This article shows you all the essential steps to install crDroid custom Android ROM on Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus (Vince). The ROM is based on either Android 8.1.0 Oreo or 9.0 Pie – you choose. It brings the UI style of Google Pixel device.
Redmi 5 Plus is one of Xiaomi’s top selling phones. Powered with Qualcomm Snapdragon 625, the phone is also known as Redmi Note 5 India.
However, we at MIUI.blog prefer to call it Redmi 5 Plus a.ka Vince. Being released globally with that name is our reason, of course.
Once unlocked, the device becomes very developer-friendly. Its users can install almost anything on the device. Thanks to the custom recovery of course.
It is a cool practice to switch from stock MIUI ROM to a custom one. There are many custom ROMs available. Most of them offer simplicity, bloat-free system, and system stability.
Except the bloat-free one, MIUI actually offers the same. Nevertheless, some users simply want different experience. They want to spice up their life a little bit through a whole new day-to-day phone usage experience.
crDroid offers not only simplicity and stability but also part of Google Pixel taste.
The user interface has also been themed heavily. It has outstanding features such as ambient display customization, ambient music ticker customization, color styles, font customization, expanded Desktop customization, gesture settings, swipe notifications, screen off animations, custom animations for system, Android P animation toggle, and many others.
Can you imagine of how cool is that?
Well, without further ado, let’s start will all you need to get the crDroid flashed.
As usual, let us remind you about the risk of doing this trick.
Flashing third-party binaries (custom recovery, kernel, ROM, tweak, mod, etc) gives you risks of broken devices. Doing it wrong and you are finish.
We hold no responsibility of any damage that may/may not happen to your device. Please proceed with full caution.
We strongly urge you to read the whole steps thoroughly prior actually implementing the steps. Make sure you have clear understanding on how will you proceed.
Please create a proper backup beforehand. Full backup is better but you may simply want to backup crucial files and data only. That’s also fine. Just make sure you won’t regret anything.
This mechanism requires an unlocked bootloader. The official procedure will erase your phone data (factory reset). Please mind this situation.
You can avoid the risks of flashing custom ROM and use this Android 9.0 Pie MIUI theme which is much easier and safer.
PREREQUISITES
- Download Xiaomi ADB & Fastboot driver on your computer.
- Disable Windows Driver Signature Enforcement on your computer.
- Then install the downloaded ADB & Fastboot driver.
- Download crDroid Oreo or Pie ROM (zip file) to your computer.
- Download OpenGapps. Choose ARM64, Android 8.1 or 9.0 (match this with the crDroid you download), then choose any variant. Mostly Pico or Mini is sufficient.
Steps to Flash crDroid on Redmi 5 Plus
Step 1. Unlock your phone bootloader following this guide.
Step 2. Flash Orange Fox TWRP on your phone. Read our previous guide here.
Step 3. Connect the phone to your computer using its USB cable.
Step 4. Transfer the crDroid Pie/Oreo ROM zip file and OpenGapps zip file to the phone storage. We suggest you to put it in the root directory (not inside any other folders)
Step 5. You can now disconnect your phone from computer and turn it off completely.
Step 6. While it’s off, press and hold the Power key and Volume Up key simultaneously to enter recovery mode which in this case is Orange Fox TWRP.
Step 7. Do the “Swipe to allow modifications” – if you have not done it yet.
Step 8. In the main menu, tap the “Wipe” button then choose “Advance Wipe“.
Step 9. Now you need to wipe following partitions: Cache, System, and Data. This is necessary to remove apps/settings that might be incompatible with the new ROM.
Do not forget to do the “Swipe to wipe” action.
Step 10. Back to the main menu of Orange Fox.
Step 11. Tap on the “Install” button.
Step 12. Locate the crDroid .zip file that you have copied. Tap on it to select it.
Step 13. Now do the “Swipe to Install“.
Step 14. Sit tight and wait for the recovery to flash the crDroid ROM.
Step 15. Do not reboot just yet, go back to the main menu and select “Install” again.
Step 16. This time locate and select the OpenGApps ZIP file.
Step 17. Next, do the “Swipe to Install” action again.
Step 18. Once done, go to the main menu and choose “Reboot“.
Step 19. Choose “Recovery” from the dialog box. This will reboot your phone back to OrangFox recovery. This step is crucial to make any changes to partitions/filesystems done by flashing the new ROM take the full effect.
Step 17. Tap “Reboot” again then choose “System“.
Step 18. Sit tight and wait for the newly installed crDroid ROM sets itself up. Usually, it takes long time for the initial booting. That’s normal.
Step 19. Once done, go set up the Google Account.
Congratulation, your Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus now runs crDroid custom ROM.
Another alternative ROM you can try is Pixel Experience. It also brings the full Pixel 3 XL UI design and it already has Google Apps built in.
That’s it. You can just enjoy the ROM as it is or flash Magisk to root it.
Credits and thanks belong to crDroid developers; Raturaj Kadam and his fellows.
We have tried our best to make the article newbie-friendly with the inclusion of screenshot pictures. Nevertheless, please do not hesitate to ask questions or comments.