Last Updated on September 21, 2024 by Mathew Diekhake

A recovery image that comes as part of the Android operating system as a separate partition is essential for recovering your device from any position. A custom recovery image, on the other hand, is necessary for anyone who wants to modify the Android operating system.

While the stock recovery that everyone gets offers the chance to flash signed zip files, you wouldn’t be able to flash unsigned ones, including custom ROMs or rooting files, unless you had a custom recovery image installed instead.

You can only ever have one recovery partition at a time, which means you’ll always either have a custom recovery or a stock recovery installed no matter what.

As far as custom recoveries go, there are sometimes a few you could choose from if your device has been around for a while. But any device that’s new will only have TWRP made available because it’s the only one out of them all to still be getting developed. If you do have an older device, and TWRP is one of the choices of recovery image available for you to choose, then you would be wise to install that and not the others for that same reason. Some custom software requests TWRP to be installed, while others won’t be compatible with recovery images that haven’t been updated for a while.

The TWRP custom recovery image gives you all the tools you will ever need for flashing custom software, including the likes of the NANDroid backup so you can backup individual partitions, the option of restoring any backups you’ve taken to help you solve any issues like wiping the system partition by mistake, plus the option to flash any zip file that might be modifying your operating system. You’ll still have the same tools that the stock recovery offered as well, such as the option to take a factory reset if you ever want it.

How to Install TWRP Recovery on Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 (Exynos) Using Odin

Note: The Odin flashing tool is really easy to use, but it only works on the Windows operating system. You won’t get the flashing tool to load on a Mac or Linux computer. It doesn’t really matter what version of the Windows operating system that you’re using as long as it is something above Windows XP.

1. Download and install the Samsung USB drivers on the computer if you don’t have them already.

2. Download the TWRP Recovery for the Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 (Exynos) smartphone from one of the mirror links below that’s for your region:

3. Download the Odin flashing tool.

It doesn’t matter what version, but the latest is the most up to date so grab that one. Extract the Odin file and then double-click on the Odin executable file (.exe) that is found from within the Odin folder after extraction. You should now have the Odin interface open on the computer and waiting for you to connect to it.

4. Boot the Samsung mobile device into the Download Mode by first powering it down and then rebooting by holding the Volume Down + Home + Power keys at the same time.

5. A yellow warning triangle will come up on the device’s display. At this time you need to press the Volume Up button. You’ll then see the device getting into the Download Mode. It’s then ready for the flashing.

6. When in Download Mode, connect the Samsung mobile device to the computer with the USB cable.

7. If you have installed the USB drivers correctly, the Odin flashing tool should detect your device. You can tell this by observing the ID: COM port lighting up with a color, usually yellow or blue.

It doesn’t matter what color, it’s the lighting up that counts.

8. After the device is picked up by Odin, click on the PDA or AP button, depending on what button your version of the Odin flashing tool has.

9. Navigate to the stock ROM folder and upload the tar.md5 file to this location in Odin.

10. Without changing any of the default settings, click on the Start button in Odin, and the flashing then begins.

11. Wait until Odin shows a Pass message before disconnecting your device.

That’s all.