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So why did YOU root?

boyo1991

boyo1991

Android Enthusiast
I'm not asking for a general use of why I should root (I've already firmly decided against it.) But I'm very interested in the specific reason everyone else does.

I don't want to hear why I should or shouldn't. I already know the uses and drawbacks, but I want to see your personal reasons.

Since I am not rooted, I will explain why I am not and don't plan getting root permissions.

The only reason I would root is for the experience of learning it. Altho I've seen enough ways I am certain I got it. But I am not going to because of warranties, bricking (slight slight possibility but still there) most apps I need (even tethering for testing or other usually root required apps) are made available without root necessities. Also I will not root because it opens up a bigger possibility for malware.

Now to say one thing, even though I'm not rooted I do have my bootloader unlocked in case of extreme emergencies where I need to hard manufactures reset.

Also if you don't mind telling us which device your running and the method you chose and why?

Thanks!
Boyo
 
I pondered rooting for a couple years, broke down and unsuccessfully tried to for a couple weeks, gave up and factory reset. Now I don’t really care, this dopey phone does plenty already.
 
Droid RAZR MAXX

Rooted for two words - Titanium Backup. It's saved my bacon on at least two occasions.
 
I rooted so I could add certain irrelevant websites like Facebook and Twitter to the hosts file. Basically to stop websites and possibly apps trying to ping and access them.
 
I rooted several months ago because I wanted the phone to automatically change the keyboard to SwiftKey when in landscape orientation and automatically switch to Swype in portrait orientation. At the time, the only way I can get it to do that was to root the phone.

A few months ago, there was a way to have this feature on unrooted phones, so I unrooted mine. The unrooted way didn't work as well, but it worked well enough for my needs.
 
doniago said:
Droid RAZR MAXX

Rooted for two words - Titanium Backup. It's saved my bacon on at least two occasions.
Click to expand...

I'll be honest when I first pondered the idea, this is one thing that drew me to it. But, I've found other great utilities that I like even more, especially the recently found apk extractor.

I'm not one that cares too much about app data. So I lost my high score on temple run of 1.7 mil (I was proud but w/e lol) and scripts that I may have needed?!?! I back those up on my own in the sd card. What if the sd card goes down though?! I'm even more secured as I double keep certain files in drop box if absolute worse comes to worst lol
 
When I bought my first Android (HTC Desire) I knew I'd keep it longer than HTC would provide updates. Which meant that sooner or later I would be rooting it just to keep it updated. And knowing that it was going to happen sooner or later made it unfinished business until I did it...
 
See I like the idea of constant updates but, you wouldn't be getting official from google updates. It's from third party Rom developers. I don't like that idea lol just me but I want my systems to be a bit more official.
 
I think I first rooted my Desire HD just because I could. It was my first Android handset and I wanted to see what benefits root gave me.

I did it on my One X because I couldn't stand the wait for updates (over here, my carrier is probably the worst of all of them).

I did it on my Nexus 4 because it was mega easy.

I did it on my Z1 because it was easy, I wanted Titanium backup (I prefer it to Helium) and some of my tasker profiles need root & the secure settings plug in.
 
I did it to get rid of the bundled garbage and so I wouldn't be limited in what I could run. And I love to tinker with stuff.

Plus I paid full retail for my phone, and if I own it outright I'm going to do what I want with it.

(Not that if I got it subsidized it would've made a difference)
 
First time.... because there was this phone available mega cheap that could be unlocked, rooted, made to run pure android and be overclocked to run like a device at least twice its price.
Pretty soon the same thing will apply to my current phone i suppose.
Plus u can make it look so sexy if thats important :beer:
 
See my biggest reasons I was thinking about it was the bloatware and maybe overclocking it. But the biggest factors in deciding was first off overclocking too much (xD) bricking and the fact that anything I really wanted was made available for no root. Soo I had no real need lol
 
boyo1991 said:
See I like the idea of constant updates but, you wouldn't be getting official from google updates. It's from third party Rom developers. I don't like that idea lol just me but I want my systems to be a bit more official.
Click to expand...
I like the control. I have more options with custom ROMs, and I can customise them further myself if I want (when I used to run CyanogenMod I'd generally strip out about 1/3 of the ROM to get it down to what I wanted - CM7 had a lot of bloat IMO). Plus if you like a manufacturer's hardware but not their modified framework (Sense, Touchwiz etc) then your only option is a custom ROM.

(Yes, I know, why not buy a Nexus? For the last couple of models my answer was "inadequate storage". And Google Edition HTC One/Galaxy S4 are only sold in the States, so I'd have to hack a UK phone to install that setup anyway ;)).

