Last Updated on July 25, 2022 by Mathew Diekhake
If you need to flash a stock ROM (firmware flash file), custom ROM, custom recovery, or rooting file on any of the LG mobile devices, then you can use the SP Flash Tool (Smartphone Flash Tool), provided that your smartphone comes with a MediaTek system chip inside.
Some manufacturers like Samsung have their own dedicated flashing tools. Samsung uses the Odin flashing tool, for example. On the other hand, other manufacturers share flashing tools. The SP Flash Tool works for all LG mobile devices, as well as for smartphones from other manufacturers that have MediaTek chips as well. It doesn’t matter what version; the latest will be compatible with more devices, but all manufacturers share the same versions. For more on SP Flash Tool versions, you can see the Smartphone Flash Tool’s download page.
The SP Flash Tool was actually developed and released by MediaTek Inc., hence why it’s always working for those particular devices with MediaTek chips.
You can refer to the list of devices with MediaTek system chips from Wikipedia if you’re unsure, or use a search engine such as Google to research it further yourself.
Download LG Flash Tool
1. Start off by downloading and install the Android CDC driver on the Windows computer. (You don’t have to install the driver a second time if you’ve already got it on the computer.)
2. Download the ROM that you want to flash onto the computer and extract the file by right-clicking on it > choosing extract from the menu. (You can also follow the same steps given below for flashing a custom ROM that’s made for your device if you like.)
3. Download and extract the Smartphone Flash Tool file onto your computer.
4. Double-click on the SP Flash Tool application from within the extracted folder.
5. You’ll now have the Smartphone Flash Tool interface open on your computer. Click on the “Download” tab from its menu.
6. Click on the “Choose” button from the Scatter-loading section. Navigate to where your ROM file is on your hard drive, click on it, and then it will upload to the flash tool.
7. Click on the “Download” button when you want to start the ROM flashing.
8. Pick up the smartphone, making sure it is powered off first, and connect it to the computer with the USB cable, remembering to press one of the Volume buttons once it’s connected so the computer can detect the mobile device.
The ROM will then get flashed to the smartphone. You know the flashing is finished when you get a big green tick at the end.
The Smartphone Flash Tool is very simple to use. There are quite a few buttons and tabs if you look at the interface, but all that’s required to get a stock or custom ROM flashed is the scatter-loading area where you would upload the file and the Download button. Once you master those two things, you can never go wrong, provided you don’t disconnect the device from the computer while it’s flashing or anything like that. . . .
There should be no reason for the flashing not to work for any device that has a MediaTek system chip. MediaTek Inc. actually develops the SP Flash Tool, hence why it always works for those devices but none of the others.
The SP Flash Tool is one of the most widely used flashing tools on the planet, but it isn’t able to get the IMEI flashed back on the device at the same time as flashing the ROM itself. So if you want to get your IMEI back, you need to make that happen by using the SN Write Tool.