Samsung galaxy S3 mini launched in 2012 and Samsung stops releasing OTA updates for this device so your device will stuck on Android Kit Kat version. But using this tutorial you can update your S3 mini to Android 5.0 Lollipop version. This ROM will give you stock interface of Android 5.0 Lollipop. Check this whole tutorial, don’t miss any part of this tutorial to do a successful update to your Samsung Galaxy S3 mini.

This ROM is built on pure AOSP (Android Open Source Project) so this is a small and light ROM which won’t eat your RAM and make your phone lag. This ROM is specially made and tweaked to give you the best performance of your device. The aforementioned ROM is checked and tested by users and developers so that you will not get anything wrong. Now this is your time to install this ROM to your Galaxy S3 mini and give your phone a whole new look.

Lollipop Updated

This ROM can be used for everyday use as some users tested this on their devices and there aren’t any bugs in this ROM. As this is a custom ROM made by some third-party developers so there will be some issues but they are not the big ones. So you can install this ROM to your Galaxy S3 mini.

If you flash this ROM to your Galaxy s3 mini you will get stock Lollipop interface and apps. This ROM will also boosts your phones performance. Improve battery life, increase speed and improve as well.

This is a custom ROM, this ROM has nothing to do with Samsung or Google. So you will have to know that you are going to do an illegal and unofficial operation. Your phone may lose its warranty but Android 5.0 Lollipop will let you forget about this. Android 5.0 Lollipop isn’t officially available for your galaxy S3 mini. So you have to use this custom ROM if you want Android 5.0 Lollipop look in your phone.

After installing this custom ROM your phones warranty will be gone forever but you can have it back by installing the stock ROM using Odin software specially made for Samsung smartphones. You will learn this later, i will post this next time so you can get your device’s warranty back if you want to.

First of all, before installing you should have your galaxy S3 mini rooted. After rooting your phone you can install a custom recovery which can give you an interface to install a custom ROM to your phone. Install any custom recovery (TWRP recommended) but make sure it is latest custom recovery so that it can support Android 5.0 based custom ROMs.

Backup is a must before installing any custom ROM to your device cause it wipes all internal data cause we need to perform a Factory Reset before installing a custom ROM. You can sync all of your contacts to your Google Account. You can use Titanium Backup application available on Google Play Store to back up your important apps (this app requires root access). Backup all of your music files, pics and video files to ypur PC or any other external device.

In the tutorial below you will be told to make a backup of earlier ROM so that if you don’t like the Lollipop ROM or any thing goes wrong and you send your phone to boot loop then you can restore the previous ROM using this backup.

Now what you need to do this update are:

  • A windows based PC (mac can’t do this), deactivate all antivirus or anti malware  running on your PC as they can cause interference which can lead to a bricked device.
  • On your phone enable USB debugging option (this is important).
  • Make sure your device’s battery is at least 75% charged so it will not lose power during this process cause it also can lead to a soft bricked device.
  • Remember that this tutorial is only for Samsung galaxy S3 mini only no other device can be updated using these files or this process as it can lead to bricked device.

Steps to install Android 5.0 Lollipop to Samsung Galaxy S3 mini:

  1. First download lollipop ROM from here.
  2. Download Google apps zip file from here.
  3. Transfer these files to your phones SD card as they are (do not unzip these files).
  4. After transfer is completed unplug your phone from PC.
  5. Reboot your phone to recovery mode by powering down your device and power it on by pressing power key, volume down key and home key together.
  6. First tap on backup and confirm the process (this will backup your phones previous ROM so that you can restore this if anything goes wrong).
  7. In recovery mode tap on “Wipe” then confirm.
  8. Press home key from nav bar and now tap on “Install” then “choose zip from SD card” and browse through your SD card and select the ROM zip file then confirm the process.
  9. Install the Google Apps zip file using the same process (except the wipe step).
  10. when all installed tap home key in nav bar and tap on “Reboot” then “System” (your phone will restart normally).

Now, have some patience and let your phone boot properly as first boot will take about 10 minutes to reach to welcome screen. When you reach welcome screen follow the steps to finish the setup wizard and enjoy Android 5.0 Lollipop on your Samsung Galaxy S3 mini. Or if it won’t boot go through all the process again or restore your previous ROM by going to Recovery mode and tap on restore then select the restore point then confirm the process.

Share this tutorial as many more people like you needs this tutorial. And don’t forget to like this post and share your experience and queries with this ROM to us and happy flashing!!