus custom ROM file from the files section above and have it waiting on the desktop of your computer.
  2. Connect the Google Nexus 4 phone to the computer with the USB cable that you would usually use to charge the battery on the device when you have it sitting on the charger.
  3. Copy the Fake Nexus custom ROM file over to the internal storage SD card and keep your ROM file at the top level of that SD card so you can find it later.
  4. Unplug the Google Nexus 4 phone from the computer once you have the Fake ROM on the SD card.
  5. Turn off the Nexus 4 smartphone and then reboot it up by holding the hardware key combination for the stock recovery and you will see the custom recovery mode boot on the display.
  6. Tap on the “Install” button from the main recovery menu and browse the SD card for the Fake Nexus custom ROM file.
  7. Follow the on-screen instructions to install that Fake ROM file.
  8. Choose the option to reboot the system which is available from the main custom recovery menu once the flashing of the new ROM is complete.

In conclusion, that is how to install the Fake Nexus custom ROM on the Google Nexus 4 smartphone by using a custom recovery image and a computer. You will find that the Nexus 4 phone now reboots itself to the normal mode and the new ROM that you just flashed on the handset on the screen. You can always go back to the stock ROM you were once using, but you will need to find out how to flash the stock ROM because the stock ROM is not flashed the same way we flash a custom ROM. A custom recovery is a for a custom ROM, and a stock ROM needs a flashing tool or perhaps the ADB commands from a computer.