How to Update Moto G Dual SIM [Indian Variant] to official Android 4.4 KitKat

Indian version of Moto G has been receiving a lot of attention these days, which can be accredited to its value-for-money factor. Motorola had promised at the international launch of Moto G that a KitKat update will be made available soon. Keeping its promise, Motorola has rolled out update for its dual SIM variant in Malaysia. This will soon be followed by the rollout of the official OTA KitKat update in India. But as you now own an awesome Android device, you can choose to update the device itself – if you are feeling too impatient to wait that is.

Update: Official Android 4.4 KitKat is now out for the Indian variant. You can update your phone officially here.

We shall try to keep this guide as simple to follow as we can, considering the fact that this might be the first Android phone for many among you.

Moto G Indian version running JB 4.3 before the update.     Credits: Rhythm

Before you Proceed further

• This guide won’t root your phone, neither it will unlock its bootloader. Therefore, your manufacturer warranty will still be intact.
• Performing the steps given in this guide won’t Factory reset your phone, so you don’t need to do any backup.
• This guide works with all the Asian variants of the dual SIM Moto G (both 8 GB and 16 GB), including India.
• This process is power intensive and eats up about 40% of your battery power. So, don’t skip this point, not this time. Make sure your phone is charged at least 60%, just to stay on the safer side.

Guide: Update Moto G Indian Variant to Official KitKat (Android 4.4)

1. Download the official Android 4.4 update file for your device from this link (hosted on Google Drive). Or this one (hosted on Devhost)
2. The file you downloaded in the above step is named Blur_Version.14.85.4.falcon_umtsds.AsiaRetail.en.0 3.zip and is 241897665 bytes (230.69 MB) in size. Match both these values to make sure your download has not gone corrupt.
3. Don’t extract this zip file. Just connect your Moto G using a micro USB cable and transfer this file to the root of your sd card. By root of the sd card, we mean that this file should be placed in your phone’s internal storage outside any folders.
4. Now, switch off your phone. Once the phone turns off completely, press and hold the Volume Down and Power buttons simultaneously until you get to the Boot Mode Selection Menu screen, as shown in the image below.
   
5. Once you are in the Boot Mode Selection Menu, your touch won’t be accepted as input. Instead, you will have to press the Volume Down button to scroll through the list of options. Once the desired option is highlighted, pressing the Volume Up button will select the option.
6. Using the Volume Up and Down, scroll to the Recovery option (using Volume Down button) and select it (using the Volume Up button). I’m talking about the Recovery option here, and not the Normal Recovery one.
7. Now, you should be in Moto G’s Stock Android Recovery. In the Recovery mode, navigation works slightly different. Here, Volume Up and Down scroll up and down while Power button selects the highlighted option.
   
8. Scroll down to the wipe cache partition option and select it. This will wipe your phone’s cache partition.
9. Now, scroll further down to the apply update from sdcard option and select it. Now, the recovery will ask you which file you want to flash. Select Blur_Version.14.85.4.falcon_umtsds.AsiaRetail.en.0 3.zip using the power button. Doing so will initiate the flashing procedure.
   
10. You will see a screen similar to the image below. Wait for the updation process to complete. Once it does, scroll up to the reboot system now option and select it using Power button.

    

    KitKat Installation in process

11. When the phone reboots for the first time after the update, Dalvik Cache will be rebuilt. You don’t need to know or do anything about it. This process is displayed as Optimizing app x of y under the Android is upgrading heading.
12. Once your phone boots up, go to Settings > About Phone and jump on your feets when you confirm it to be Android 4.4 KitKat.

    

    Settings Screen looks like this in KitKat

You deserve a pat on your back right this moment as you are running the latest available Android version on your Moto G. If this guide helped you, share this on your social accounts so as to help us, and your friends who might happen to own a Moto G.

We shall follow up with further guides (including how to root and how to unlock bootloader) for the Moto G, so stay tuned and make sure to follow us. (To help you with the latter part, we have added the “socialiser” widget on the right sidebar.)