Last Updated on September 20, 2024 by Mathew Diekhake

In the earlier days of Android, it was thought that you need to have a rooted Android operating system before you could get a custom recovery image installed. These days, though, that is certainly not the case, and most people will get root access by flashing something along the lines of SuperSU from the custom recovery image after it has taken the place of the stock recovery.

Rooting Android so you can start installing the applications from Google Play and XDA is one of the reasons for wanting a custom recovery installed, but there’s another side to this new recovery partition as well: the one that allows you to start installing custom software.

There’s nothing wrong with official software that you get shipped with your device or when it rolls out as an over-the-air update, but this software has been changed by the manufacturer and carriers, so it no longer resembles the same Android that the actual Android developers had produced. Custom recoveries can help you get different features, but just as popular is installing it so you can use Android without any of the extras that manufacturers and carriers put over the top; this is known as a debloated ROM, and they will likely offer you better battery life and a zippier ROM experience, too.

These days there’s only one custom recovery image that you should be thinking about installing if your device is relatively new, and that is TWRP. It’s the only custom recovery being developed still today after it was the clear favorite among users for the last few years. You still might find other custom recovery images can be installed for older devices, but if it’s ROM you want to install, you should check to make sure that the ROM developers aren’t requesting TWRP before you go ahead with the installation, because these days many of them do.

How to Install TWRP Recovery on Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 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 Ace 3 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.