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Help Rooting, OS downgrades, Knox, and backup software questions

J

jetspeedz

Newbie
Hi everyone, I'm purchasing an S6 next week and I have a few questions. I'm not a Android expert, so excuse my ignorance on some of these questions. I have been a Blackberry user for over 10 years and have a samsung tablet I sometimes use so I know enough to get by.

1. From what I have read there is a Samsung Knox which is a counter that will detect if the phone is rooted and it can possibly void the warranty. I have Att and I hate bloatware on my phones, so based on a previous post i made, it appears the only way to remove these apps is by rooting. Is there a way to flash a custom rom without tripping this counter or is it too soon to tell?

2. Lets say I keep the factory OS that came with the phone and I upgrade the OS, OTA when Samsung/ATT releases the next version of android in the future, is it possible to downgrade to the older version (or current lolipop) without tripping Knox and voiding any warranty or as soon as the phone is flashed with a new OS it is not under warranty anymore?

3. If i understand correctly Knox keeps track of how many times the phone has been flashed and if it has been rooted? If the phone is flashed with an older version of android released by Samsung/ATT is it still going to keep track of this or only when it is flashed with a custom rom?

4. Lastly what is the best backup software for backing up app data? I believe I had downloaded Keiss for my tablet but that is not compatible with S6 so Smart Switch and Helium I have read are the best options unless there are others you guys recommend.

Cheers
 
The best place to get answers about whether you can root the S6 without tripping the Knox e-fuse would be our S6 root forum: http://androidforums.com/forums/root-samsung-galaxy-s6.2918/.

If you buy a phone through a carrier then it depends what their policy is what would void the warranty. In general (I'm not a Samsung expert) I would assume that you can't downgrade without root, so would recommend turning off automatic installation of updates if you are concerned (i.e. decide for yourself whether to apply an update - I know some US carriers helpfully set the default to download and install updates automatically).

As for bloatware, clear data and disable the apps, and it's as if they were never installed. They are in the system partition, so removing them wouldn't give you any more space for your apps, which live in a different partition, and disabling will make them disappear from the app drawer too. It's only if the carrier has made some of them impossible to disable that it's an issue - you'd have to ask an owner about that, for which the S6 section is the best place.

As for backups, on an unrooted phone Helium is the one that comes to mind (I've only used it once myself, since I do root my phones and hence normally use Titanium, but it worked fine).
 
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Best to check what Samsung tools let you do - I've never owned a Samsung, but usually downgrading requires some jiggery-pokery. The device forum will be the best place.
 
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