Rooting is gaining privileged control over a Linux or Unix system. Rooting an Android device is the same. Learn why you should never root your Android device here.
Why you should or shouldn’t root your android? One of the main benefits of using an android phone is the customization you get with it.
Still, some people are looking for even more customization options and want to unlock features unavailable to other android users.
You can do that by rooting your device, but if you don’t take the necessary precautions, you might lose your device forever or get stuck with a major issue.
If you’re one of those people who are double-minded about rooting their phones, you have come to the right place because, in this article, we will be discussing the advantages and disadvantages of android rooting a phone so you can make a better decision.
What Is Rooting?
Rooting is a process that unlocks the operating system of your Phone. By doing this to your Phone, you can get “administrator” or “superuser” access to the operating system, which can be used to make changes in the operating system, even those changes that the manufacturers forbid you to make.
Why Do People Root Their Phones
In the early days of Android, mobile phone manufacturers were extremely slow in rolling out the latest updates.
Updating the Phone was sometimes necessary as it was the only way to fix many mobile phone software and security issues.
Due to this reason, people took the matter into their own hands and started rooting phones to have early access to the newly released updates.
Nowadays, even though manufacturers roll out updates within a month of release, people still root their phones to have complete control over their devices and extend their functionality beyond what the manufacturers have allowed.
Advantages of Rooting Your Android Phone
- Get the Latest OS Updates
- Infinite Customization
- Block Intrusive Ads
- Install All Mods and ‘Incompatible’ Apps You Want
- System Backups & Restoration
- Remove Pre-installed Apps for More Storage and Better Device Performance
- Automate Everything
- Improve Performance and Battery Life
1. Get the Latest OS Updates
As mentioned above, mobile phone manufacturers take a long while to send updates to phones. Most of the time, it takes over a month to get updates after the carrier releases them.
On the other hand, the developer community gets full access to updates months before the carrier releases the updates, along with a few bonus features.
You can also get early access to updates if you have a rooted phone. You just need to find the OS version you want and install it on your phone without the hassle.
2. Infinite Customization
Android phones already offer many customization options, but rooting your Phone would take your customization to another level. Here are a few things you can customize:
- You can download custom ROMs.
- Control your device with custom gestures.
- Add features like widgets to your notification bar.
- Change how certain features appear or work, like the notification bar or lock screen.
- Add sliding keyboards.
3. Block Intrusive Ads
There is not a single person who doesn’t agree that ads are annoying. They slow down our phones and are a threat to our privacy.
Certain apps can block these ads for you, but they ask for your personal information before blocking the ads, such as:
- Location
- Phone number
- Contacts list
By rooting your phone, you can acquire permission to block these ads so the next time your use your phone, you don’t get annoyed by an ad pop-up.
4. Install All Mods and ‘Incompatible’ Apps You Want
There are certain apps you can not install or use on your android smartphone due to some locks or limitations set up by carriers or manufacturers.
If you have root access on your phone, you can install such apps and get them to work without any problem.
For example, you can find many cracked versions of your favorite mobile games online that you cannot download due to restrictions set on Android. But if you have a rooted device, you can install and play them without an issue.
5. System Backups & Restoration
Once you have rooted your phone, you can backup and restore almost anything on the phone with the help of certain backup apps.
You can easily transfer your data to a new phone, and if you have accidentally messed up something on the phone, you can restore your phone to a point where you hadn’t messed up that thing.
6. Remove Pre-installed Apps for More Storage and Better Device Performance
Whenever you purchase a new android phone, it comes with certain pre-installed apps that cannot be removed because manufacturers don’t permit you to delete them. The problem with these apps is that:
- They rarely come in use for your Android Phone.
- They consume unnecessary space.
- They can also run in the background and consume your Phone’s RAM and Battery.
- Phone manufacturers mostly install this bloatware for passive revenue.
If you have root access on your phone, you can delete these apps and prevent them from running in the background and using your system resources.
7. Automate Everything
You can find several apps online that let you automate your mobile Phone. While it is not necessary to have a rooted phone to use these apps.
Some features require root access.
For example, to automatically switch between network types like (LTE/3G/2G) you need root access because of Android’s security restrictions.
8. Improve Performance and Battery Life
The new Android Phones are great in performance and battery life but rooting your phone lets you improve it further.
Once you have rooted your Phone, you can reduce or increase your phone’s CPU’s clock speed (if supported).
