TUTORIAL: Downgrade Samsung Galaxy S5 from 5.0 to 4.4 KitKat

[Brendan Cremers]

dus this work on the samsung galexy tab s sm-t700 too???

 

[epicrules75]

i tried this and all it does is fail right out the beginning i guess i have to wait until there is a root method for 5.0 od3

 

[Fabiitch]

works , thanks !!

 

[chefgf27]

This worked greaat, I did this for 3 devices; mine, one friend with a Galaxy S5 and another with a Note 4. Only issue was I got stuck on the Verizon Boot Screen and had to do a factory reset; since it was backed up with Kies it wasn't a big issue. Only bad thing is some apps have to be re downloaded.... But all in all well worth it. Lollipop is a sticky mess!

 

[CamCroz99]

Will this work coming from build number BOC4?

 

[icu12345]

Thanks for the awsome guide. My current ROM is G900FXXU1bob7 and I'd like to downgrade to G900FXXU1ANE2 in order to use Towelroot. I know that it has been asked before, but just to be sure: If I use Odin to do the downgrade I will not trigger the knox counter, right? Could someone please confirm?

 

[Kitty Bruno]

Maybe im stupid as **** but. What? Do I put Kies on my phone? When do I put odin on my phone? What if my stuff is in verizon cloud? Can I still restore from there?

 

[Richie_Rich2015]

Sammobile.com is safe, I have downloaded all of the firmwares from there for my S5 and previously S2.
Lollipop on the S5 is terrible, the phone is slow like a snail and the light theme kills the battery and looks ugly. Newer is not better.

After downgrading to Kit kat i noticed the increase in speed. I now get 20 hrs of battery life. The dark theme makes use of the phone's OLED display and is much easier to see.

I have rooted the device and have disabled 59 system programs! This includes: S-health, Knox services, weather, google+, samsung apps etc. You can use Link2SD or Titanium Backup to freeze or uninstall these programs. The S5 was bursting at its seams with junkware which eats up RAM, CPU and always wants to connect to the internet.

Yay! My phone has new life and is as fast an an Iphone.

 

[Arun Babu]

thanks
the result is pass but my is on restarting mode ??????????
how can i on my phone
please help me .........................................

 

[HaNzal SaNdhu]

can i try this on samsung galaxy s4??????

 

[geeseMeese]

I have a S5 (SM-G900F). I can't find a 4.4.2 firmware file for Canada as the country/carrier on sammobile. Does the country/carrier of the firmware matter? If it helps, my phone is unlocked.

 

[ironass]

I have a S5 (SM-G900F). I can't find a 4.4.2 firmware file for Canada as the country/carrier on sammobile. Does the country/carrier of the firmware matter? If it helps, my phone is unlocked.

There is no Canadian firmware for the G900F model. Canadians have the G900W8 model. What are your, "Version", details as per #1.8 of 40 Galaxy S5 models - Dummies Guide

 

[geeseMeese]

In reply to ironass (couldn't quote you since I haven't made 10 posts previously)

My "Version" details as per #1.8 are

AP: G900FDXU1BOC2
CP: G900FDXU1BNL1
CSC: G900FOLB1BOC1

 

[ironass]

In reply to ironass (couldn't quote you since I haven't made 10 posts previously)

My "Version" details as per #1.8 are

AP: G900FDXU1BOC2
CP: G900FDXU1BNL1
CSC: G900FOLB1BOC1

You have the Singapore firmware for Lollipop on your phone. To downgrade you will need to download the firmware below and flash it via Odin by following the links and video in #1.11 of 40 Galaxy S5 models - Dummies Guide

Model SM-G900F
Model name GALAXY S5
Country Singapore
Version Android 4.4.2
Changelist 2749468
Build date Tue, 30 Sep 2014 02:12:31 +0000
Product code XSP
PDA G900FDXU1ANI3
CSC G900FOLC1ANI1

 

[Kachita]

I did it! It worked. I work in tech and everyone at work said it was a bad idea and my phone would become a brick, but it worked. Galaxy S5, T-Mobile. My phone did refuse to reboot so I had to do a factory reset. Several times. But then it worked! Thank you SO much. My phone was useless with 5.1.1. Froze at every touch.

 

[nakren]

Hi, please help. I do everything and in the first time i was thinking i fix it. Now when i send to someone first message it's fine and he recieve it. But when he answer me and i tried again, the person don't recieve the message ? Why? So i need to delete every time the conversation , if i want to message recieve???? I tried with different and applications for message and the same? Why????

 

[uvallie]

Works! Thank you sooo much. Finally back to the good old 4.4!

 

[ndrwgn]

I ran into the same issue on an AT&T Galaxy S5, trying to downgrade from 5.0 to 4.4.2. ODIN would fail on me too. From what I have gathered, it is not possible to downgrade, period, at this time. The bootloader is locked I believe and you cannot downgrade or even root if you are on a OTA 5.0 version. I semi-bricked my phone trying to downgrade and ended up having to download the 5.0 kernel and flash using ODIN to get my phone working again.

Brianthelion26; Seriously dude, where did you get the 5.0 kernel exactly? I've given up on downgrade and just want to get the phone working again....

 

[Brett Williamson]

Where did you find the 5.0 kernel to flash. I have had the same issue other have had and now I can only get to odin mode. Can't boot to the OS at all. Want to downgrade to 4.4.2, but I'll take 5.0 if I can just get it working again. I have the AT&T model SM-G900A

 

[chacham2]

Thanx for this. I successfully downgraded my G900T to 4.4.2, getting the 2015-02-18 firsmware from Firmware for Samsung SM-G900T - SamMobile

Here's the silly part, feel free to laugh.

The reason i downgraded was to run Firefox 28 which would not run under Lollipop. It did run under KitKat but, was slow as molasses when opening a link and not all my plugins came over from sync. From the looks of it, they cannot (all) be used. Ugh. And then, encryption took away from fingerprint unlock which was really annoying. I can live with a swipe for security. But my password each time is a drag.

So, it was back to 5.0. But first, i want root. Towelroot didn't work in that version, so i downgraded to the earliest version sammobile had listed. Towelroot worked like a charm. Kies took me back up to 5, and knox is still at 0x0.

In the end, i enjoyed the process. Going through it demytified the process and made it a lot less scary.