Also, I feel more vulnerable with an unrooted phone, with so many fewer options to fix problems (including those that might sometimes be caused by official updates). But that's not why I first rooted, though it is a large part of why I rooted my current phone.

I think what I'd find intolerable would be buying a phone through a carrier, and receiving updates that are just adding more bloatware, introducing bugs or removing features that the carrier thinks I shouldn't have. If that's "official" then count me out :D
 
Well even with HTC sence I have my device looking like vanilla android with nova launcher.. now everything looks like stock android.

So its not really that big of a deal since there are lots of launchers..
 
Motorola A855 (Droid 1), Samsung SCH-I515 (VZW Gnex).

Rooted both ASAP. Used pretty much the 'manual' methods for both as I like to know what's going on at each step rather than rely on someone else's commands to be correct in their fancy little "easy" or "one click" scripts.

I do it for the additional control, and mainly for a custom recovery to create nandroid backups before I make any changes that my phone might not like. And of course custom ROMs. There does come a point where I stop using the latest Android version ROMs because that is part of the reason they stop getting pushed to the phone, they're not going to work well on my hardware anymore. Android 2.3.7 was iffy on my Droid 1. ICS was unusable on it. 4.2.2 is as far as I'm going on my Gnex.

IMHO, as far as 'bricking' a phone because it is rooted, anyone that actually does brick a rooted phone, shouldn't have rooted in the first place. Enough reading on what you're actually doing is sufficient. The usual reasons one 'bricks' their rooted phone is because they use a different phone makes or models kernel or ROM without making a nandroid backup first. Or delete things out of /system pell mell without knowing what they're doing and/or making a nandroid backup first. Etc.
 
There's more than just the launcher. I find Sense 5 fine, but was happy to lose all trace of the original Sense.

When I was considering the S4 earlier this year, that was strictly on the understanding that no trace of the Samsung interface would be left if I bought one ;)
 
First to get rid of Carrier's bloatware. Now to get rid of any damn social app I don't want, and to get the apps I want to run, not the default.

I do have a Nexus, and I simply don't want any of Google's stuff besides the OS.
I get Gmail through POP3. The phone is a PDA that makes calls and texts. I bought the phone for my use and convenience, I simply have different ideas of both from other people.
 
I just enjoy, even from the boot animation, having firmware made by guys i respect and chat to, running on this ex-high-end piece of hardware and imo doing it better.
I can offer them feature requests, give bug reports, things happen faster. Android 4.3 is running perfectly on a 4.1 phone and everything in the UI looks how i chose it to so its MY unique galaxy s3 :beer:
 
to ditch touchwiz's lag. to make Android how i want it to be, not how Google wants it to be. modifying things that require root such as disabling the status bar, built-in overclocking, the ability to actually CLOSE APPS, etc.

although i still need the APK for smart stay. i got S-voice going but cannot locate the apk for smart stay. i wish i had backed it up. it was a nice feature when reading e-books.

secondary reasons include the ability to use Android 4.2.2 over 4.1.
 
i don't eat those things anyway. but i got S-voice working. smart stay is no different. i bet it wouldn't work on non-Samsung hardware, aka, running S-voice on a Nexus 7 causes a force close
 
all of the above. :thumbup:

And....because it's possible :)


first learned of the word "root" when I had my Evo 4g...I was so intrigued by it and thought it would be fun to do something that allows me full control.

Never looked back. Will root whatever I have from now on :)
 
i first rooted to get past an issue with a Coby Kyros not having the Android Market (this was long before Google Play Store) and only haivng Appslib. Appslib support was killed off for my tablet out of box (your tablet is not compatible with Appslib) so i couldn't install a thing. during my search for a workaround i came across a root page that had the ability to sideload and root and add Market on there. at the time, it made the tablet a lot better, although it's stuck in Eclair 2.1 forever, which sucks. 96MB RAM and an 800MHz CPU. try using that one!
 
Hadron said:
There's more than just the launcher. I find Sense 5 fine, but was happy to lose all trace of the original Sense.

When I was considering the S4 earlier this year, that was strictly on the understanding that no trace of the Samsung interface would be left if I bought one ;)
Click to expand...

While there is still a "trace" of sence on my device, its very minute. The lick screen (which I CAN change but I don't care enough lol :p) and a few bloatware apps.

Yes I understand that bricking is a very minute possibility. But by not rooting its totally out of the question :p

I just think that both have their positives and negatives..

And its pretty interesting why many of you have decided to root. Pretty diverse! I wouldn't have even though about the visiting certain sites without being seen. Like Mike's reason. Of course that's because of our cultural differences, but its very interesting none the less!
 
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