For those of you with a Sprint Galaxy phone like the Galaxy S5, Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3, or the Note 3, did you know you can also enjoy more custom ROMs by installing Verizon custom ROMs?
We’ve always thought this process took a bit of coding and porting from Verizon ROMs to Sprint ROMs but in my recent findings show that you can actually get Verizon ROMs working on Sprint Galaxy phones fairly easily by adding APN and using 3rd-party SMS app to get MMS send working.
Last week, I was able to get everything working except MMS sends, which was a bugger since many of you send lots of MMS messages daily.
Well, thanks to HighOnAndroid.com user kvelez, we are also able to get that working with a 3rd-party SMS app. It seems the the Verizon custom ROMs come with its own Verizon MMS setting, which cannot be altered just with APN. By using 3rd party app, we are able to circumvent around this problem.
And the result? You can install any Verizon TouchWiz ROM on Sprint Galaxy phone!
Here’s how to do it, step-by-step!
Step 1. First, you will need a rooted Galaxy phone with CWM or TWRP recovery installed.
For Galaxy S5, see How to Root Galaxy S5!
For Galaxy S4, see How to Root Galaxy S4!
For Galaxy S3, see How to Root Galaxy S3!
For Galaxy Note 3, see How to Root Galaxy Note 3!
Step 2. Second, you will need to install Verizon custom ROM on your Galaxy phone.
For, Galaxy S5, install Verizon S5 ROM on Sprint S5. (For a start, try Alliance ROM)
For, Galaxy S4, install Verizon S5 ROM on Sprint S4. (For a start, try Chaos ROM)
For, Galaxy S3, install Verizon S5 ROM on Sprint S3. (For a start, try Alliance ROM)
For, Galaxy Note 3, install Verizon S5 ROM on Sprint Note 3. (For a start, try Biggins ROM)
Step 3. Once you have installed a Verizon ROM on your Sprint Galaxy Phone and booted up successfully, go to Settings->Mobile Networks and make sure “Network mode” is set to “LTE/CDMA”.
Then press on “Access Point Names”. (We also call this APN)
Step 4. Hit the “+” button to add new APN then set the Sprint 4G LTE parameters.
Step 5. Once done, hit “Save” and you should see 4G LTE light up. This means your Sprint data is not working, your 3G and 4G LTE should work flawless along with your voice calls.
Step 6. Also you should be able to send/receive SMS and receive MMS messages. But MMS sends will be broke! This is again because the Verizon custom ROM comes with hard-coded SMS app, which defaults to Verizon and does not work for sending MMS on Sprint’s network.
UPDATE: There’s another method you can get the default Samsung MMS app to work, you simply need to pull SMS app from any Sprint ROM and copy over to your phone using ES File Explorer.
I should have update for all phones but for now, you can use this one for Galaxy S5:
To install the MMS file, use ES File Explorer, hit Menu->Tools->Root Explorer and turn it on and also enable R/W for /system partition. Then copy the MMS file over into /system/priv-app folder and overwrite the existing apk file. Then select the MMS file and hit Properties and set it to “Read Write, Read, Read” or “RW- R– R–“. Then reboot. Your MMS should work now without using 8SMS app.
To get around it, install 8SMS app from Play Store.
Step 7. Open the 8SMS app and go to Settings and enable “SMS”. This will replace the existing SMS app but will let you send MMS messages.
That’s it! Now you can enjoy Verizon and Sprint custom ROMs on your Sprint Galaxy S5, S4, S3, and Note 3!
Q&A
Q: The Verizon ROM is not booting!!!
A: Some Verizon ROMs may require you to have the latest bootloader. E.g. If installing 4.4.4 ROM and you have 4.4.2 bootloader on your Sprint device, you may have to install Sprint 4.4.4 bootloader. If it doesn’t exist yet, you may have to wait until it does.
Q: I have a question!
A: Please post your questions below in the comments box.
Q: How can I thank you for your tutorial?
A: I don’t take donations but if you could PLEASE subscribe to my Zedomax YouTube channel, that would help me greatly and thank you!
Have a question?
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