This tutorial shows you the necessary steps to flash TWRP custom recovery on Pocophone Poco F1 using the unofficial -but working- build of TWRP available. Just a simple note, the official build is not released yet at the time this article is posted. Therefore, we are going to use the unofficial one which is maintained by an XDA member Shivam Kumar Jha. His release is basically similar to the official one except you may expect one bug: the data decryption is not supported yet. Consequently, it requires you to wipe your /data partition which means you have to create a proper backup of your data before attempting to replace MIUI stock recovery with the TWRP.
Despite the one known bug, you can still enjoy all the features of TWRP including the convenience of flashing Magisk to gain root access or to install custom Android ROM on your Poco F1 device. Team Win Recovery Project is the world’s most popular custom recovery to date. Its popularity infects mostly Qualcomm-powered devices although there are other devices have already been supported including those powered by MediaTek, Kirin, or Exynos SoCs.
Read also: Poco F1 Theme for MIUI 10 Devices.
Prerequisites
Without further ado, let’s start with the tutorial. However, before we proceed, there are some points you have to prepare. You will need:
- A Xiaomi Poco F1 device (codename Beryllium) with unlocked bootloader.
- A sufficient battery power remaining. Make sure your phone has at least 75% of juice.
- A USB Data cable compatible with your device. You can simply use the one comes shipped with your phone.
- A Desktop or Laptop computer running Windows 8/8.1/10. A 64-bit system is recommended.
- The Minimal ADB & Fastboot Driver. Download the installer here.
- The TWRP v3.2.3-0 Unofficial for Poco F1. Download the flash-able .img file here.
- The Force Encryption Disabler tool for Treble device. The file is available in the same download page here.
- A spare time of your life which is not more than 30 minutes.
- A cup of tea or coffee – if you want.
Words of caution:
Please read thoroughly the article before really implementing the steps. Make sure you understand what you are going to do prior to doing it. We hold NO responsibility for any risks of the broken device so please proceed with caution. Do not forget to create a backup of all your important data and files including Contact, Call logs, messages, photos, apps, and so on.
This procedure will wipe your phone’s data partition. Please be aware beforehand.
Read: How to create a full backup on Pocophone F1 without root.
Prior to flashing a custom recovery, your phone bootloader have to be unlocked officially. The unlocking mechanism is basically easy but you have to wait for official permission from Xiaomi developers team. Please read and follow our previous guide on how to unlock your phone bootloader. Read: How to properly unlock the MIUI bootloader – a complete guide.
The Steps to Install
Step 1 – Extract and install Minimal ADB & Fastboot driver into your computer. It is recommended to firstly disable Windows Driver Signature Enforcement mechanism prior to installing the driver. You can re-enable that Windows feature again once you have installed the driver.
A useful tool: Windows Driver Signature Disabler and Enabler tool.
Step 2 – Now install Minimal ADB & Fastboot driver software onto your computer.
Step 3 – Grab your phone and enable Developer options and USB Debugging options on your phone.
Enabling Developer Options on Poco F1:
Settings > about phone > click MIUI Version 7 to 8 times continuously
Enabling USB Debugging on Poco F1:
Settings > Additional Settings > Developer Options > enable usb debugging
Step 4 – At this point, we assume you have already unlocked your device bootloader. Now copy or transfer the .img file of TWRP into your phone’s internal storage. Alternatively, you may simply open the download page with your favorite mobile browser and fetch it directly into your phone. Also, copy or download the DisableForceEncryption_Treble.zip file in your phone. You may also copy those two files to your phone external SD card.
Step 5 – Open up Windows Explorer on your computer. Find the newly downloaded twrp’s .img file. Now rename that file from “twrp-3.2.3.0-beryllium-20180831.img” to “recovery.img“. Copy that recovery.img file to your ADB folder which is commonly located at drive C:\adb.
At this point, you should already have a “recovery.img” file inside C:\adb\ folder.
Step 6 – At this point, you should have two TWRP image files: One saved in your computer in the ADB folder, and another one is in your phone storage. Now grab your phone again, and turn it off completely. Reboot your phone into bootloader mode (which also known as Fastboot mode) by pressing Volume Down (-) and Power buttons together simultaneously until you see the Bunny Fastboot logo.
Step 7 – Connect your device which is already in Fastboot mode into your computer using its USB cable.
Step 8 – Now back to Windows Explorer. Go to the location of where you have extracted the TWRP flash-able image file (Step 5 above).
Step 9 – Hold down the “Shift” button on your keyboard and right-click on anywhere inside that folder. Next, choose “Open command window from here” or “Open Powershell Window here“.
Step 10 – Now in command prompt / Powershell window, type the following command to check the status of your device whether it has been connected successfully or not:
fastboot devices
Your device will be displayed there. Otherwise, you may try either reinstalling the ADB & Fastboot driver, use the full ADB Fastboot Platform Tools, or try installing Mi Flash tool.
Step 11 – Next, issue the command below to boot your phone into TWRP. This is just booting and it is not flashing just yet.
fastboot boot recovery.img
Your phone shall now reboot into TWRP Recovery.
Step 12 – You will now see the user interface of TWRP being displayed. You may need to do the “Slide to allow system modification”.
Step 13 – After that, you will then see TWRP’s main menu. Choose “Install“.
Step 14 – Then tap the “Install Image” button in the lower right.
Step 15 – Now locate the TWRP’s .img file you have copied/downloaded earlier. Tap on its file name to select it.
Step 16 – Select “Recovery” from the partition list to make sure the file will be flashed there. Do the “Swipe to confirm flash” action.
Step 17 – Wait for it to do the job. The flashing should be finished in a couple of minutes. Once done, tap the Back/Home button to bring you back to the main menu.
Step 18 – Tap the “Install” button again from the main menu.
Step 19 – Tap the “Install Zip” then locate the “DisableForceEncryption_Treble.zip” file you have it earlier. Tap on its file name to select it.
Step 20 – Again, do the “Swipe to confirm flash” action. Wait few seconds for TWRP to finish its job flashing the zip file.
Step 21 – Once done, go back to the main menu. Select “Reboot” then reboot into Recovery. This will reboot your device into TWRP recovery again.
Step 22 – Once you are in the main menu of TWRP again, after rebooting, choose “Wipe“.
Step 23 – Chose the /data partition and proceed with it. This step is crucial since the /data description is not working as for now in the unofficial build of TWRP.
Step 24 – The wiping process should complete in minutes. Now finally, you may reboot into the system.
That’s all. You now have TWRP v3.2.3-0 installed on your Poco F1. Next time you reboot into recovery you will see TWRP UI instead of the MIUI stock recovery.
Give it a try!
How to reboot into recovery? There are two methods to boot Pocophone F1 into Recovery Mode which in this case has been replaced with TWRP.
The first method is through the Updater app:
- On your phone, open up Settings.
- Tap on “About phone”.
- Then tap on “System Update”.
- Tap the three dots at the top right-hand corner of the screen.
- Then choose “Reboot to Recovery Mode”
The second method is much more simple.
- Turn off your phone completely.
- Once it has been off, press the Volume Up and Power button simultaneously.
- Your phone will reboot into Recovery mode.
The first time using TWRP you will be asked to do the “Slide to allow modifications”. This will grant TWRP to do necessary modifications on the system. Everything is self-explanatory after that. You will also see TWRP’s main menu.
Where to go after this point? Most users will flash (read: Install) Magisk through TWRP to gain root access on their devices. You can start with it if you want. Some users also want to replace MIUI with many cool custom ROMs available out there. However, the decision is up to you. Just make sure you proceed with caution and full responsibility.