Last Updated on January 28, 2020 by Mathew Diekhake

If you already have root access on your Sony Xperia TL, it is time to flash a custom recovery on your phone. A custom recovery brings with it an improved version of the stock recovery that lets you flash tons of things on your phone, ranging from a custom ROM to a custom kernel.

If you would like to do that, here’s how:

Sony Xperia TL

Files You Need

  1. Your Xperia TL phone must be rooted before you can install a custom recovery on it. If you have not rooted yours yet, please head to our how to root the Sony Xperia TL tutorial and root your phone first. Then, return here and continue.
  2. This should flash a custom recovery called PhilZ Touch Recovery on your Xperia TL.
  3. Download FlashgordonBB APK to your computer. It should help you flash the custom recovery on your phone.
  4. Download PhilZ Touch Recovery to your computer. It is the custom recovery that will be flashed using the FlashgordonBB app on your phone.
  5. This requires your phone to be running on stock Android 4.3.

Installing a Custom Recovery on the Sony Xperia TL running Android 4.3

  1. Connect your Xperia TL to your computer using a compatible USB cable. Ensure that your phone can receive files from your computer.
  2. Copy both FlashgordonBB and PhilZ Touch Recovery from your computer over to the internal storage on your phone. Place them on the top so they are easily accessible.
  3. When both the files are copied, disconnect your phone from your computer.
  4. Go to Settings followed by Security on your phone. Here, turn on the option that says Unknown sources. It should allow you to install apps from outside the Google Play store on your phone.
  5. Open File Manager and tap on FlashgordonBB APK to install the app on your phone.
  6. Wait for the app to be installed on your phone.
  7. When the app’s installed, open it from your phone’s main menu.
  8. When the app opens, select the option that says Select zip….
  9. Select the PhilZ Touch Recovery ZIP to be installed on your phone.
  10. It will prompt you for the root permissions. Tap on Grant to allow it the root permissions.
  11. Once the prompt is gone, tap the Flash Now! button to begin the flash process.
  12. Wait for the app to finish flashing PhilZ Touch Recovery on your phone.
  13. When the recovery has been flashed, reboot your phone using the power button. Do not use the reboot option given in the app.
  14. You are all set!

Your Sony Xperia TL has been successfully equipped with a custom recovery to help you with flashing new ROMs and backing up the existing ones on your phone.

To boot into the newly installed PhilZ Recovery, turn off your phone, hold down Volume DOWN and Power buttons together for a few seconds and you should see your phone booting into the recovery mode. So, that is the recovery that you just flashed on your phone. Moreover, you can learn how to boot the Sony Xperia TL into the custom recovery mode by using apps from the Google Play Store if you cannot get the hardware keys to work.

One of the things you should do when you first boot into the recovery mode is backup your system. So that when you flash new zips and things go wrong, you can restore these backups and get your phone running again without any issues.

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