r/windowsphone • • Mar 26 '22

r/Windowsphone newbie guide - please start here!

182 Upvotes

Hi everyone! Things have changed in these years, Windows Phone is now officially abandoned by Microsoft. However there's still a niche community of users that are interested in this platform and use WP devices to this day.

You're an old user who found his old Windows Phone in a drawer and want to get some life back into it in modern days? You are a new user who never experienced the platform before? You're just curious about what these devices are still capable of? This is the right place to start!

  • Subreddit Posting Guidelines The rules and guidelines for posting on r/Windowsphone.
  • FAQs As stated in our guidelines we suggest anyone to read our FAQs before posting anything. Usually you can find a direct answer there or be redirected to one of our wiki pages.

WIKI DISCLAIMER: right now some pages are incomplete or missing, in particular pages in the jailbreak and mods section:

Sorry, I'm a single individual who is writing all of the new wiki in his spare time.

Missing/incomplete wiki pages are in the works and will be published asap.

  • Wiki Index Here's our complete wiki index, were you will find almost everything you need (as soon as I finish writing it lol). It has been updated for modern times. An archived version of the old Wiki from back when WP was still a supported OS is still available in a link at the end of the page.

r/windowsphone • • 6h ago

Discussion Do you believe windows phone revival projects are growing?

21 Upvotes

If that doesn’t make sense I’m talking about projects that help make windows phone more usable and easier to make a potential daily driver.


r/windowsphone • • 26m ago

Question Found my 1520! ...now what?

• Upvotes

So i broke the screen of my 1520 in january, before it went missing in February or March.

But i found it!

...but now what do I do?

I could keep it on 1607/upgrade to 1709 and test my apps, but i already have an Alcatel Fierce XL that has 10 mobile on it.

I could downgrade it to 8.1 as well, but i also have a 520 with 8.1 on it...

What should I do? Keep it on 10 or downgrade to 8.1?

The screen is cracked starting at the search button btw. The cracks arent noticeable when the screen is on and the touch still works perfectly :^


r/windowsphone • • 9h ago

Question Wpinternals crash

7 Upvotes

Hey i have a lumia 635 that blue screened when trying to unlock bootloader and now the wpinternals crash whenever i try to flash original ffu


r/windowsphone • • 16m ago

Question latest 8.1

• Upvotes

how do i update my lumia 521 to the latest w8.1 mobile version so i can get ten on it


r/windowsphone • • 6h ago

Pls help more

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2 Upvotes

I already made a post about this. I’m on a Nokia 925. It’s not on the newest version of Windows phone 8.1 as someone pointed out to me in the original post I am on Luna DB and it says that windows phone internal should either be asking for a donor FFU or a FFU or image with an engineering SBL3 partition my phone is solicited as an a so it shouldn’t need the donor FFU but it does and all four items show up. I’ve been stuck on this for hours. I can’t get past it and I keep getting flash fail anybody can help please let me know.


r/windowsphone • • 2h ago

Discussion I bought lumia 1320 i need help!

0 Upvotes

I wanted to sideload some apps on it but i dont know how to do it is it even possible?


r/windowsphone • • 14h ago

Hello sir

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6 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I am looking to sell a highly collectible and verified internal Nokia Lumia 820 Prototype / Developer Device. The phone is in 100% fully working condition and cosmetic shape is great for a development unit. The lower bezel features the factory-printed "Developer device" and "Not for Sale" labels underneath the glass.

Here are the technical specs from the About screen:

• Model: NOKIA Lumia 820

• Carrier: Developer Device

• Software: Windows Phone 8.1

• OS Version: 8.10.12393.890 (June 2014 Build)

• Firmware Revision: 3051.50009.1424.0002

• Hardware Revision: 2.4.3.3

• Chip SOC: 8960

Price: Looking for around $300 USD (approx ₹25,000) + international shipping from India.

Payment method: PayPal Goods & Services only (for mutual safety).

