TWRP Recovery, pronounced as if you were just saying the letters one after the other, is a custom recovery image that will completely replace the stock recovery image when you flash it, as you can only have one of them at a time.

The stock recovery image that you get can be accessed by booting into the recovery mode which every Android device has, the only difference being that each different manufacturer may have a different hardware key combination that needs pressing to get it up on the device’s display. The stock recovery is only useful for flashing signed zip files and taking a factory reset. If your mind has ever wondered about the possibilities outside of those two things then it’s likely you’ve already thought about one of the features that you get with TWRP recovery.

Yes, there are plenty of unsigned zip files out there too—they might be custom ROM files or files to grant root access to your device—that would loved to be flashed but can’t without a custom recovery image being installed first. That’s the main reason for getting TWRP installed: it gives you the chance to upload the unsigned zip files and flash them directly from the interface.

If you’ve ever dabbled with custom ROMs before then you’ll know how important backing up is. You shouldn’t be flashing a new ROM without having backed up first and then wiped the data of the current ROM. It sounds like a bit of a pain, but when you see how easy it is to take backups from TWRP, you’ll be more than happy to do the couple of taps that are required to do it. You can make it all happen by using the NANDroid feature. And the backups you take are just as easily restored, too.

Details We Should Know

  • The custom recovery images available in this guide are only to be installed on the Huawei Honor 6 Plus smartphone. Most devices have a custom recovery image developed specifically for it, and you shouldn’t install one that is intended for another device unless advised it is okay by a professional.
  • You can follow this guide on any of the major three computer operating systems: Windows, Mac, and Linux. You just need to download the right platform-tools file from the Android SDK package when you’re on the Android website, which is walked through during the guide below.

Files We Need

How to Install TWRP Recovery on Huawei P9 Smartphones

1. Make sure you’ve installed the universal ADB driver on the computer. That will make it possible for you to use adb commands as well as the Huawei Honor 6 Plus smartphone. If you can’t get the Huawei Honor 6 Plus smartphone connected to the computer, then you can also download the Huawei USB drivers instead so the computer has both the ADB drivers and Huawei drivers installed . . . you then can’t go wrong.

2. You need to have the platform-tools part of the Android SDK on your computer. From the download link scroll down until you get to the command line tools section and then download the package that is made for your operating system.

3. Once you have the SDK Manager on your computer, check the box only for the platform-tools, so you end up with the adb and fastboot binaries installed on the computer. (You could also install the drivers from there as well if you wanted.)

4. Pick up the Huawei Honor 6 Plus smartphone and navigate to the Settings > About and tap your finger over the build number at least seven times so that the Developer Options menu becomes unlocked. Then go back to the Settings, enter the Developer Options menu and then enable the USB debugging mode.

5. Connect the Huawei Honor 6 Plus smartphone to the computer by using the USB cable that it comes with.

6. Now on the computer open the Command Prompt and type the adb reboot bootloader command and hit “Enter” on your keyboard to get the Huawei P9 smartphone into the bootloader mode and ready for the flashing.

7. Make sure you have copied the TWRP image file to the same folder as the adb and fastboot binaries. Also when you’re there, change the name of the TWRP to “twrp.img” by right-clicking the mouse pointer on it and selecting the “rename” option from the menu.

8. From the command line type the fastboot flash recovery twrp.imgcommand and hit “Enter” on your keyboard to flash the custom recovery.

9. Lastly type the fastboot reboot command and as soon as the Huawei Honor 6 Plus smartphone reboots, hold down the key combination to boot directly into the recovery mode. (If you don’t sometimes the stock recovery will wipe over the custom recovery you just installed.)

The custom recovery image for the Huawei Honor 6 Plus smartphone is now installed, and you are ready to boot into recovery mode and start flashing the custom ROM or rooting zip files.