Install Leaf
Leaf installs from an SD card using the Miniloong Pocket 1’s own built-in update mechanism. You don’t need ADB, a custom flasher, or any PC-side tooling: just extract the release to a card and let the device install it.
What you need
Section titled “What you need”- A Miniloong Pocket 1.
- An SD card, FAT32 (or ext4). A backup of anything already on it; installing works on the card you boot from.
- The Leaf install ZIP from the
latest release:
leaf-mlp1-sd-<release_id>.zip.
- Prepare the card. Format the SD card as FAT32 (or ext4) if it isn’t already.
- Extract the ZIP to the card root. Unzip
leaf-mlp1-sd-<release_id>.zipdirectly to the top level of the SD card, not into a subfolder. You should see the install files and folders sitting at the card’s root. - Insert and boot. Put the card in the powered-off device and turn it on.
- Let it install. The device’s stock update screen detects the installer and runs it. Wait for it to finish; don’t power off mid-install.
- Power off when the installer reports it’s done.
- Boot into Leaf. Turn the device back on normally. The Leaf boot animation plays and you land on the Leaf launcher.
That’s it: the device is now running Leaf, with stock still intact underneath for recovery.
After installing
Section titled “After installing”- Connect to Wi-Fi so you can update and (later) scrape art: open Settings → Network.
- Add your games - see Adding games & ROMs.
- Add BIOS files for the systems that need them - see BIOS & cores.
- Check for updates from the launcher - see Updating.
- Your stock data is preserved. Leaf runs on top of stock and doesn’t wipe the original OS. It only takes over the boot once installed.
- Your data lives at the card root. Games, saves, states, and app data sit at
the top level of the card (
Roms/,Saves/,States/, and the.userdata/and.umrk/folders), separate from the firmware. Re-installing or updating over an existing card refreshes Leaf itself but leaves all of that untouched. - Crash safety. If Leaf ever fails to start cleanly several times in a row, the device falls back to the stock interface automatically so you’re never stuck.
- Removing Leaf. Going back to stock for good is covered in Recovery.