Please send me a Direct Message (DM) or comment below if you are a serious buyer or vintage..

mob. 8824046568


r/windowsphone • • 23h ago

Help I’ve been stuck on this for hours

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19 Upvotes

I have been trying to side load or install apps on my Nokia 925 and it is on Windows phone 8.1. I’ve been on this for two days or about seven hours total. I really want this to work but it’s not. I’ve tried everything WP turtles or something if somebody can please directly guide me for my phone that would be very helpful.


r/windowsphone • • 17h ago

is Lumia 650 worth buying while no other options? 25€

4 Upvotes

I was looking for a wondows phone near albania and i couldn't find anything, for 25€ is it good? Its in awesome condition. They sold a 1520 for 35€ and i missed it


r/windowsphone • • 1d ago

News ztOS, A windows phone os based on linuxARM ported to Samsung A51

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201 Upvotes

it's downstream kernel 4.14.134, thx to _z3r0_0n3__ for creating this! He used Arch linux ARM, but i used PMOS modifyed kernel, more on github: https://github.com/nickdemon22/ztOS-a51

EDITED: To all those writing about "SamСука gala": this phone actually contains a motherboard that belongs to a friend of mine—he created that startup screen back when he was in the 7th grade. And as for everyone commenting on the phone's design—go to hell. It’s my phone, and I’ll do whatever I want with it


r/windowsphone • • 1d ago

Brand new 950 XL for £40

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122 Upvotes

It looks like the seller just turned it on to make sure it worked.

It was been on the original 10586.0 firmware.

There is not a mark on it.

Bargain for £40


r/windowsphone • • 15h ago

Support Lumia 950 RM-1104 semi-bricked after second bootloader unlock attempt. Thor2 signature failure. Any recovery possible?

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I'm having serious problems with my Microsoft Lumia 950, and I'm looking for help before considering a motherboard replacement.

Here's exactly what happened:

  1. I successfully flashed a compatible RM-1104 FFU using WPInternals.
  2. Windows 10 Mobile booted normally, and the SIM and calls worked.
  3. I successfully unlocked the bootloader.
  4. I updated Windows 10 Mobile.
  5. I restored the bootloader using WPInternals, which reported that the operation completed successfully.
  6. I attempted to unlock the bootloader again.
  7. After that second unlock attempt, the phone stopped booting properly.

Current symptoms:

  • The phone gets stuck on the Microsoft logo. (press any key to shutdown)
  • WPInternals freezes or crashes when attempting to flash or recover it.
  • Thor2 still detects the phone in Flash Mode.
  • Flashing the previously working FFU with Thor2 fails with:

THOR2_ERROR_FA_SIGNATURE_FAIL

Device information:

  • Detected model: RM-1104
  • Detected product code: 059X510
  • Rear label: RM-1118 / 059X4Z0
  • Platform ID: Microsoft.MSM8992.P6218.1.0
  • Secure Boot: Enabled
  • Secure FFU: Enabled
  • UEFI Secure Boot: Disabled

Previously working firmware:

RM1104_1078.0053.10586.14169.12745.034D72_retail_prod_signed.ffu

The firmware was downloaded from LumiaFirmware.

The phone still responds in Flash Mode, so I don't believe it's completely dead.

My questions:

  • Could the second bootloader unlock attempt have corrupted the boot chain?
  • Why would Thor2 reject an FFU that previously worked?
  • Is Qualcomm Emergency Download Mode (EDL/9008) a viable recovery option?
  • Has anyone recovered a Lumia 950 from this specific situation?

I'd really appreciate any technical advice before attempting emergency flashing or replacing the motherboard.

Thanks!

Processing img n1utuyv46uwh1...


r/windowsphone • • 2d ago

Lumia 720

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100 Upvotes

Meu Lumia 720 acabou de chegar, ele está na versão 8.1 do Windows phone eu gostaria de instalar a Live Store, mas não sei fazer o desbloqueio para permitir instalação de aplicativos fora da loja.

