This story is being continuously updated….new updates are being added at the bottom…..

Following the footsteps of most of the Asian Android OEMs, Asus also designed their own skin on top of vanilla Android. Dubbed as Zen UI, it is significantly different from Xiaomi’s MIUI or Huawei’s EMUI.

However, the Taiwanese OEM is now revamping the interface by bringing back the clean-and-simple vibe of AOSP. The sixth iteration of Zen UI, found pre-installed in Asus 6Z/ZenFone 6, shows us the glimpses of the redesign.

zenui6-image
ZenFone 6 running ZenUI 6

The actual journey of trimming down the heavy skin was initiated with the release of Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1 back in 2018. The phone came with a near stock version of Android Oreo, and Asus provided subsequent OTAs to upgrade the firmware to Android Pie.

The transition from Oreo to Pie was rocky for the phone, as owners faced multiple issues after installing the initial builds. ZenFone Max Pro M2, the successor to the Max Pro M1, also stumbled on similar bugs.

zenfone_max_pro_m1_black_front_back
ZenFone Max Pro (M1)

The company is working hard to eliminate the bugs and bring new features. For example, they already rolled out June security patch to ZenFone Max Pro M2 units which also included Digital Wellbeing.

Looks like ZenFone Max Pro M1 is getting the similar treatment, as a new update is reportedly live for the phone. According to the changelog, it does feature the Digital Wellbeing app.

zenfone_max_pro_m1_16.2017.1906.056

As you can see, the internal version number of this new build is 16.2017.1906.056. The Russian variant got an older build (16.2017.1906.055) a couple of days ago, although the list of changes was identical.

zenfone_max_pro_m1_digital_wellbeing
Digital Wellbeing on ZenFone Max Pro M1

Asus also uploaded the 055 build in their Russian support site. Though the package can be installed on global and Indian units, it may not possible to get further updates without manual sideloading.

The 056 build, on the other hand, is rolling out in batches. Judging from the full build tag, it was compiled on July 22.

zenfone_max_pro_m1_16.2017.1906.056_about_device

We are also able to capture the full update package so that ZenFone Max Pro M1 users can download and flash this build without any hassle.

  • Device: Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1
  • Codename: x00td
  • Channel: Global (India) Stable
  • Version: WW-16.2017.1906.056
  • Android: 9.0
    • Type: Recovery
      • Download: Link
      • MD5: b5b1e52129fbac96523cbad00549b480

Happy flashing!

Update 1 (August 01)

The update has now been officially announced for ZB602KL variant of ZenFone Max Pro M1.

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Kingshuk De
896 Posts

I came from a mixed background of Statistics and Computer Science. My research domains included embedded computer systems, mobile computing and delay tolerant networks in post-disaster scenarios. Apart from tinkering with gadgets or building hackintosh, I like to hop on various subreddits and forums like MyDigitalLife and XDA.

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