How to Flash a Custom Recovery on the Sony Xperia Ion

Every Android device has, what is called, a recovery image on it. This is basically a part of the Android operating system that you or the manufacturer can access if your device becomes unresponsive and then use it to restore your device.

A custom recovery image, however, is a recovery image that a developer has altered that can not only help the device if it becomes responsive, but also has the added benefits of allowing us to make major changes to the operating system and have even further customizations on your device.

In this procedure, we’ll show you how to flash a custom recovery on your Sony Xperia Ion.

After flashing a custom recovery on Sony Xperia Ion, you’ll be able to:

• Perform full backups of your device (literally save EVERYTHING from it).
• Increase your device’s performance (after flashing something called a kernel
• Increase your device’s battery life.
• Flash custom ROMs (these make it possible to flash a newer version of Android, totally new user interfaces, add tons of new features, and much more).

Interested? Here’s how to flash a custom recovery on your Sony Xperia Ion:

I. Before You Begin

1. You must be rooted before you can do this procedure. Please head to our root procedure first, finish it, then come back to this one and continue.

2. This should only work on Windows based PCs.

II. Downloading Required Files

1. Download RecoverX and save it to your Desktop.

RecoverX (Download link’s available in the first post)

III. Flashing a Custom Recovery on the Sony Xperia Ion

1. Turn ON USB debugging on your device by heading to Menu > Settings > Developer options > USB debugging.

2. Plug in your device to your PC via USB cable.

3. Double-click on RecoverX executable and it should launch.

4. Select Sony from the Brand dropdown menu and Xperia Ion from the Device dropdown menu.

5. Hit the Next button given in the bottom-right corner.

6. Follow the on-screen instructions for flashing a recovery.

7. It should take a couple of minutes to install the recovery.

8. Once it’s done, reboot your device.

9. You’re all done!

All set! Now, you can head to our How to Flash a Custom ROM procedure for the Sony Xperia Ion to open up a whole new world of customizations for your Android device!

By the way, don’t be scared, you can always put your device back to stock by heading to our Rooting How To’s section, finding your device, and doing the How to Unroot listed for it there.