Root [Sprint] Unroot?

[timbre]

I see all kinds of methods to unroot my galaxy S4 (need to clean it up to return it on warranty). Simplest is just to use "Full Unroot" from superuser app.

Then some say I need to flash the factory rom with Odin,

and some say I need to use the "Triangle Away" app, then flash with Odin.

My phone is rooted, but I have never installed any custom ROMS. I really only root it to get wireless wifi. Will unrooting with the superuser app be sufficient, or do I need to get into all this other stuff?

 

[Darnell0216]

Just by rooting your phone you add to your Odin download counter, which some bored tech who is truly digging will notice right away. This is why triangle away is recommended before odin-installing the stock ROM. Unless it's been updated, triangle-away doesn't work with all S4 models yet.

And the reason for the full ROM download is because root permanently alters some files that even unrooting won't change back. Additionally, unrooting won't set the Device Status back to "Official" instead of "Custom" (Settings -> More... -> About device -> Status -> Device Status)

 

[jejb]

The newest Triangle Away does work with the S4. I've done some testing with it. It resets the phone to all official on the download screen. But I did freeze my "Knox" apps with TB before doing that. Not sure if that's a required step or not. But if you have a custom recovery (for sure either TWRP or OUDHS) and go into it after getting back to official, it will change the binaries back to custom.

So what I'd do if I wanted to go back to stock w/o having to Odin over a stock ROM would be first to install the stock recovery. Then run the latest Triangle Away and make sure it goes back to all official on the download screen. Then use the unroot option from SU.

EDIT: All my testing was done while rooted, MF9, stock ROM with a few tweaks (hotspot, home key wakeup disabled, etc).