How about teaching you how to flash a phone that is locked for free with the power button? Is your cell phone too slow for your liking?
Is it stacked, dead, bricked, or has lock issues? Are some of your applications behaving strangely? If yes, then don’t waste your money buying a new phone. Your cell phone probably needs to be flashed.
Flashing a cell phone means reprogramming the cell phone to work with a carrier other than the intended provider. A full flash refers to changing the operating system on your phone.
It could mean just upgrading or downgrading to a different version of the operating system on your phone, or changing to an entirely new mobile operating system.
You can take your phone to authorized dealers for flashing. But many people do ask, “How do I manually flash my phone?”
Manually flashing a phone is tricky yet simple at the same time. Android OS was made up for ultimate customization. Anyone with the knowledge of how to flash a phone has the capability of turning their android phones into brand-new ones.
How To Flash A Phone That Is Locked [Complete Guide]
This post will offer complete detail on how to flash a phone. If you are new to this, follow the steps below to get started:
Step 1: Backup Your Phone’s Data To A Computer.
Flashing your cell phone is a permanent process that clears almost every data or information on the phone.
Therefore, it is recommended that you back up your files so that you can easily retrieve them after the flashing process. If you fail to back up your data, you will lose them after flashing.
The backup process can be done on a computer, cloud, or SD card. Note that backing up via the cloud takes a lot of time, though cloud backup can help you save all your text messages and call logs. You can choose to download some apps to save your data. They include:
- Migrate
- Google photos
- G Cloud Backup
- Backup Your Mobile
- Buggy Backup Pro
- Autosync by MetaCtrl
Step 2: Unlock Bootloader/ Root your phone
A Bootloader is a program that loads the OS into the Phone memory once the device is booted or started. A locked bootloader will only allow an OS with an approved OS signature to load, in the process blocking any custom OS.
If you want to use a custom Read Only Memory (ROM) for the flashing process, you should change your bootloader settings. The bootloader is similar to the Basic Information and Operating System (BIOS), and hence the two perform similar functions. As BIOS is to computers, a bootloader is to phones.
Bootloaders vary, so different phones may have different bootloaders. However, the fastboot flashing unlocks command after putting your phone in flash mode works on most phone models. You have to connect your phone to a computer and use the command prompt interface. Once the bootloader is unlocked, the phone should be rooted.
Rooting an android paves the way for the flashing of the ROM. Below are apps for rooting your phone.
- Root App
- SuperSU Pro
- Kingo
Step 3: Install The Preferred ROM
If you haven’t already, select and download the ROM of your choice. The most popular ones are
- CyanogenMod
- Paranoid
- Carbon
- MIUI
Alternatively, if you do not want to use a computer, you may use ROM Manager. It will automatically download different ROMs to your phone.
The custom ROM download process is the simplest for those wondering how to flash a phone without a computer. Custom ROMs are of immense help to android users: you can flash the custom ROM and enjoy the improved performance if you are bored with the current interface of your phone.
Some phone manufacturers like Sony have provided an online database platform where users can access and download their phone’s firmware. XDA Developer’s forum is also available to help you download the right custom or preferred ROM for your phone.
Always make sure the downloaded ROM is compatible with your phone’s model. You can ensure this by checking the back of your phone. Once downloaded, save it on your SD card.
Step 4: Boot Phone Into Recovery Mode
Booting means starting up your phone. For most phones, pressing and holding the volume down button with the power button helps boot the phone into recovery mode. This will take you to the bootloader screen, where you will have various options.
Once there, you will have to use your phone’s volume buttons to navigate through. Use the power button to select and enter recovery. Users should wipe cache, Dalvikcache, and factory reset their device on the recovery menu, which essentially implies cleaning apps and existing firmware. You can even skip the step to factory reset your device if you upgrade from one version of your custom ROM to another.
That shouldn’t be a problem if your cell phone does not boot into recovery. You will have to go to the manufacturer’s website, since it may need a combination of different keys.
Step 5: Flashing ROM To Your Android Phone.
On the main menu in the recovery, navigate to Flash zip from SD card> Choose zip from SD card> Download. You should now see the ROM you downloaded. Select your ROM and confirm that you wish to flash this ROM.
Once flashing the ROM completes, select Return> Reboot system. Your ROM will begin to load, and this will take a while, so do not be afraid if your phone is still booting after 5 minutes. If booting does not complete after 20 minutes, ask for help.
Some ROMs can be flashed simply using the recovery console. Others may have inbuilt installers like AROMA installers, which will start and allow users to customize options during the installations.
How To Flash A Phone Without A Computer For Free Using The Power Button
If you’ve not forgotten yet, the most prominent way of flashing a locked Android phone without a computer is by hard reset—which doesn’t require going through the phone’s settings. All you’ll need is to power off and boot the device into recovery mode to perform a hard reset.
Mind you, resetting your phone will erase everything you’ve stored on it. Although it’ll help you recover the locked Android phone, it won’t keep your data. So, be sure you have a substantial backup before embarking on resetting it at all.
Some Android devices have different ways of booting into the recovery mode, but you can try this common way first. Here’s how to flash a phone that is locked via recovery mode:
- First, shut down the phone and wait for a few seconds.
- Press and hold the Volume down button + Power button
- Release the Power button once the logo shows up.
- Wait till you see the “No command” with the fallen robot screen, then press the Power + Volume down buttons again to enter the recovery mode.
- Use the Volume down button to highlight “Wipe data factory reset”
- Select it by pressing the Power button.
- Use the volume button to highlight “Yes” and confirm with the power button again.
- Wait for a moment to complete the process, then select “Reboot system now” to power on your phone.
Advantages Of Flashing Phones.
- Bug fixes
- Smarter user experience
- New features like themes/skin
- Improved battery usage
- Better camera user experience
- Android OS (Operating System) gets upgraded
- Phone become optimized for higher phone applications
Best software for flashing phones
- Odin
- Emma Flash Tool
- Miracle Box
- SP Flash Tool
Video Source: Techofriendly on Youtube
Conclusion
This article highlighted all you need to know about how to flash a phone that is locked for free using the computer or without the computer.
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