Last Updated on July 20, 2022 by Mathew Diekhake

The Sony Xperia Z3 D6603 smartphone model number is finding a new Android 5.0.2 Lollipop update rolling out over the air. if you have already accepted that notification and would like to find root access on the same you can do that by following the guide below. There is no simple way to get it done at the moment without downgrading back to KitKat. The great news is that you can create that Lollipop firmware manually and root it thanks to the PRF creator tool that lets you do that. It takes some work, so if you are wishing for a quick and easier guide, we suggest you just downgrade back to KitKat and root it using the first part of the guide.

Hopefully in the future there’s a One-Click rooting tool that can make this a great deal easier. However, for now this is all there is thanks to some clever developers from over at XDA.

Sony Xperia Z3

Details of Note

  • Make sure you backup the Xperia Z3. You shouldn’t automatically lose the Z3 data because we are not applying a factory reset. However, if your Xperia smartphone gets stuck in a boot loop, or it gets a soft brick you will probably want to enter the recovery mode and apply a factory Reset to get out of trouble. Doing so will always delete the data unless it’s backed up to the internal storage or the external storage.
  • You can use third-party applications from the Google Play Store that will help you backup most data including the phone contacts, SMS texts, call logs, pictures, music files, songs, videos and other data like your Settings. You will probably need to download a variety of apps to get that done. However, once you have root access you can take a NANDroid backup instead so that backing between flashing custom ROMS is far easier. A NANDroid is like taking a snapshot mirror image of the ROM and backs up an amazing amount of data including your current saved games so you can continue where you left off!
  • You will see in the link to root the KitKat software update during the guide that the new guide is also for people with a locked bootloader. Don’t let that confuse you because you can follow this guide with a locked or unlocked bootloader (just like you can follow that guide with both).
  • You want to allow permissions for the USB Debugging Mode from the Developer Options menu that you find from the Settings menu on your Xperia Z3 smartphone. if you don’t see the Developer Options menu that probably means you need to unlock it by tapping on the build number seven times on the About Device menu.
  • As you can see in the title, this guide is made with the D6603 model number of the Z3 in mind only. Do not follow this guide if you have a different device. You can check your model number by heading to the About Device menu of your smartphone.

Steps to root Xperia Z3 on 23.1.A.0.726 firmware

  1. First you have to downgrade your phone to Android 4.4.4 KitKat 23.0.A.2.93 firmware
  2. Locate the FTF file for that and flash the above firmware build to your Xperia Z3 smartphone.
  3. Once you have downgraded you still don’t have root access, so you must follow this root 23.0.A.2.93 Android 4.4.4 KitKat guide.
  4. Install the Dual recovery now from NUT. To do that, download that file to the desktop from the link and extract the zip file so you can use the executable file inside.
  5. Connect the Xperia Z3 smartphone to the computer with the USB cable and run the Dual recovery installer program. Now that custom recovery is flashed to your Z3.
  6. Once done, you have successfully downgraded back to KitKat and found root access with a Dual Recovery installed so you can flash custom ROMs.

If you would like to take it to the next level you can download the .726 pre-rooted Lollipop firmware build and now root it after the steps below. With that Lollipop build you can flash it and find root access with the same. To do that you want to download the pre-rooted zip from above to the computer’s desktop. Now connect your Xperia Z3 smartphone to the computer and transfer that zip file over to the internal storage SD card. You need to make sure that you are transferring to the root of the SD card. Download the NDR Utils application and boot your Z3 into the custom recovery, or you can do that manually by completely shutting down the Xperia, boot it up while taping the Volume Down button. Now connect the Xperia Z3 to the computer and flash the pre-rooted firmware from inside the recovery. From there you must use the flash tool on the computer and flash the .726 FTF. Exclude the “system only” from the list of flash tool options.

Now your phone has root privileges and you can do all the unofficial stuff you want to do with your phone. You can check the root access on your phone by installing any root checker app.