[YotaPhone] SteadyQuad:
TWRP 2.8.5.0 YotaPhone 2 recovery image​

After the bare bones modded stock recovery for YotaPhone 2 it's time for something more advanced. The TeamWin Recovery Project 2, or TWRP2 is just that: a fully fledged, graphical, touch enabled, custom recovery.

This recovery image for YotaPhone 2 is still an alpha version, so expect some rough edges. Which leads me to:

Disclaimer

I am not responsible for damaged or bricked devices. If you follow instructions in this post, then YOU are making the choice to tinker with your device. You are likely to void your warranty by doing so, and on a bad day you might even damage or brick your device.

What is it?

It's a recovery image for YotaPhone 2 based on TWRP2 custom recovery, and the stock kernel from Yota Devices. You can boot it ad-hoc, or flash it permanently to the recovery partition. Use it to root, install software, make backups, update ROMs etc.

What can you do with it?

- adb root & shell access

- All TWRP 2.8.5.0 functionality (except MTP)

- install update zips (signed with testkeys (e.g. SuperSU), Yota Devices software, and also unsigned zips like Xposed framework.

- You can sideload packages, but also install them from internal storage (e.g. Download folder)

- make partition backups

- root your device

What can it NOT do?

- In this recovery image the MTP functionality of TWRP is disabled, it doesn't play nice with YD's kernel.

What do you need?

- YotaPhone 2 (YD201) with Lollipop 5.0

- Some technical confidence to cope with quirks that come with an alpha version

- USB cable with a PC or laptop on one end

Steps overview:

NOTE: I used less detail in this post than the previous recovery thread, please look there for more detail.

1) backup (sync stuff, copy photos off, use a backup app etc, use search if unsure how to)

2) Install adb and fastboot if not yet installed. (For Windows look e.g. here, for linux the fastest is probably to install Android SDK with platform tools, see here If this is not enough info to get you started, please use xda search!)

3) Unlock the bootloader if you haven't done so before (read warning below!)

4) Download recovery image: recovery_twrp_yd201_alpha2.img

5) boot or flash the recovery image

Unlocking bootloader:

Warning: It is currently not known how to re-lock the bootloader. This means you cannot completely undo the next step as of yet. This might have consequences for sending the device in for repairs, if they check for this, and deem it a (warranty) problem.

See stock recovery thread for unlock steps

BOOT the recovery image:

a) First: put the device in fastboot/download mode:

Power off with USB cable disconnected, then hold volume down key while inserting USB cable (which should already be in your PC on the other end).

You should see a black screen with a tiny white: downloading...

b) Boot the recovery image:

fastboot boot path/to/recovery_twrp_yd201_alpha2.img

Alternatively, flash the recovery image (overwriting the stock recovery):

fastboot flash recovery recovery_twrp_yd201_alpha2.img

Problems & FAQ

Q: It doesn't work!!1!

A: Please provide plenty of detail about error messages, which step, what versions etc. Without providing any detail you'll look silly. TWRP has it's own logfile that you can copy to (virtual) SD card, and access from there.

Kernel sourcecode:

In this recovery image is Yota Device's version of the Linux kernel v3.4.0 for YotaPhone 2. Yota Devices are required by the GPLv2 license to release the source code for this kernel, but so far they haven't taken that step or even shown intention to do so as far as I know. The YotaPhone firmwares and also this recovery image are in effect violating the GPLv2 license if the situation does not change. Attempts to contact Yota Devices on the subject through support, press departement, and an attempt to contact Yota Device's management, have gone pretty much unanswered as of writing. I'm hoping they're just busy making great devices instead of being unwilling.

If you would like to help future custom ROM development for YotaPhone 2 please do the following:

Encourage Yota Devices through their twitter or facebook accounts to publish the Kernel sourcecode for YotaPhone 2, and ask them to support the open source Android community. You can also submit a request through their support page (hint: choose 'sales' as category, otherwise you'll have to enter lots of details. Be polite!).

Info & credits::

TWRP2 is created and maintained by TeamWin. Please donate through their site if you enjoy their work!

Recovery image for YP2: SteadyQuad

Version: alpha2 based on TWRP 2.8.5.0 with Yota Devices kernel (1.39 EU1)

Thanks to: TeamWin for TWRP, [MENTION=912474]Dees_Troy[/MENTION] for hints for getting it up and running, [MENTION=408384]Jeopardy[/MENTION] for testing, [MENTION=631273]Chainfire[/MENTION] for SuperSU and lastly Yota Devices for a great device.

Linking to this recovery image:

Please don't link directly to the download image, link to this post instead. That way users can get the most recent version and any updated info. (It's an alpha version after all)

Created: 2015-06-23

Last Updated: 2015-06-24