While the Android 8.0 Oreo dessert was still being baked in by most Android OEMs, Sony released the Xperia XA2 with the latest version of Android installed right out of the box. Just a couple of months after the official release of the device, the talented team at TeamWin has already developed the official TWRP recovery for the Xperia XA2. This makes it possible to finally root the mid-range Android device from Sony, and here’s how you do it.

Pre-requisites:

  1. Download official TWRP recovery for the Xperia XA2 (Download Link).
  2. Download SuperSU root package.
  3. Enable the USB Debugging.
  4. Install ADB and Fastboot driver.

Step 1: Unlock the bootloader

Similar to Android OEMs such as Motorola and Huawei, Sony also allows you to unlock the bootloader officially, as long as you come to terms with the fact that you lose your device warranty. You can check out the official video by Sony to learn how to unlock the bootloader of the Xperia XA2.

Step 2: Flash TWRP custom recovery

  1. In the ADB folder, press Left Shift + Right Click and select ‘Open command window here‘.
  2. Using the command prompt terminal, type in the command below to bring up your connected Xperia XA2 device. 
    fastboot devices
  3. Type in the command below and confirm that the process is working. (This temporarily installs and lets you use the TWRP without actually installing it, which we will do a bit later.) 
    fastboot flash twrp-3.2.1-1-pioneer.img

Now that you have the official TWRP custom recovery installed on your Sony Xperia XA2, go ahead and gain root access by flashing the SuperSU file.

Step 3: Install SuperSU root

  1. Rename the super SU file to something short and easy, like supersu-root.zip
  2. Transfer the SuperSU .ZIP file to your device.
    • Connect the device and then transfer as usual when it shows up on PC.
    • Or after connecting, you can use the ADB command as shown in step 6 above.
      adb push supersu-root.zip /
  3. Shut down the device and wait for the screen to turn off completely.
  4. Press and hold the Power + Volume Up button until the device vibrates, at which point you can let go of the Power button.
  5. Press the Install button and look for the SuperSU .ZIP file in the internal storage that you had earlier transferred to.
  6. Select it and Swipe to install to confirm and install the SuperSU app on your Xperia XA2.

For more help, check out this guide.

That’s it! Your Sony Xperia XA2 device should now be rooted with SuperSU and TWRP custom recovery up and running.