Nextbit Robin is an Android-powered smartphone that looks exactly like any other Android phone. However, the way it works is completely different than that of other phones.

What an average Android phone does is store your data on the device so you can access it anytime, but the Nextbit Robin does something else. It stores all of your data on the cloud and keeps you connected to it all the time so you can work with your data. That is something we have not seen in other Android phones.

What’s more, the phone has also got rooted using TWRP Recovery and SuperSu, which means more fun with your favorite phone. If you have this phone, and you would like to root it, the guide below is all you need:

Details You Should Know

  • This tutorial should unlock the bootloader on your phone and unlocking the bootloader voids the warranty of the phone. So, please only proceed if you are not afraid of losing your warranty.
  • The following tutorial uses the Windows version of Fastboot. If you are on Linux or Mac, you will need to install either ADB for Mac or ADB for Linux on your computer.
  • You should have ADB USB drivers installed on your Windows computer. Install the drivers if they are not already.
  • The guide should flash a custom recovery called TWRP on your phone.
  • The guide should erase all the data stored on your phone. So, please backup everything that you wish to preserve or it will be gone forever.
  • You should only do this on a Nextbit Robin phone. You would brick the phone if you did this on any other phone.

Files You Need

  • Download Fastboot and save it to your computer. It is what allows you to execute commands on your phone right from your computer.
  • Download TWRP Recovery for Nextbit Robin and save it to your computer. It is a touch based custom recovery for Android phones.
  • Download SuperSU and save it to your computer. It should help you root the phone.

Unlocking the Bootloader on the Nextbit Robin

  1. Uncompress files from Fastboot over to your computer by right-clicking on the Fastboot archive and selecting the option that says Extract here. Your files are now ready to be used.
  2. Head to Menu->Settings->About phone on your phone and tap on Build number for 7-8 times and it will say you are a developer. It has just unlocked the developer menu for you.
  3. Head to the newly unlocked menu at Menu->Settings->Developer options and turn on the option that says USB debugging.
  4. With USB debugging enabled, plug in your phone to your computer using a compatible USB cable.
  5. Launch a command prompt window in the Fastboot folder by opening the folder, holding down Shift on your keyboard and right-clicking anywhere on the screen and selecting Open command window here.
  6. When the command prompt window opens, type in the following command and press Enter:
    adb devices
  7. You should see your Nextbit Robin phone appearing in the list which means it has been recognized by your computer. If your phone does not appear in the list, you probably have a drivers’ issue so go ahead and re-install the drivers and do the tutorial again.
  8. Next up, type in the following command into the command prompt window and hit Enter:
    adb reboot bootloader
  9. Your phone should reboot into the bootloader mode.
  10. Once your phone enters the bootloader mode, type in the following command into the command prompt window and press Enter:
    fastboot oem unlock
  11. It will start unlocking the bootloader on your phone. Allow all the prompts that appear on your screen.
  12. When it’s done unlocking bootloader, reboot your phone using the following command:
    fastboot reboot
  13. Your Nextbit Robin phone should reboot normally.

Cheers, the bootloader on your Nextbit Robin is now unlocked, and you can now flash a custom recovery on your phone to be then able to gain root access.

Here’s how:

Installing a Custom Recovery and Rooting the Nextbit Robin

  1. Connect your Nextbit Robin phone to your computer using a suitable USB cable.
  2. Copy SuperSU .zip from your computer over to the internal SD card storage on your phone. Place the file in the root folder so you can easily find it in the later steps.
  3. Copy TWRP Recovery .img over to the Fastboot folder where you can see the fastboot.exe file.
  4. Head to Menu->Settings->About phone on your phone and tap on Build number for 7-8 times and it will unlock the developer menu for you.
  5. Head to Menu->Settings->Developer options on your phone and turn on USB debugging.
  6. Open a command prompt window in the Fastboot folder by opening the folder, holding down Shift on your keyboard and right-clicking anywhere on the screen and selecting Open command window here.
  7. Type in the following command into the command prompt window and press Enter:
    adb reboot bootloader
  8. Your Nextbit Robin phone should reboot into the bootloader mode.
  9. Next up, type in the following command into the command prompt window and hit Enter. Make sure to replace twrp.img with the actual name of the TWRP Recovery image you have downloaded to your computer:
    fastboot flash recovery twrp.img
  10. Wait for it to flash TWRP Recovery on your phone. It should not take too long to do that.
  11. When it’s done flashing TWRP Recovery, reboot your phone into the recovery mode by typing in the following command into the command prompt window. Again, make sure to replace twrp.img with the actual name of the recovery image:
    fastboot boot twrp.img
  12. Your Nextbit Robin phone should reboot into the recovery mode.
  13. Tap on Install in TWRP Recovery.
  14. Navigate to the internal SD card storage on your phone and find and select SuperSU .zip to be installed on your phone.
  15. Tap on Swipe to Confirm Flash to flash the SuperSU ZIP on your phone.
  16. Wait for it to flash SuperSU on your phone.
  17. When it’s done flashing SuperSU, reboot your phone by choosing Reboot followed by System from the recovery menu.
  18. Your phone should reboot normally.

You are all set.

Your Nextbit Robin is now rooted and has a custom recovery called TWRP.

Now that you have an unlocked bootloader, a custom recovery, and root access – you are all set for a great ride to the custom world of Android where there are exciting things like custom ROMs, custom kernels, root-requiring apps, and so on.

Related Tutorials

Take Into Account:

Team Win often release several TWRP Recovery files for a particular device. They always recommend installing the latest version of TWRP available to avoid compatibility issues. If you have updated the firmware on the device recently and the most recent version of TWRP is not working, then try downgrading the firmware and trying again.

Some custom ROMs that are newer might not be compatible with older versions of TWRP Recovery. You can fix that issue by updating to the latest version of TWRP also.

You can visit the official Team Win Recovery Project home page and scroll down the list to find your device to get the most recent version if the version available in this guide is not working for your device.