Alguém pode me ensinar o passo a passo do desbloqueio do Jailbreak?


r/windowsphone • • 2d ago

News Unison 2.0 - A new dawn

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60 Upvotes

(NEW UPDATE 21/10/2026 2.1.25)

Unison 2.0

Well, I did it. What was going to be 1.9 is Unison 2.0. It is on the GitHub repository, so the community can keep building on the same guidelines. This is not just a refactor. There is a lot of new stuff in the chat, and yes, some UI touch from me. Anyways, here it comes.

What's fixed

✅ Sending to groups works again. It used to freeze and unlink the device: the sender-key cache overflowed local settings and the next start looked like the phone had never been paired. That cache is its own file now.

✅ Status works. Opening one no longer sticks on a black screen at 0. The media keys survive sync, a failed download falls back to the thumbnail, and a video with no duration still moves on.

✅ Quoted replies in a private chat no longer stall the send. The app was naming the other person on the quote, the server dropped the frame, and the message sat there until it timed out.

✅ Muting a chat no longer deletes its pin. Pins and mutes survive a sync.

✅ A deleted message stays deleted, in your language, in the bubble and on the chat list.

✅ The personal chat keeps your profile name, instead of some random push name.

✅ A message left spinning by a crash is marked failed.

✅ The chat list on a small phone waits for the first sync, then shows the names it already knows.

✅ Connect finishes on Creators Update, and you can search the chat list.

Architecture Split into:

Unison.Uwp (UI / Dependency Injection)

Unison.Core (ViewModels and Contracts)

Unison.Socket (session)

Unison.Baileys (Protocol / Crypto)

Unison.Background (out-of-process socket task)

MVVM, with Dependency Injection. The screens talk to façades, not to the raw client.

Localized in English, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Indonesian, Italian, Polish, German, Russian, and Ukrainian.

Current highlights

🎨 New icon. Isometric mark on the Start tile, the splash, and the boot screen. The live tile is that mark on a transparent background.
🎨 New Shell based on Windows Phone 8 Whatsapp called Whatsapp Legacy ( Go to settings to activate it)

🟦 Custom live tiles. A new message puts the contact and the preview on the tile, medium, wide, and large, plus the unread count. Pin a chat to Start from the info pane. Turn live tiles off in Settings if you want the tile quiet.

💬 Reply to a message. Text, photo, video, sticker, voice note, and document each get their own quote strip. Tap the conversation and the quote goes away.

👥 Groups send again, and @ picks a member or Everyone.

🟢 Status: list and viewer. Photos and videos open instead of a black frame stuck at zero.

📋 On the old WhatsApp look, long-press a bubble: Copy, Reply, and pin for 24 hours, 7 days, or 30 days. Tap outside and the bar closes.

📷 Camera inside the chat, a caption on a photo, and documents from the clip.

📱 Two looks: the Unison theme, and a Windows Phone 8 WhatsApp theme.

🔔 Toasts with the contact and the message. Acks and protocol noise stay out of the notification.

🖼️ Photos download when you open them: fullscreen, zoom, share, save.

🧭 Start, QR login, then Chats, Status, Settings, and Debug. Calls and Favorites open too. They are empty for now.

🔄 Re-pair from the Debug page. No reinstall.

✨ No more placeholder labels. The bubble says what the message actually is.

Known issues

⚠️ The private-chat reply fix still needs a real phone pass.

⚠️ Voice notes still need work on record and playback.

⚠️ Sending a video in a chat is not done yet. Opening a video you already received, and Status video, is.

⚠️ Calls and Favorites are just the empty page.

⚠️ If the app is killed, it does not quietly resume the socket in the background by itself.

Credits

u/MaskNinjaSquared

u/Mayconus

u/Negociation

Installation note: install the new APPX as an update. Uninstalling the app removes your linked WhatsApp session.

------------------------

(NEW UPDATE 21/10/2026 — 2.1.25)

Unison 2.1 — Communities, Live Tiles & Mobile Improvements

The next update builds on Unison 2.0 with more reliable sync, a new Communities Hub, profile and community pinning, GIF messages, Frugal Mode for low-memory devices, and multi-image messaging.

Also includes mobile fixes, updated shells, improved live tiles, and a major ViewModel refactor.

Credits

  • ZuneTracks — Multi-image messaging feature.

