Coming down to custom recovery there are three main recovery flavors available. Clockwork Mod recovery (CWM), Team Win Recovery Project (TWRP), Philliz custom recovery. By default your phone manufacturer have installed stock based recovery, which doesn't support install zip options. So android users are looking for recovery which allow them to change their phones recovery to root their phone, installing other ROM's. So today I'm going to help you to choose best recovery for your Android phone.
If you are looking for how to install custom recovery on your android phone see here How to install custom recovery on any android phone
In this post we are going to see the difference between TWRP and CWM. I'm using TWRP
version 2.6.3.0 and CWM version 6.0.3.6 for comparison.
INTERFACE
Let we start with interface of TWRP and CWM. The TWRP have a clean interface with large buttons user friendly graphical buttons helps the user to use it easily. TWRP has more options at the home page when compared to CWM. TWRP also have battery percentage indicator at the top and it also shows current time, it helps you while flashing the custom ROM to find how much battery juice is left on your device. In addition to these features TWRP has touch screen interface where CWM doesn't support it.
On looking at CWM it has simple interface with no touch screen support. You have to navigate by using the hardware buttons on your device, the options at home screen are not divided as like as in TWRP. For example TWRP has Backup and Restore buttons separately but in CWM it is stuffed under same menu backup and restore likewise factory reset and wipe data is packed under same menu. This increase the navigation process in CWM. If you are going to wipe data using CWM recovery you have to choose option about 3-4 times but in TWRP you can do that by simply tapping wipe and selecting the data you want to wipe.
TWRP recovery also have on screen navigation button at the bottom of the screen where CWM uses only hardware buttons for navigation.
So the winner of this section is TWRP.
INSTALLING PACKAGE
Moving to the installation screen of TWRP and CWM we can lot difference between them. If you choose install option on TWRP you are promoted to choose the Zip package to install straight away. In CWM if you choose Install Zip option you will be asked by four options. It may difficult to beginners but options in CWM are very use full if you are advanced user.
In TWRP you can install the Zip package by swiping the swipe button easily but in CWM you have to navigate to Install option using hardware buttons. Installation time depends on the size of the package so TWRP and CWM have nothing to do with package installation time.
So the winner of this section is TWRP (for easy installation process)
BACKUP AND RESTORE
Jumping to Backup and restore section of TWRP and CWM we can see both backup and restore are plunged as one in CWM but in TWRP the Backup and Restore are two separate options.
Let we see the feature offered by the TWRP and CWM under backup section. In CWM if you select backup it make backup of user data, kernel, cache, system data and finally it will take 4-5 minutes for MD5 generation during backup. Another thing you have to worry while backing up your data in CWM is storage problem. If you have low memory space in your memory card it will show error message displaying "No sufficient storage space". The average size of CWM backup is around gigabytes.
Backup option in TWRP is more customized for easy backup. You can select what should be in the backup. Another great feature in this backup section is provision to backup you EFS.
You can also compress the backup image which results in low size of the backup image. Another option is Skip MD5 generation during backup, it will skip the process of generating the MD5 signature for the backup image which will reduce up to 3-5 minutes of time during backup process. If you got MD5 mismatch error while restoring the backup see here Fix md5 mismatch error
So the winner of this Backup section is again TWRP.
REBOOTING
Reboot option allows you to exit form the recovery mode and boot your phone into normal mode i.e., System. In CWM you have only option Reboot system now. You can only boot your phone into system from recovery mode when you're using CWM.
But in TWRP recovery's Reboot menu have more options for you! You can boot your phone into System, Recovery, Download from the recovery mode. You can also power off your phone from this Reboot menu. You can find these option in CWM but not in reboot menu they are stuffed in advanced menu.
So the winner of this section is TWRP.
ADVANCED OPTIONS
Advanced section of both recovery are loaded with many options. Again TWRP have advanced options in advanced menu, but in CWM the options are distributed across the various menu options.
So the winner of this section is TWRP & CWM
CONCLUSION
We have seen various difference between both TWRP and CWM. Both custom recovery offers many features when compared to stock recovery but when the comparison is between these two there will be two different answers! Yes it's true we have two conclusions TWRP has well organized menu where CWM has options stuffed in their respective branch. So here is the final verdict, if you are beginner and looking for custom recovery you should go with TWRP since it has simple and well organized options. If you're advanced user and developer you must have CWM installed on your phone it offer lot's of options under each menu and it faster in loading.
Which is the best custom recovery in your opinion? if you have any other thoughts about this post I would love to hear from you in comment section.
6 comments
Write commentsI used CWM the first time I ever rooted and installed a Custom ROM so I do prefer , however the fact that Twrp is actually still updated and supported means that switching to it made sense
Replycwm. no question about that
ReplyYes
ReplyI feel like the author is biased towards TWRP.
Replyoops
Replyi also relay on twrp on my tegra note mi note and other devices
ReplyUse me to comment your thoughts... EmoticonEmoticon