You undoubtedly carry a smartphone in your pocket that is more powerful than the PC you did just a few years ago. With all that power, you can run dozens of applications, stream countless hours of video, and even take framed-quality images. But that’s just the beginning; if you’re prepared to root Android, your phone has a ton more potential that’s waiting to be discovered. This was a reasonably straightforward process on most smartphones throughout the first few years of Android’s existence. You could even root practically any Android phone or tablet with certain apps and tools, and in just a few minutes, you’d be able to fully control your device.
THE ADVANTAGES OF ROOTING
It’s similar to running Windows as an administrator to gain root access on Android. You have complete control over the system directory and can alter how the OS functions. Installing a management client, such as Magisk, is a necessary step in the rooting process. SuperSU was once the best choice, but it has since become outdated. These programs essentially act as your phone’s root access gatekeeper. You must use the root manager to approve an app when it asks root.
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In the case of Magisk, you can also use the client to make other changes to the phone via numerous community-developed modules. Let’s say you don’t like the system theme on your phone. With root, you can change that. You can also manually back up app data so you never lose it again. Want to change the way your device’s CPU characteristics? That’s also possible with root.
If you’ve ever looked at your phone and thought, “I wish I could do [some very specific thing],” rooting might make it happen. In the past, gaining root allowed you to add necessary features to Android — people rooted phones to get features like imposing low-power sleep for apps, managing permissions, and taking screenshots without a PC. Over time, these features have been brought into the standard Android feature set, making root less useful for casual phone enthusiasts. Most of the best use cases for rooting today are on the highly technical side. For example, you can replace the kernel on your phone to change the way the hardware operates at the lowest level, or you could forcefully block ads from appearing on your phone.
Modern tools like Magisk are also “systemless” root managers. That means the changes are stored in the boot partition rather than modifying the system. That makes it easier to go back to an unrooted system (or make apps think you’re unrooted) than it used to be.
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THE RISKS OF ROOTING
Although rooting your phone or tablet offers you full power over the operating system, you should only do it if you fully understand the hazards. With a restricted user profile, Android is made such that it is difficult to break things. However, a superuser has the power to seriously damage the system by installing the incorrect software or altering system files. When you have root, Android’s security model is also jeopardized. Some malware explicitly searches for root access, which gives it complete freedom to do badly.
For this reason, most Android phones are not designed to be rooted. There’s even an API called SafetyNet that apps can call on to make sure a device has not been tampered with or compromised by hackers. Banking apps, Google Pay, and others that handle sensitive data will do this check and refuse to run on rooted devices. Magisk supports hiding root, but that won’t always work. It’s a constant game of cat and mouse with Google. If losing access to high-security apps is a big deal, you might not want to mess around with root.
Root methods are sometimes messy and dangerous in their own right. You might brick your device simply trying to root it, and you’ve probably (technically) voided your warranty doing so. Rooting also makes it harder (or impossible) to install official updates, and ROMs like Lineage can be difficult to install and buggy once you do. If having root access is really important to you, you might be left waiting on flawed software while you beg for a new root method or a modded OS update.
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SHOULD YOU DO IT?
If you’ve used Android for a time, you’ve definitely noticed it’s become much more difficult to acquire root access on most devices. Years ago, there were exploits that could quickly root practically any Android smartphone, but that is far less prevalent today. Towelroot, which appeared in the middle of 2014, was the most recent essentially universal exploit, however Google rapidly fixed it. Because having active vulnerabilities in the system is a really negative thing for the majority of users, Google frequently patches these problems before we even realize they exist. These are gaps in security that malware can use to take control of a system and steal data. These vulnerabilities are fixed by monthly security updates, but on a rooted phone, security is your responsibility.
If you’re going to root, you have to accept that your device will require more frequent attention — the security safety net offered by Google and the device maker won’t be there to save you.
If you’re not familiar with Android’s tools and how to fix issues with a command line, you probably shouldn’t dive into rooting your phone. Root can be a lot of fun to play around with, but it can also lead to plenty of frustration as you try to fix errors caused by overzealous modding. If you bought your phone with the intention of tinkering, by all means, go nuts.
It is entirely up to you to remedy anything that does go wrong (and it will at some time). You can be left searching through old forum postings and pleading in chat groups for assistance to fix your phone. If you want to have a rooted lifestyle, you must be willing to deal with some difficult challenges. You should also consider what you’re getting; Android now is considerably better than it was in the past. Simply put, most users no longer have a compelling reason to root their phones.