Note: The hotfix has been postponed to consolidate these improvements into the 2.1.x release.

Download

WinArchive: a Microsoft Store replacement with software update, and a web store.

Metrostore: another Microsoft Store replacement. Apps are installed by hand.

GDrive (Unison / WinArchive / Metrostore):

drive.google.com/drive/folders/1nI6Xez…zj7dTbyL1XqV4X4iOMUoHcC?…


r/windowsphone • • 3d ago

News Introducing MetroSurf 2: Modern Browsing with WebKit.

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328 Upvotes

Introducing MetroSurf 2: Modern Browsing with WebKit.

A breakthrough in web compatibility. This is MetroSurf 2. After a long period of secret development, the next generation of MetroSurf is here: a remarkably powerful and capable web browser for Windows Phone. From a special GPU pipeline to JavaScript through JIT and custom optimisations for the Windows Phone platform which include new certificates and networking, MetroSurf 2.0 pushes past what was thought possible and opens a whole new world for Windows Phone. This is made possible by porting the WebKit engine (that powers many modern browsers) to Windows Phone.

The Best of MetroSurf Engineering

MetroSurf initially started as an application that patched Internet Explorer 11's WebView. Finding workarounds for Windows Phone's limitations provided valuable knowledge. And all of that experience became the foundation of MetroSurf 2.0. Additionally, Windows Phone devices were built with tight limits on memory, a handful of CPU cores, and a range of mobile GPU architectures. Studying these constraints helped build optimisations that enabled the modern web to work on Windows Phone 8.1.

Use Google Services Logged In

You can now use your Google Account on MetroSurf 2.0 to access various services (both Google's and third-party). This is possible because MetroSurf now passes Google reCAPTCHA and Cloudflare Turnstile. MetroSurf finally has control over POST requests, fixing a well known limitation of 1.0-1.4. Some services like Google Drive are more prone to crashing because of unimplemented JavaScript APIs from WebKit to Windows Phone.

Remarkable Rendering and Compositing

Simply put: it's magical to open a website on MetroSurf 2.0 and let it render modern content directly on Windows Phone 8.1 or Windows 10 Mobile. Even blur effects work, as a special GPU pipeline was built to facilitate texturing and compositing. Scrolling is done separately from JavaScript to ensure a smoother experience even if the website is still loading content.

A Breakthrough in Web Compatibility

MetroSurf 2.0 uses a different networking system with new certificates, which enables WebSockets and many websites to work. Videos go through Windows Phone's native Media Object extension, enabling YouTube to play 720p/60fps videos even on low-end devices. A lot of work went into letting videos play on Windows Phone 8.1 via the WebKit engine!

A Note from MetroSurf Development

It is incredible how many websites now run on Windows Phone 8.1. While testing this, I had plenty of fun simply browsing the web. Just hopping from one website to another is a magical experience. The possibilities that MetroSurf 2.0 enables are extraordinary. Instagram, Reddit, YouTube, and Spotify actually render and you can use them. It may not be fast every time because of the slow hardware, but the optimisations done definitely improve the overall usability. You can also download files with MetroSurf 2.0. Devices with 512 MB RAM may have some more issues as the engine was not properly optimised for them.

Open Source and Download Links

Part of MetroSurf 2's code is open source. See the official MetroSurf GitHub.
Download MetroSurf 2 on the official MetroSurf Discord.

So, what websites are you going to browse now?


r/windowsphone • • 2d ago

Does edl tools work with lumia chipsets (from qualcomm )

6 Upvotes

With a similar post I made, wanted to see/restore old 520 phone. Yet that won't be possible to do with windows if the drivers are undetected to an extent (screen damage and potential fault from battery)

Then windows tools won't be an option for flashing firmware: to then apply/flash custom roms. Now i ask for what experienced tools or how to ensure i can flash fresh firmware.

https://github.com/bkerler/edl.git

https://github.com/bkerler/edl/issues/214

With these refferences, there are possible readback info to extracract and check the 'corrupt rom' issue i stated in my previous post.

https://www.reddit.com/r/LumiaLovers/comments/1x5uic5/a_very_longwinded_but_genuine_query_about/

Anyone have these files or comprehensive ways to use this tool to reflash stock rom b4 any custom rom procedures?

