How to Install a Custom ROM using TWRP Recovery

What is an Android Custom ROM?

With Android gaining a lot of traction recently, you must have been hearing the term “custom ROM.” Don’t worry if you have not heard it. We will explain it here.

The term ROM stands for Read-Only Memory. A custom Android ROM refers to a phone’s firmware, based on Google’s Android platform. Being open source, any developer can edit the Android code, recompile it, and re-release for a plethora of new devices out there in the market. We, as users of these devices, have the option to install ROMs to change a device’s appearance or functionalities.

Custom ROMs are developed by the Android community, mostly by a group of core developers. Most of these releases are completely free as they are mainly being developed by developers out of passion. You can find custom ROMs for phones, tablets, media players, smart watches and all other types of device that run on Android OS.

When you buy a brand new Android device, it comes equipped with a “stock ROM,” also known as the “stock firmware”. The stock ROM is the preinstalled operating system in your device. The stock ROM has limited functionalities that are defined by the phone’s manufacturer. If you wish to have extra features added to your device, then you will have to resort to custom ROM.

Flashing a ROM is not that hard if you follow the instructions provided below. Just keep in mind that if you end up doing something incorrectly while flashing the ROM, then you can risk making your phone inoperable. This is known as bricking and is very rare. But it doesn’t hurt to be careful, does it?

Using TWRP recovery will enable you to flash unsigned .zip files. These .zip files can range from a custom kernel, boot, recovery, MODs, or full custom ROMs.

Steps to flash a custom ROM on any Android device using TWRP recovery

1. First, you will need to download and transfer the custom ROM you wish to flash to your device’s storage.
2. Next, boot your device into TWRP recovery. (Here is the method to boot into Recovery)
3. Select the “Wipe” option from the TWRP main menu and enable a “Swipe to Factory Reset” on the bottom of the screen. 

Note: This will factory resets your device. If your custom ROM doesn’t require a factory reset, then you can skip this step.

1. Go back to the TWRP main menu, tap on the “Install” option and select the custom ROM’s .zip file that you transferred to your device earlier (Step 1). 
2. After selecting the .zip file, enable “Swipe to Confirm Flash” on the bottom of the screen to begin the custom ROM installation process. Be patient as this might take some time.
3. Once your custom ROM is successfully flashed, you’ll notice the “Wipe cache/Dalvik” option, select it and then enable “Swipe to wipe” from the bottom of the screen.
4. One the above action completes, hit the “Back” button on-screen and then select “Reboot System.”

You are done! Your device will now reboot with the custom ROM that you flashed. It might take some time to rebuild cache and finish boot as it is the first reboot after the custom flash. So do not panic if it takes a little longer for the Reboot process to complete. You can follow the 1st method to install SuperSU ROOT File also.