How to Root and Install CWM Recovery on Sprint Galaxy S4 SPH-L720

Samsung’s flaghship device, the Galaxy S4 is going well in the market, and is available by most of the variants through out the world now. The Galaxy S4 headed to Sprint soon after its official unveiling at IFA, Berlin. Sporting a 4.99” inch Full HD display with 441 ppi, the device is powered up with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 600 Quad Core CPU clocked at 1.9 Ghz along with Adreno 320 GPU, under the hood it has got a 2 GB RAM, and a massive 2600 mAh battery. At the back there is a 13 MP camera, while a 2.1 MP on the front.

Getting back to the topic, a device like Galaxy S4 and no root seems quite incomplete. Well, in case you want to know what root access is and what we can do after having it, here’s the answer for you.

Rooting your phone gives you complete access over all the data which is apparently locked by the manufacturers. This includes removal of the factory restrictions and making changes to the internal system and the operating system. Gaining the root access gives you the privileges to install various applications to enhance the performance of your device, allows you to remove the built-in applications/programs, helps you to upgrade the battery life of your device & install the apps which require the root access for the proper functionality and modify your device in so many other ways e.g using mods and custom roms. By installing custom recovery, you can flash custom roms in the phone easily. Custom recovery also let’s you backup your current rom and restore it in case of any mishap. There is a laundry list of things you can do after having your device rooted and installed the custom recovery, now once you’re rooted and have installed custom revcoery, go ahead and enjoy it on your phone. Here’s our collection of 10 Best Root Apps.

Disclaimer: The methods involved in flashing custom roms and rooting your phone is highly custom and may result in bricking your device, and has nothing to do with Google or the device manufacturer that is Samsung in our case. In case of any mishap we may not be held responsible. Follow these instructions to the letter to avoid any mishap or bricking. Make sure that whatever you do, you are doing it at your own responsibility.

Before we go ahead, here are some pre-requisites that you need to follow:

1. Make sure that your phone’s battery is charged over at least 60%. This is highly recommended in order to prevent any power issues on the device during the flashing process.
2. Make sure that you have backed up all your important Contacts, Call Logs & Messages. It is highly recommended in case of any mishap or data loss to backup all your important data.
3. Make sure that you use the original data cable to connect your device to your PC.
4. Make sure that your device is Sprint Galaxy S4 that is SPH-L720, check the model under Settings>General>About Device>Model.
5. In case of USB connection problems, enable USB debugging mode on your device. To do so, open Settings>General>Developer Options. If you can’t find the developer options, simply open About device and tap “Build Number” for 7 times and you should have the developer options enabled under the ”General Tab”.
6. Install the listed files carefully, follow this guide to letter in order to prevent any mishap.

Files you need to download:

1. Download and extract Odin PC – Get it here
2. Download and Samsung USB Drivers – Get here
3. Download & Unzip Cf Auto Root Package file once on your desktop

• Download CF Auto Root Package file for your Galaxy S4 SPH-L720
  

How to Root Samsung Sprint Galaxy S4 SPH-L720:

• Put your GS4 SPH-L720 in download mode by pressing and holding Volume Down + Home + Power key at the same time, you should get a screen showing a warning and asking to continue, press Volume Up to continue.
• Now your phone should be in downloading mode. Connect your phone to your PC.
• As soon as Odin detects your phone the ID:COM box will turn light blue.
• Click on the PDA tab and select the CF-autoroot file that you extracted above.
• Your Odin screen should look like exactly as shown below.
• 
  • Click Start and the root process should start showing you a process bar in the first box above ID:COM.
  • The process is quite fast and will finish in a few seconds, as soon as it ends, your phone will restart and you’ll see the CF Auto root installing SuperSu on your phone.
  • Congratulations you have your Samsung Galaxy S4 by Sprint rooted now!

How to Install Custom Recovery (ClockworkMod) on your Sprint Galaxy S4:

The method explained above is basically for beginners and does not install a custom recovery in your phone, it simply installs a stock recovery with having your phone rooted. Custom recovery allows you to modify in your phone in so many other ways like flashing custom roms, flashing mods etc.

In order to flash a custom recovery after rooting your SGS4 download the following file.

• Download Philz Advanced CWM Touch Recovery for Sprint Galaxy S4

Now you need to follow the same procedure explained above to root your phone but this time instead of giving it CF Auto Root file in the PDA tab you need to give it the downloaded recovery file that is in .tar.md5  format,  for your phone, the recovery will be flashed within a few seconds. You can enter the custom recovery now pressing and holding Volume Up + Home + Power Key

Congrats! You’ve successfully rooted and installed CWM recovery on your Sprint Galaxy S4. In case you got any queries or facing any difficulties, feel free to write us in the comment box below. We will try out our best to help you. Thanks.