Previous post also asked if the linux commandline tool 'fwupdmgr' will be able to flash firmware of external devices via generic usb connections? Anyone familiar with or has found how to use either tools.


r/windowsphone • • 3d ago

Support Lumia 950 stuck in boot loop after failed Windows Phone Internals bootloader unlock (pipe error)

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17 Upvotes

Title: Lumia 950 stuck in boot loop after failed Windows Phone Internals bootloader unlock (pipe error)

Hi everyone,

I have a Lumia 950 purchased from AliExpress, and I'm having trouble recovering it after a failed attempt to unlock the bootloader using Windows Phone Internals (WPinternals).

Here is what happened:

  1. I connected my Lumia 950 to my PC and tried to unlock the bootloader using Windows Phone Internals.
  2. The process failed with a pipe error. The error displayed something like 4lx4lx4l (I'm not sure if I copied that correctly).
  3. After the failed attempt, I tried flashing the phone back to its original firmware using an FFU.
  4. The flash attempt failed, and the phone stopped booting normally.
  5. Now it gets stuck on the gears screen and repeatedly restarts, showing "Preparing automatic repair" before rebooting again.
  6. At one point, I also saw the lightning bolt and gear icon.

Device details:

  • Device: Microsoft Lumia 950
  • RM model: RM-1118
  • Purchased from: AliExpress
  • Tool used: Windows Phone Internals
  • Current issue: Stuck in a boot loop after a failed bootloader unlock and firmware recovery attempt.

I also tried a forced reset, but the gears do not appear to move. I'm worried that the firmware or boot configuration may be corrupted.

My questions:

  • Is the phone recoverable using the correct FFU and Thor2, or another recovery method?
  • Could this be a bootloader or partition issue caused by the failed WPinternals operation?
  • How can I determine whether the phone is still in flash mode and recognized by Windows?
  • Is there a safe way to recover it without making the situation worse?

I would appreciate any advice from people who have recovered a Lumia 950 from a similar situation. Thanks!


r/windowsphone • • 3d ago

quiero emular windows phone 8 emulator y ya tengo instalador hyper v,como puedo solucionarlo?

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6 Upvotes

r/windowsphone • • 3d ago

Question Is there a way to unlock a windows phone now?

4 Upvotes

the reason why I'm asking this is because I'm thinking of trying to daily drive it for a while and since my lumia 635 is locked to EE and my sim card is giffgaff how do I unlock it?


r/windowsphone • • 3d ago

Does edl tools work with lumia chipsets (from qualcomm )

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2 Upvotes

r/windowsphone • • 3d ago

Question Aiutatemi!

5 Upvotes

Buongiorno a tutti, ho un grosso problema con il mio Nokia Lumia 610 con Windows Phone 7.8 perché non é sbloccato e il tool per sbloccarlo ha chiuso i server tempo fa(perché poi vorrei installare delle app .xap)C’é qualcuno che può aiutarmi? Perché io colleziono vecchi telefoni e sarei molto grato a chi mi aiuta. Grazie a tutti.


r/windowsphone • • 4d ago

W upgrade? Lumia 830 to Lumia 1520

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137 Upvotes

r/windowsphone • • 5d ago

i brought a lumia 920 for 70 reais (13 dollars), it has the original box and the cell phone are conserved. but, the screen is broken, and a new screen costs 60 reais (11 dollars). should i can brought the new screen?

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74 Upvotes

sorry for my english, i dont speak english very well


r/windowsphone • • 4d ago

Question Where can I buy a battery for my Nokia Lumia 925?

3 Upvotes

I saw one on Ebay, excellent condition, and exactly the right one for my phone, BUT IT COSTS $100 FOR SHIPPING FROM AUSTRALIA LOL.

The battery itself? Around $18, but I feel weird paying an arm and a leg just for shipping.

Do you guys know any other alternatives? And please not Cellspare.

Thanks a lot!