Last Updated on November 15, 2019 by Mathew Diekhake

Maybe you have rooted your Sony Xperia V running Android 4.3? Maybe you now wish to install a custom recovery on your phone? If so, here’s how you can do that.

Once you have rooted your phone, you should install a custom recovery as soon as possible, if one is available. As root alone cannot let you do many things that you can do with the root and recovery combo.

Sony Xperia V

So, that you already have root on your phone, here’s how to add a custom recovery to it for more fun:

Files You Need

  1. In order for this tutorial to work, your phone must be rooted. If you have not rooted yours, yet, please head to our how to root the Sony Xperia V tutorial and root your phone first. Then, come back here and continue.
  2. This should flash a custom recovery called PhilZ Touch Recovery on your Sony Xperia V.
  3. Ensure that your phone is running on the Android 4.3 version.
  4. Download FlashgordonBB to your computer. It is an app that will let you flash a custom recovery on your phone.
  5. Download PhilZ Touch Recovery to your computer. It is the custom recovery that will be installed on your phone.

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

  1. Connect your phone 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.
  3. When both files are copied, unplug your phone from your computer.
  4. On your phone, head to Menu->Settings->Security and turn on the option that says Unknown sources. It will allow you to install apps from outside the Google Play store on your phone.
  5. Once again head to Menu->Settings->Developer options and enable the option that says USB debugging.
  6. Launch File Manager and tap on FlashgordonBB APK to install the app on your phone.
  7. Wait for the app to be installed on your phone.
  8. When the app is installed, open it from your phone’s main menu.
  9. Tap on Select zip… when the app launches to select a file to be installed on your phone.
  10. Select the PhilZ Touch Recovery zip to be installed on your phone.
  11. The app should ask you to give it SU permissions. Tap the Grant button to let it access SU permissions.
  12. Then, tap the button that says Flash Now! to flash the recovery on your phone.
  13. When the recovery has been successfully flashed, reboot your phone. Do not use the reboot option given in the app, just use the power button to reboot your phone.
  14. Your phone should reboot.
  15. You are done!

And a custom recovery is now up and running on your Sony Xperia V!

If you wish to enter the newly installed recovery to see how it looks and works like, just turn off your phone, hold down Volume DOWN and Power buttons together and you should reboot into the recovery mode on your phone. So, that is the recovery that you can see on your phone. Alternatively, you can boot the Sony Xperia V into the custom recovery mode using apps from the Google Play Store.

The recovery boasts almost all the features that you get from other popular recoveries like CWM and TWRP. It lets you flash a custom ROM, flash a custom kernel, backup the system, and so on.

I would suggest you to first backup your system before flashing any zips, so if things go wrong, you can always revert back to the stock.

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