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How to Flash Google Apps on Custom Cyanogen Mod Roms?

If you have flashed your Android Smartphone with custom roms especially Caynogen Mod Rom then you are likely to be puzzled at the beginning to find all your Google Apps such as Market, Gmail, You Tube, etc missing from your device. Also, you are likely to be in a situation where you can't add a Google Account to your android smartphone making the situation worse as you can't install any apps without adding a Google account to your device. So, in this article I will tell you how to get Android Market, Gmail, You Tube and many other Google apps that are lost while flashing cyanogen mod rom.

Google Apps contain the proprietary Google applications that come pre-installed with most android devices. Due to licensing restrictions, these apps cannot come pre-installed with Cyanogen Mod and must be installed separately. To make it easier a flash able zip of Google apps is made available which you can simply flash via clock work mod recovery. So, if your market is missing don't just sit there saying: there is no market on my phone or I can't add any Google Account to my smartphone or how do I get my market, you tube and (or) other Google apps back? Simply go through the steps below and get them on your smartphone right away.

1. Download latest version of Google Apps (aka. gapps)  from http://goo-inside.me/gapps/. You can flash this latest (at the time of writing) universal gapps if you have cyanogen mod 7. It is called universal since it is DPI and architecture-independent, and thus can be flashed on all android smartphones.

2. Copy the download gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip file to your sd-card.

3. Reboot your android smartphone to clock work mod recovery. [Note:- Use Home Button to select and Volume Buttons to navigate in CWM recovery.]

4. Go to Mounts and Storage menu and choose mount /system and mount /data options.

5. Now, go to Install Zip From SD>>Choose Zip From SD Card>> and select the gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip file  you downloaded earlier.

6. Wait till the Google apps are installed.

7. Once Google Apps are successfully flashed, Reboot your device.

Wait! We are not done yet. This will only install Android Market on your smartphone. This was done to make the package less heavy (on size) by reducing unnecessary app which can simply be installed via Android Market. But, instead tiny Pacman app is installed which will ask you to select the apps that are to be downloaded from market and installed. This is shown only one time just after you reboot your device after flashing appropriate gapps zip. If you are not presented with the Activity to add a Google Account you can do it manually from Settings>>Accounts and Sync>>Add another Account>>Google and then add your Google account and password and you are done.

Also, if you missed the window to select the Google Apps or you want more Google apps to be added in future simply search the market with the keyword 'pub: Google Inc.' and you will be presented with the Google apps that you can choose to install once again.  I hope this has replied to most of your queries regarding the lost Android Market and other Google apps. If you need further help on it please feel free to ask through the comments below.

Post a Comment

50 Comments

  1. LOL even if its late. its still beneficial for some who didn't know.

    nice post yagya :)

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  2. Yes, that's the main reason I posted it. Other will get help. Sorry, for being late.

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  3. Hey Yagya don't why but when I root my SGM (stock 2.3.4) it gets rooted but when I try to perform some kind of action which wants root access its done successfully but my phone reboots immediately every time the same thing. I am fed up of this rebooting. I know this is permissions issue I also Fixed Permissions through CWM but still same thing. Please Help.... This Problem is from the beginning when samsung provided updates for the GM.

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  4. Ashish Kotnala, Try updating your super user app to a more latest version. Also, make sure you install busybox on your device. You can get busybox installer in market that will do the task for you. I hope it will solve your problem.

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  5. hi! i have done everything in this step by step procedure. i flashed the gapps file in the cwm, then, market (vending.apk) is finally installed but there is no icon in the app drawer. should i sign in to google first to have the icon?

    and how did i know that the market was already installed? i browsed the /system/app/vending.apk and it says, "replace application". im having trouble locating the icon :( somebody help please.

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  6. you should add account 1st go to settings> accounts/sync. After adding your google account you can now able to see market in your drawer :)

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  7. thank you so much gboy! i will try this :)

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    ENJOY INDIANS.....

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  9. @ Yagya : Nice tutorials you got here. I search for this site only for references. Keep up the good work dude. Blog followed!

    ~Cheers
    Sandeep

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  10. Flashed latest CM7 and partitioned my SD Card and its all good. I have one little problem though. Flashed gapps.zip and I can still not see Google Maps, Places, Latitude and so.
    However Market and YouTube are there. So what would you suggest Yagya.

