Last Updated on May 31, 2019 by Mathew Diekhake

Now that you have rooted your Asus ZenWatch, it is time to go ahead and install a custom recovery on it. A custom recovery provides you with many benefits, like allowing you to flash a custom ROM and a custom kernel on your watch, wiping the data on the watch, and so on.

If you just cannot wait, here’s how to install a custom recovery on your Asus ZenWatch:

Asus ZenWatch

Files You Need

  1. The bootloader on your watch must be unlocked before you can do this tutorial. If your bootloader is locked, head here to get it unlocked.
  2. Your watch must be rooted before you can install a custom recovery on it. Please follow our how to root the Asus ZenWatch tutorial to gain root access on your Asus ZenWatch.
  3. You must have a computer running Windows in order to do this tutorial.
  4. Ensure that Universal ADB drivers are installed on your Windows computer. If they are not, install them first.
  5. Download TWRP Recovery to your computer. This is the custom recovery that you are going to install on your watch.
  6. Download Fastboot to your computer. It should help you issue commands to your watch.

Installing a Custom Recovery on the Asus ZenWatch

  1. First of all, extract files from Fastboot over to your computer by right-clicking on it and selecting Extract here.
  2. On your watch, head to Menu->Settings->About and tap on Build number for 7-8 times until it says you are a developer. When it does, the developer menu should be unlocked on your watch.
  3. Head to Menu->Settings->Developer options and enable ADB debugging. Without this, your computer will not be able to communicate with your watch.
  4. Plug in your watch to your computer using a suitable cable.
  5. Launch a Command Prompt Window in the folder where fastboot files are located. To do that, open the folder, hold down Shift on your keyboard and right-click anywhere on your screen and select Open command window here.
  6. Type in the following command into the Command Prompt Window and hit Enter:
    adb reboot bootloader
  7. Your watch should reboot into bootloader mode.
  8. When your watch enters bootloader mode, issue the following command. Make sure to replace recovery.img with the actual name of the TWRP Recovery image that you have downloaded.
    fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
  9. Wait for it to flash TWRP Recovery on your watch. It should not take too long to do that.
  10. When it’s done flashing TWRP Recovery, reboot your watch by issuing the following command:
    fastboot reboot
  11. Your watch should reboot.
  12. You are done!

Great! You have successfully installed a custom recovery on your Asus ZenWatch and you can reboot into the same using either Quick Boot app or the adb reboot recovery command, whatever works the best for you!

What is more, you can learn alternate methods for booting Android devices into the custom recovery mode.

Now that you have a custom recovery on your Asus ZenWatch, you can go ahead and try out custom developments on your watch. If a custom ROM is available, you can have it flashed on your watch using the newly installed recovery. Not only is that, but a custom recovery also helps you do many things on your watch, backing up the watch, wiping the data, to name a few.

You might also be interested in:

Have something to say? You can contribute to this tech article by leaving a comment below.