How to Remove a Custom ROM and Get Android Phone Back

If you are going to sell your phone or making a warranty claim, or install a system update, you might want to revert your rooted phone back to stock Android. In this tutorial we are going to talk about how to remove a custom ROM and get Android phone back to its original state.

We are going to tell you Three ways to get back to stock Android. You can choose any of them that suits to you.

1.Restore a Nandroid Backup

Restore a Nandroid Backup is the fastest way to remove a custom ROM and get Android phone back to its original state. This is a full system backup. If you are going to revert your phone back to its stock ROM because you have to install a system update, I don’t think this method suits to you.

Every time you are flashing a new ROM or install any kind of mod, you need to create a Nandroid backup. Wen doing A Nandroid backup it creates a complete snapshot of your phone including the operating system, apps, data, and other. Which means restoring Nandroid backup, restores the ROM you were using at the time. It will reappear old apps and data like reappearing apps you’ve uninstalled before.

How to Restore Nandroid Backup

Following these steps you would be able to restore a Nandroid Backup easily.

1. Boot your phone into the custom recovery. TWRP is recommended.
2. Choose Restore. You can see a list of all the available backups.
3. Pick the backup made using the stock ROM.
4. Select the partitions which you want to restore. You need to check all the boxes.
5. Finally, swipe the bar named Swipe to Restore. It will take some time to complete, then you can reboot.

Now you can get  back to your stock ROM. You need to unroot your phone. The way depend on the app that you used when rooting. If you have used SuperSU, Follow this way. Firstly go to the Settings tab, and select Full Unroot. Then reboot your phone again. Now It will be unrooted.

If you want to relock your bootloader, you can do it using Fastboot with the command fastboot oem lock or fastboot flashing lock. You need to do this if it is needed. You might need it, if you’re sending your phone for a warranty repair or sell it.

2.Flash a Stock ROM

Flash a Stock ROM is another method that you can use for remove a custom ROM and get Android phone back to its original state. if above Restore a Nandroid Backup method didn’t work, you can try this. Flashing ROMs is a easy method. If you are going to do this you need to do a factory reset as well.

In this process you would be able to find a pre-rooted version of the ROM. It is an extra benefit of doing this. In this process you have to rely on someone else to create the ROM for you. That is the main obstacle that you have to face. But if you have got a phone that has an active community on the XDA Developers forums, it won’t be a problem anymore.

 If your device is a lesser known device, it might be hard to find a stock ROM. But if you have a OnePlus device, you can download a flashable stock ROM directly from the OnePlus website.

How to Flash a Stock ROM

Following these steps you would be able to flash a stock ROM easily.

1. Find a stock ROM for your phone. Go to the XDA Developers forums. Then locate the forum for your device. You can found stock ROMs in stickied posts at the top of the development boards.
2. Next download the ROM to your phone.
3. Back up all the data.
4. Boot into the recovery.
5. Select Wipe for factory reset your phone. If you don’t do this you can get bugs or even get stuck in a bootloop. If you don’t want to do backing up and restoring process you need to do this. Then swipe the bar to start the wipe.
6. In the recovery home screen, select Install and go to the stock ROM that you downloaded.
7. Swipe the bar to start installation. You can reboot your phone after completed installation.

If you have downloaded a pre-rooted stock ROM and if you want to keep it, you can do it. But if you used a non-rooted ROM and if you want to get back fully to stock, re-lock the bootloader. But it will wipe your phone.

3.Flash a Factory Image

If you still wouldn’t be able to remove a custom ROM and get Android phone back, you can follow this method.  This method will revert your phone almost to the state it was in when you first bought it. Factory images are come from the device manufacturers directly. If Google and Motorola mainly do this, you can get factory images from Samsung and LG also.

But you need to download them from third-party sites. But its difficult to install. Some devices many need a manual approach using the ADB and Fastboot tools with the command line. But some devices use their own software for it. Samsung and HTC use their own software for it.  Flashing a factory image is the best option you can use. If you need to completely reset your device you can try this method.

How to Flash a Factory Image

The process of the flashing a factory image, different from device to device. Basic steps are given below.

1. Download and set up ADB and Fastboot tools.
2. Download the factory image from the Android website and Unzip the download on your desktop.
3. Connect your phone trough USB and boot into the Fastboot mode.
4. Then launch the Command Prompt or Terminal app.
5. Run flash-all.bat at the command prompt on Windows. Run flash-all.sh on macOS or Linux.
6. After finish the process then reboot.

The process will take you to a stock, unrooted ROM, with stock recovery as well. Lock the bootloader and you can go back to normal. This process will completely wipe your phone. We mentioned before the process of the flashing a factory image different from device to device. You can find the instructions from the same site where you downloaded the images.

Reinstall the Stock Firmware

Getting back to stock uses the same techniques that is used to install ROMs and mods. If you downloaded the original software or found an appropriate backup, this process will be done within a few minutes. Running the stock firmware for your phone is not the same as running stock Android itself. Because it includes the apps, and other tweaks that your phone’s manufacturer has added. 

We hope within above methods, you would be able to remove a custom ROM and get Android phone back to its original state.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I install custom ROM without root?

Yes. You can install custom ROM without having root your phone. Rooting is a process that unlock the operating system to allow you to install or modify anything in your android device. If you wanna flashing custom ROM, you need to unlock the bootloader and enable UDB debugging inside the settings app.

Are custom ROM better than the stock ROM?

A custom ROM give more refined and customized user controls and also flexibility, when it consider with stock ROM. Because the device is unlocked and users can customize their device as they want. A custom ROM will replace your phone’s original android operating system with a new version of android operating system.

What is the benefit of custom ROM?

Installing custom ROM gives you in control of your own hardware. Using it you can swap out operating system to another, tweak more settings, it keep your private life private, personalize everything, extend the life of your phone, get android updates faster, speed everting up, give better battery life. And also it will change the experience until you are as happy with android.