• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Root or not root ?

C

cowboy1611

Lurker
Just found out about root.

What are some of the issues and or benefits of rooting...

Best method of doing it.

Can you un-root ?
 
This is a big question! Very briefly, off the top of my head, and doubtless leaving a lot of stuff out:

Pro: root gives you control. You can change things that you'd not otherwise be able to change, install better firewalls than are available otherwise, modify parts of the ROM/system (or install a new ROM, though technically that only requires a custom recovery and not root), do better backups of apps and their data, etc.

Con: you can mess things up that you'd otherwise not be able to. The phone is more vulnerable (malware may be able to exploit the same freedoms and flexibilities you've gained), so you need to be more aware and careful. Some apps will attempt to spot rooted (or otherwise modified) phones and refuse to run: this can include media apps and payment/banking apps - there are workarounds for many of these, but it's something to be aware of (and check if one of these things is important to you). Warranties will probably be refused if they detect that you've modified the phone, even if that's nothing to do with the problem. Custom ROMs vary in quality (though if you have a reasonable choice then it's likely to include some good ones).

Method: depends on the device - there is no universal root method. In outline the best method is to unlock the bootloader, install a custom recovery, and use that to install the patches to root the ROM (or install a pre-rooted ROM) - but only after using the recovery to back up your original, unmodified ROM first. But not all devices can be unlocked, not all have custom recoveries or ROMs for them - system software is always device-specific, and trying to use a recovery or ROM intended for a different model is likely to render the device unbootable. If you are interested in root do your research before buying the phone, to make sure you get one that is root-friendly.

Unrooting: the only really reliable way is to reflash the phone with stock firmware. Whether that is available and how to do it also depends on the device. Research this before you try to root the phone.

Note that in many cases it is not possible to hide the fact that the device software has been modified, even if you unroot completely as described above. Some will show the bootloader as "relocked" rather than "locked" after you lock it, and you may not be able to change that. Samsung's "knox" system will set a permanent flag if you do anything that "trips" it (and rooting will trip it - though North American Samsungs are often not rootable in the first place). So it's best to be comfortable with your warranty being potentially void before you start.

Bottom line: do your homework first. Don't root just because it sounds cool, ask what it is you want to achieve first, and have a plan for recovering if something goes wrong. Don't follow recipes blindly without knowing what you are doing (increased risk of mistake and little hope of fixing).

Note: I'm not fully up-to-date with this stuff any more. I used to root my phones within a few weeks of getting them, but for various reasons have been using unrooted devices for the last few years (though I have a secondary device that is rooted, but quite old). To be honest, as phones have become more capable many of the reasons people used to root no longer apply, and so fewer people do it than used to. There are still reasons for doing it, but it's your choice whether it's worth it.
 
here read this:
https://androidforums.com/threads/general-rooting-discussion-please-read-before-posting.898388/
the info there is a bit old, but it still applies. there are links to more root info as well. i would read those as well.

also keep in mind that not all devices can be rooted. and some devices are harder to root than others.

rooting in this day and age is not as needed as it once was. back in the day people rooted to get rid of bloatware and to have more room on their device. some people rooted to increase performance as well. but all of those issues have been addressed with most flagship phones. i have no reason to root my note 10+ 5G as it does everything that i want it to do. but for some, they have a low to mid tier phone where performance and storage are an issue.

but that is not all the reasons to root. i think it is fun to try out new custom roms. every time you flash a custom, it is like getting a new phone. also when you are rooted you can get rid of bloatware yourself. plus some developers have developed custom kernels which can increase speed and make your battery life better.

but there are risks to rooting. if you do not know what you are doing, you can brick your phone.....meaning if you mess up, your phone is forever broken. most of the time when you brick your phone, it is dead for good......so you need to read a lot, before attempting to root. some root exploits will trip security and may prevent certain apps from running. for example on Samsung phones, rooting will trip Knox and it will let anybody trying to repair the phone that the phone is rooted and they will probably not fix it. rooting does void your warranty. and most banking apps will not run on rooted phones.

and lastly not all phones are rootable or have any support from developers. over at https://www.xda-developers.com/ is where you want to go to find out rooting your specific device. this is a forum where developers hangout and publish their goodies. if you do not find a forum for your specific device, then that means that there is no support from developers. no developers means no root methods, no custom roms, and no fun.

the key to rooting really is to do your research and read as much as you can before attempting to do anything.

i hope this helps.
 
Thanks, phone is Galaxy A21

The main reason for the root question is, I'm attempting to use some tools to recover deleted text msg,
and some require the phone to be rooted....
 
I'm actually surprised if any such tools can work without root.

A couple of things to consider though:

1) if you continue to use the phone you increase the chance that the data you wish to recover are overwritten. No matter how good the tool, it may already be too late for the message you are after - there's no way of knowing.

2) If the root method for this device, assuming such a method exists, involves doing a factory reset (either explicitly or because unlocking the bootloader resets the device - which is often the case) then you cannot use that if you wish to recover the data. The problem is that the device's storage is encrypted, and resetting will erase the encryption key, and once you do that no file recovery app is going to help you.

For what it's worth, I've had a quick peek at the XDA-developers forum (a common place to find root information) and they don't seem to have a forum for the Galaxy A21, just the A21s (which is a different device, based on a different hardware platform, so tools like recoveries for the A21s would very definitely not work on the A21). This isn't a terribly hopeful sign, to be honest. And if you are in the US (which seems to be the main market for the A21) I'm afraid US Samsungs are usually locked-down pretty hard, so there's a good chance there is no root for this device (though that's just a probabilistic statement, I don't know for sure).
 
cowboy1611 said:
Thanks, phone is Galaxy A21

The main reason for the root question is, I'm attempting to use some tools to recover deleted text msg,
and some require the phone to be rooted....
Click to expand...
and just to be sure what is your model number for the phone......like @Hadron suggested xda does not seem to have a forum for the A21.
 
Thanks,
I'll hold off on root, for now.
What brought it up for me was that I was trying to retrieve a deleted text conversation, and
most of the apps, need root to work....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom