What is rooting?

[Cassipiller]

I've seen this around the internet a lot. And some apps I want to download or try to download require your phone to be "rooted". I've seen that your able to do almost anything with your phone. Is this true? Basically, can someone explain to me in detail what it is to root your phone while being rooted, and is it safe to do. And how do you root your phone, if I decided I would want to do this? I have a Samsung Fascinate if it makes a difference. Thank you to those of you who help to answer my question, in advanced!

 

[El Presidente]

Rooting is basically granting yourself super user access to the phone. With it, you can install custom ROMs (alternative software), overclock to increase performance, underclock to increase your battery life, backup your data etc. It generally gives you more control over what you can do to your phone. There's an article here: What is Rooting on Android? The Advantages and Disadvantages | Droid Lessons which details what it is and what you can do in a little more detail.

What apps were you trying to install exactly?

 

[Cassipiller]

One app that I can recall of was a Battery Icon Changer Mod, I didn't know my phone needed to be rooted for this app to work so I uninstalled it. Could I ever unroot my phone if a didn't like it being rooted?

 

[El Presidente]

Not sure about specifics for your phone, but generally you can unroot.

If you're unsure, I'd say leave as is, but if there are certain apps you 100% want and you need root for them, then by all means go for it.

The Fascinate has its own root forum if you want to take a look at how it's done: Fascinate - All Things Root - Android Forums

 

[Cassipiller]

So, basically rooting your phone would just give you more customizing options?

 

[El Presidente]

At a very basic level, yes. You can do so much more than that though, it just depends on your requirements.

 

[jerofld]

It's more like getting admin rights to your phone. Additional customability is an added benefit of having complete control. But you can also block ads, make backups of your favorite apps. Back up your entire phone. Restrict app access to certain permissions. You can also overclock or underclock your CPU (to get more performance or more battery life). And more.

 

[Cassipiller]

Wow! I've seen that you can totally change the whole set up of your phone, so I think you answered my question there! Now, to root your phone you download it from your computer and then plug your phone in and transfer the file and then let it download.. and that's it? Or is there more to it than that?

 

[El Presidente]

The process differs from handset to handset, it's best to check the forum I linked to above for the exact procedure.

Alternatively, I can move this thread there if you like? Up to you

 

[Cassipiller]

Yeah, I'll definitely go check that out! I didn't have a chance to yet lol. Thanks for all of your help though. I think I may try out rooting my phone.

 

[UssjTrunks]

So, basically rooting your phone would just give you more customizing options?

You can do a lot of customization on unrooted phones as well by using custom launchers. It doesn't give you the same level of customization as rooting your phone does, but you can still create some very cool setups.