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Can one conceal ROOT from a specific app?

P

peterh337

Android Enthusiast
I have a T705 (4.4.2) rooted with the usual Odin process, done about 3 years ago.

I have an app (not google pay; this is a specialised one) which detects root and shuts down.

Is there a utility which can conceal a root from a specified app? I don't want to unroot and re-root the device with the newer process; it appears to be described on XDA but the people on there are mostly either unhelpful or arrogant... it seems to be mainly a hackers' forum and "noob" questions get no useful replies.

Thank you all for any pointers.

To add: Magisk Manager needs android v5+, and Root Cloak doesn't appear to work, not with this app anyway.
 
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Hmmm not actually true; I gave two examples in my post.

FWIW the tablet is actually android 5.0, not 4.4.2. The rooting upgraded it :)
 
All an app needs to do to detect root, is try and write a file to a normally protected area of the filesystem. Just curious, but how could you prevent the app from doing this, and therefore detecting a rooted device?
Maybe others with more experience of rooted devices could chip in and explain how apps like the 'Root cloak' app you mentioned works?
 
peterh337 said:
I have a T705 (4.4.2) rooted with the usual Odin process, done about 3 years ago.

I have an app (not google pay; this is a specialised one) which detects root and shuts down.

Is there a utility which can conceal a root from a specified app? I don't want to unroot and re-root the device with the newer process; it appears to be described on XDA but the people on there are mostly either unhelpful or arrogant... it seems to be mainly a hackers' forum and "noob" questions get no useful replies.

Thank you all for any pointers.

To add: Magisk Manager needs android v5+, and Root Cloak doesn't appear to work, not with this app anyway.
Click to expand...

Does this particular app need to pass Google SafetyNet or something? Like say banking and financial apps? Which rooted and modified firmware usually breaks.
 
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The method seems to vary according to the app and the OS version. One summary is here
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1812255&page=2
and that app (which is the one I am talking about) appears to be looking for certain files which are left lying around after a root is done.

This probably explains why most people have problems nowadays
https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/135167/get-around-an-app-that-wont-work-on-rooted-device

Yes you could do it by accessing the root of the filesystem and seeing what comes back.

The root cloaking methods (looking at the large number of plug-ins available for the Xposed Framework, many of which are for online banking apps) are clearly variable and involve hooking up some android API to intercept the check which the app does.

I could spend way more time on this, by unrooting and re-rooting using the Xposed tool, and then I could use some of the modules they have like the generic Root Cloak...
 
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