Odin is a utility software program developed and used by

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

internally which is used to communicate with Samsung devices in Odin mode (also called download mode). It can be used to flash a custom recovery firmware image (as opposed to the stock recovery firmware image) to a Samsung Android device. Odin is also used for unbricking certain Android devices. Odin is the Samsung proprietary alternative to

Fastboot Fastboot is a protocol and a tool of the same name. It is included with the Android SDK package used primarily to modify the flash filesystem via a USB connection from a host computer. It requires that the device be started in Fastboot mode. If ...

. There is no account of Samsung ever having officially openly released Odin, though it is mentioned in the developer documents for Samsung Knox SDK and some documents even instruct users to use Odin. Some other docs on Knox SDK reference "engineering firmware", which presumably can be a part of the Knox SDK along with Odin. Publicly available binaries are believed to be the result of leaks. The tool is not intended for consumers, but for Samsung's own personnel and approved repair centers.

Usage

Although none of the publicly available downloads are authorized by Samsung itself, XDA-Developers consider the files offered on their Forum
Patched Odin 3.13.1
the safest option. For the usage of Odin, the phone needs to be in Odin mode. For this, some key combination need to be pressed, such as Power + Volume Down + Home.

Alternatives

Heimdall is a free/libre/open-source,

cross-platform In computing, cross-platform software (also called multi-platform software, platform-agnostic software, or platform-independent software) is computer software that is designed to work in several computing platforms. Some cross-platform software ...

replacement for Odin which is based on

libusb libusb is a library that provides applications with access for controlling data transfer to and from USB devices on Unix and non-Unix systems, without the need for kernel-mode drivers. Availability libusb is currently available for Linux, th ...

. The name

Heimdall In Norse mythology, Heimdall (from Old Norse Heimdallr) is a god who keeps watch for invaders and the onset of Ragnarök from his dwelling Himinbjörg, where the burning rainbow bridge Bifröst meets the sky. He is attested as possessing forekno ...

, like

Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, ...

, is an allusion to

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern per ...

; both Odin and Heimdall are among the deities of the

Norse pantheon In Germanic paganism, the indigenous religion of the ancient Germanic peoples who inhabited Germanic Europe, there were a number of different gods and goddesses. Germanic deities are attested from numerous sources, including works of literature ...

References

{{Firmware and booting Android (operating system) software Proprietary software Samsung software Windows software