Recovery

Because Leaf runs on top of the stock OS rather than replacing it, recovery is low-stakes, and in most cases automatic. The stock firmware is always still there underneath.

Automatic fallback (you usually don’t have to do anything)

Leaf has a built-in crash-safety guard. If the launcher fails to start cleanly several times in a row, Leaf automatically falls back to the stock interface instead of leaving you stuck on a black screen or a boot loop.

When this happens:

• The device boots into the stock home screen.
• Leaf is only paused, not removed; your games, saves, and settings are untouched.
• Once the underlying issue is resolved (often just a reboot), Leaf resumes on the next normal boot.

Your data lives at the card’s root (Roms/, Saves/, States/, and the .userdata/ and .umrk/ folders), separate from the firmware, so neither the fallback nor a recovery card touches it.

So if you ever land on the stock interface unexpectedly, the first thing to try is a reboot.

Restore to clean stock (recovery card)

If you want to return the device to a clean, stock state (for troubleshooting, to hand it on, or to start fresh), use the recovery card:

1. Download the Leaf recovery ZIP from the latest release: leaf-mlp1-recovery-<release_id>.zip.
2. Extract it to the root of an SD card (same as a fresh install, not into a subfolder).
3. Boot the device with that card inserted and let the stock update screen run the recovery.
4. Power off when it finishes, then boot normally.

The device is now back on stock firmware.

Removing Leaf

The recovery card above is also how you fully remove Leaf and go back to stock for good. Nothing about Leaf is permanent: it’s an additive layer on top of the device’s original OS.