Besides this, you can also kill background apps that will free up some space in your RAM for better phone performance and save a big chunk of your battery.
Disadvantages of Rooting Your Android Phone
- No More Warranty
- It is Illegal
- Risk of Bricking Your Device
- The Process Is Complex
- Revealing Personal Information
- Security Risks
- Update Issues
- Performance Issues and Bugs
1. No More Warranty
If you have recently bought your Phone and it is under warranty, you might lose the warranty coverage upon rooting your Phone.
While there are some mobile companies like OnePlus, Xiaomi, Poco, and Google allow you to unlock your device bootloader with their official method without losing warranty coverage.
Still, big companies like Huawei and Realme don’t accept your warranty if your phone has been rooted. Therefore you should think twice before rooting your Phone.
2. It is Illegal
Rooting your Phone may be illegal depending on your country or region. In the US, the software of mobile devices comes under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
According to it, rooting is Illegal in the US, but there was an exception of 3 years which began on October 28, 2015, and has now ended.
In Europe, however, rooting is not illegal, plus you can also make warranty claims on your phone’s hardware because, according to the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), rooting a device and installing unofficial software does not affect your rights to a hardware warranty.
This warranty only applies to your Phone’s hardware. If the retailer or manufacturer can prove that the problem in the hardware was due to rooting or downloading unofficial software, then you will not be able to make your warranty claim.
3. Risk of Bricking Your Device
The term bricking is used when your device becomes unusable and is only as valuable as a brick because it can no longer be used as a phone.
This mainly happens due to software issues that occur due to rooting the Phone.
In this issue, your Phone usually doesn’t boot or gets stuck in a boot loop (an error in which the device restarts the booting process just before it finishes).
This can be a major concern, especially if your Phone is new, because all your investment can get wasted.
These problems are more common in phones that use Android 8.0. Though some guides online can help you unbricking your phone, there is only a slight chance that they might be successful.
4. The Process Is Complex
There is no universal method to root your device, and every phone company requires a different root method.
Companies that allow rooting phones have their official methods that must be followed precisely. The process mainly involves:
- Connecting your phone to a PC.
- Flashing some files.
- Entering commands in the terminal.
As mobile manufacturers are now aware of the problems associated with rooting, there are either completely halting this process or making it difficult for the users to prevent them from rooting their phones.
5. Revealing Personal Information
Rooting your Phone can open a loophole for hackers and malware, and they can easily access your login details for different apps.
Even the apps you use to transfer and receive money can be compromised.
Most of the time, apps that help you root your device are the ones that are not trustworthy.
The app transfers the malware to your device, which gives hackers behind it access to all your data on your Android device. Sometimes hackers can even tinker with the software on the device.
6. Security Risks
Rooting your Phone provides you with many features, but these features come at the cost of security, as rooting can expose your Phone to harmful apps and malware.
Rooting your device also breaks the Google SafetyNet, which is present in Play Services and allows developers to learn about the health of your device.
7. Update Issues
While rooted phones can install to the latest update version weeks before the release, they don’t get some of the official OTA Updates, which means they can no longer get security patches.
Therefore they can have problems keeping the Phone up to date and won’t receive some of the latest features.
8. Performance Issues and Bugs
No doubt, rooting your device does bring many features to enhance your phone’s performance through various mods and tweaks, but these features also bring some bugs.
Usually, mods are developed by independent developers. Due to this reason, it can take quite a while before these issues are fixed for your particular device.
Also, once you have rooted your phone, bugs and performance issues will become a part of your daily routine.
How to Know If Your Phone is Rooted
If you have bought a second-hand phone and you want to make sure that it’s not rooted, you can follow the steps below:
- Go to Settings.
- Scroll down and tap About Phone.
- Tap on Status.
- Check the Device Status.
If the device status says official, it means that the software has not been tampered with in any way and the device is not rooted.
However, if it says something else, it indicates that the device is rooted, and you should avoid buying it.
Conclusion
The rooting process for mobile phones isn’t as easy as it once was, as the manufacturers have made this method difficult for users.
Unless you’re a mobile expert, it will be pretty tricky for you to Root your Phone. As to root a phone, you need to be familiar with android tools and how to fix errors using a command line.
If you know all these things, you need to remember all the threats this process can bring to your Phone.
So the bottom line is that if you have a good reason to root your phone, you should go for it, but if you want to see what would happen if you root your phone, it is better to buy a separate device for it rather than using your phone for this experiment.