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  11. 123google123,
    For that you search for a Google Map app in web and then install it manually. You will need to use Maps v5.9 or lower since people reported to me that Google Maps v6.0 doesn't work.
    :)

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  12. i need help pls, gapps is already installed but market wont let me install or download any apps...

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  13. Red, I hope you are not talking about CM9 since I don't know why it is not working even after flashing gapps. maybe that's a bug and the developer is working on a stable CM9.

    If you are talking on any other rom, then everything works fine. probably you did something wrong. Make sure you flash gapps correctly (mount system before) then when you reboot follow the wizard to add Google Account and install gapps. If you don't get this wizard, add Google Account in Accounts and sync and then run market. Everything will work fine. Also, if it doesn't do the trick, please explain your problem in detail (with the exact error you get).

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  14. tried reflashing gapps again and now it works fine. Turns out the first time i flashed it i didn't mount system and data (human error x.x)

    anyway great tutorial really learned alot from this thread...

    thanks yagya! ^_^

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  15. Red,
    You are welcome. Look around the site and you might find many interesting stuffs. :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. i hav flashed gapps accordingly to the above procedure..but there is no pacman app..help pls...

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  17. shounik,
    Pacman is not an app to appear in your app drawer. It's a system app and you can see it. But, it will allow you to add apps and run automatically just after you flash google apps. To add a google account now go to accounts and sync and select add account and choose google. :)

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  18. Hello there Yagya and Happy New Year with lots of custom roms for our beloved mini!!!!
    I have gone through cyanogenmod, emanon then chocobread only to return to cyanogenmod. I liked emanon too but I missed all the customization of cyan so I flashed it back. I have only one problem. The android market is too unstable. It crashes too often, to an irritating degree!!!! I downloaded gapps-gb-20110828-signed. Do I need a different version or is there a fix? Thanx in advance and keep up the good work!!!! You are the man, you rock!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Theodpre,
    The ANdroid Market is a big problem if you have slow connection. It's not because of the Gapps or the rom, the problem is with the latest version (new) market it needs high bandwidth. So, your only way is to stay with old version (2.3.6 seemed fast) of market. For this isntall the old maket and then disable/freeze market updater app (using Titanium backup or other app from market) so that the market doesn't get updated itself.

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  20. Thanx for the quick reply Yagya!! The thing is that I didn't have any problem with the market when I had the emanon rom and I didn't block it in any way so I suppose it upgraded itself to a newer version...I have to tell you that this was one of the problems that pushed me to try other mods than cyan in the first place. I haven't heard of anyone having the same problem so could it that is just a "personal" bug I have to live with (technology works in mysterious ways.....) or a hickup of my phone???

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  21. Theodore,
    As I said the laggy market is a famous problem for phones with slow data/network. You can use the previous version (but it will upgrade itself, so you will need to disable or freeze maket updater app).

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  22. Hi Yagya... when you install gaps, I just want to clarify, you need to have an internet connection ayt?

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  23. It's better to have internet connection, but even if you don't have at the moment of flashing then you can go to Settings>Accounts and Sync and add an account manually as said in the post above.

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  24. Good day Yagya.


    My problem is,when I reboot and exit to recovery it will freeze on boot animation.What version of gapps do I need to Install to make it work?Thanks a lot.
    -Mod Version
     CyanogenMod-7.2.0-RC5.4-Android version
     2.3.7

    -Unit 
     Samsung gt-s5570


    Update to GB 2.3.4 -Success

    Install CWM           -Success


    Cyanogen Mod 7.2.0 RC5.4 -Success

    Partition an SD Card and Install Darktremor Apps2SD -SuccessFlash Google Apps on Your Android Smartphone - Failed.XD

    ReplyDelete
  25. Greetings, So, you are having trouble flashing Google apps. First of all make sure you are using gapps for GB since CM7 is based on GB firmware and then while flashing make sure you mount system and data partition first. Follow step by step instructions carefully from above and try again. It will work fine.

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  26. while adding google account at last the message comes 
    cant establish a reliable data connection to the server 
    wht should i do plz help me

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  27. Do you have stable internet connection. It is recommended that you use wifi or high speed data access for this purpose.

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  28. after following the steps I reboot and stays in the boot animation. I can't turn on my device.¿¿¿what can i do???

