The Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone is among the Samsung flagships that have already received the update to the new Android 5.0 Lollipop.
While this new Android operating system has some of the best features of an Android OS, the debut version has had some troubles with some devices that run on it.
The Galaxy S5 is one of the many smartphones that have recorded some dip in performance when the new OS is installed on it. However, there is always a way out of everything and if you are in this position where you upgraded your Galaxy S5 OS from the Android KitKat to the new Lollipop and you are not happy at all with your decision to do so, you can still revert to the old Android KitKat and enjoy using your S5 without any problems. Here’s how to downgrade your Galaxy S5 from the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop to the older Android 4.4 KitKat in a few simple steps.
Requirements
One thing you should note is that you must download the exact firmware for your device. This is because not all Galaxy S5 models came out with the same OS; some featured the Android 4.4.2 KitKat while others came with the Android 4.4.4 KitKat. Check out for your phone’s model number before downloading the firmware. To do this, go to Settings and tap on “About device” and you should be able to see the model number of your Galaxy S5. In essence, make sure you have the following before you proceed with the downgrade process.
- Download the official firmware for your device model onto your desktop
- Download the latest version of Samsung drivers to your PC
- Download the latest version of Odin application onto your PC
- Make sure your phone is charged by at least 80%
- Enable USB debugging mode in your Galaxy S5 by going to Settings and then tap on Developer options.
Downgrading Samsung Galaxy S5 from Android 5L to Android KitKat
- The first thing is to create a full back up of your data using the Samsung Kies or any other back up application.
- Extract the downloaded Galaxy S5 firmware onto your PC
- Reboot your Galaxy S5 in Download mode by pressing the Power + Home + Volume Down buttons. Go ahead and press the Volume Up button in order to enter the Odin Mode or rather the Download Mode.
- On your PC, start the already installed Odin application and connect your Galaxy S5 to your PC using a USB cable. The Odin software will recognize it after a few seconds and the ID:COM box will immediately turn blue. Make sure that the right Samsung drivers are installed just in case Odin does have a problem with recognizing your Galaxy S5.
- In Odin, make sure that Auto-Reboot and F.Reset Time are the only checked options. Also make sure that the “Re-Partition” option is not by any chance checked.
- While still in Odin, click on the AP box and navigate to the file named tar.md5 that is located in the unzipped firmware. This is the point where you must double check whether you downloaded the right firmware for your Galaxy S5’s specific model.
- Still in Odin, click on “Start” and wait for some time while the application does its thing, which of course will take a while. Make sure your Galaxy S5 stays connected all this time.
- Once the process is done, a green PASS message will pop out and your Galaxy S5 will reboot.
When it starts up, your device will be running on the older version of the Android KitKat that you decided to downgrade to.
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