    ReplyDelete
  29. Didn't you do a backup before proceeding? It's always recommended to do so before flashing anything. You can go back to CWM recovery, wipe cache and dalvik ; flash the ROM again; flash Google apps and then wipe cache and reboot.

    It you have a backup you can simply restore it.

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  30. hey guyz...i got d old android market version..
    1)open total commander or root explore..etc
    2)open system/app
    3)choose d file vending.apk
    40n den it wil ask to install and delete
    so choose d instal option...n here u go...the old android market version vl b install...!!

    ReplyDelete
  31. to get d old android market version....
    1)download diz file http://www.mediafire.com/?xct38spf8m6bm16
    2)copy it in sd card
    3)den reboot ur fone 2 d recovery mod n flash it...stps r already givn abv by YAGYA.
    reboot ur device n njy d older versoin of android market..!!!

    if stil d mrkt iz of newer vrsion dn follw diz stps aftr compltin d previous stps
    1)open total commander or root explore..etc2)open system/app3)choose d file vending.apk4)n den it wil ask to install and deleteso choose d instal option...n here u go...the old android market version vl gt install...!! 

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  32. my market says server error , its not working !! ! pl help !!

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  33. tnx u so much Yagya Gaire  .. that was a relief.. tnx.. but i do have a question.. thuss gapps-passion also work on my galaxy mini with cyanogen7 rc1? tnx in advance

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  34. The gapps is for all Android smartphone running Cyanogen Mod 7.0 and above. Before that you need to google apps specific to your device but since then, the universal gapps zip is available which can be flashed on any CM rom above 7.0 and on any device.

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  35. same problem as an 7017. please help!

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  36. What's 7017? Mount system and data before flashing and it should work fine.

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  37. when i try to connect to google play it keeps saying server error for some reason, any way to fix this? thanks

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  38. Are you sure you have stable connection? Then, try again. Also, if it doesn't work then flash gapps again and give it a try.

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  39. my downloads from the market are taking too long time in initializing...?? m using Cyanogen Mod 7.2 RC5.7... I have very stable net connection but still the problem persists... please help 

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  40. A data and cache wipe should speed up the things.. Or, if your downloads are successful then you might just want to leave it as it is.

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  41. I Am A Good Kid ;PApril 10, 2012 at 5:10 PM

    Thank's, so, so, so, so, so, so, so mush

    ReplyDelete
  42. Hi Yagya, Thanks for the post. 

    Followed all the steps (didnt get a pacman or chance to select which appas I want) and receive a  " Can't Establish a reliable data connection to this server message" after trying to connect. I checked all your replies below and tried the different solutions, but still no success. I disabled all connections except WiFi, added the gapp again and still nothing. 

    Sony Xperia Mini, Android 2.3.7, CM 7.2.0 RC1, used the gapps-gb-20110828-signed

    Can you please help?

    ReplyDelete
  43. I am not sure what you tried. However, I think I overwrote in above article unnecessary details which are not at all useful for general users. You'll just need to follow the steps and not care about rest of the parts much.

    Anyway, download the zip again and flash it in CWM recovery. Make sure you have mounted system and data before you flash it and once done reboot your device. After reboot a app shoulf run automatically asking you to sign into your Google accounts. If you are connected to a proper connection you can continue and complete it else you can connect to wifi via Notification bar. If it doesn't show up then, you'll get Android Market app in App Drawer, run it and then follow the prompts. A stable wifi connection is recommended during first setup connection.

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  44. As I installed the google apps... At the time of rebooting the screen turns to white background and then to black background nd this process goes on repeating .... Waht to do!!!

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  45. Hi, i have followed the process and downloaded the google apps zip
    But after running it through clockwork recovery and rebooting my device, it says there is a problem loading widget on the homescreen, even after syncing with my google account. Please help.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Hi, i have followed the process and downloaded the google apps zip
    But after running it through clockwork recovery and rebooting my device, it says there is a problem loading widget on the homescreen, even after syncing with my google account. Please help.

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  47. Well, that's very unlikely to happen. Try doing a data and cache wipe in recovery and reboot your device again.

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  48. Nice tutorials, but while adding Google account at last the message comes
    cant establish a reliable data connection to the server.
    what should i do plz help merecording app

    ReplyDelete

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