Rooting Android Phone Benefits/Risks?

[Gwynplaine]

I went and rooted my phone and I just wanted to ask if there's any special precautions I should take because I've heard it's more prone to problems or even viruses? Is there like the internet app equivalent of Adblock or NoScript you can use for your phone to protect it? Any other thoughts welcome.

[Haxx]

What are the benefits to rooting? I've got a galaxy s 2 myself

[Niya]

Rooting does disable some security measures, but as long as you still use brain.exe (or for Android it would rather be brain.apk ) and don't blindly install shady apps that want way too many rights, you should be fine. There are AV programs for Android, but they drain more battery than serve any real purpose...

A rooted phone allows you to remove stock apps, install root apps that for example can backup the WHOLE system and not just parts of the userspace, and in general you get way more control over the system. I think there's even apps like super user (dunno the exact name) that let you restrict the rights of other apps. That way you can for example remove internet access from and app that just needs it for ads.

tl;dr rooting lets you tinker around with the system, so unless you know what you're doing, don't.

[Emirii]

Newer androids like the Galaxy S3 and such have counters that keep track how many times you flash/root your phone which will effectively kill any manufacturers warranty/carrier warranty so you won't be able to exchange it if it breaks. Also, there is always the chance something will brick your phone. These two things are both mostly reversible, I've once bricked my Samsung Epic 4G but I was able to bring it back to life with Odin (manufacturer reboot thing) after hours and hours of "OMG I BROKE MY NEW PHONE!!". Also the counter thing is supposedly reset able but my current phone doesnt have this so I don't worry about it. The XDA forums are a good place to start if you are curious about phone issues specific to yours.

http://www.xda-developers.com/


Other than that, don't go around installing apps that you don't know.

[Stromgarde]

I'm running Jellybean on my GS2 and it's fantastic. No real reason not to root unless you enjoy your bloatware or are paranoid. Risks of bricking are generally greatly exaggerated and as long as you can follow instructions that are on XDA you'll be fine.

[Gwynplaine]

Frankly I mainly wanted to do it so I can hide apps and pics etc. because I'm a gay ass slut. No problems thus far.

[knownsense]

Hi Frenz

Just a little doubt.

I am new to rooting, in fact new to Android itself such that I don't even own a Android yet. However, just deciding between SGS 2, HTC Desire X and SG Advance.

The doubt is that can v install a latest Android Version onto an old Android device running cupcake (assuming the hardware permits)?

Thanks

[Tajin]

Search for your device on android-central or xdadevelopers, and you'll find your answer.

At best you'll probably be able to install Gingerbread or Froyo

[knownsense]

Thanks Tajin,

[Builttolast]

It's no different to installing apps on a PC. Don't install Apps/APKs from untrusted sources. Trusted sources include Google Play Store (but read reviews first), XDA developer forum from known and trusted posters and getjar if you are careful with what you install. Otherwise rooting can be as safe as unrooted.

Rooting is required for custom roms and all custom roms come pre rooted. It's not rooting that will damage your phone it's custom roms that are of the highest risk. Remember phone memory has limited nand writes just like flash drives so serial rom installers often brick their phones this way. It takes hundreds of times though so that's a non issue for most. The other issue is corrupting system partitions but most of the time they are recoverable.

So the rule of thumb is, rooting is pretty much safe and only install custom roms if you need to (such as a clean rom or additional features). Rooting lets you uninstall unwanted carrier apps which is the best part. I removed a number of HTC apps on my one x because they were rubbish and I prefer the ICS version.

[Don Katsu]

There is a way to reset the counter and bootloader unlocking on almost every device. Your carrier will likely not notice.

The biggest benefit to rooting is wifi tethering and device performance.

[Niya]

wifi tethering and device performance.

Um... Unless it's a carrier-branded/changed ROM that blocks it, any Android-version from (i think) 2.2 onwards supports tethering. And performance shouldn't vary either just by rooting, unless you have tons of carrier-bloatware that slows down the system.

[Stromgarde]

Um... Unless it's a carrier-branded/changed ROM that blocks it, any Android-version from (i think) 2.2 onwards supports tethering. And performance shouldn't vary either just by rooting, unless you have tons of carrier-bloatware that slows down the system.

This is literally every smartphone I have ever owned. Recently it's been less of a problem due to improving hardware, but I still dislike it on principle.

[Bardicrune]

Um... Unless it's a carrier-branded/changed ROM that blocks it, any Android-version from (i think) 2.2 onwards supports tethering. And performance shouldn't vary either just by rooting, unless you have tons of carrier-bloatware that slows down the system.

Not entirely true on the performance side. After rooting, you can install custom kernels most of the time that can overclock the phone (at the expense of battery life and possibly OS stability).

[Prothescar]

Thinking about rooting my xperia PLAY since Sony's basically fucked everyone who got this phone over and have left an antiquated OS on it. Did anyone actually buy it for the Playstation Store bit that they say would become unstable with a better version OS? I think not. I got mine for awesome emulator controls, helps that it was basically free from AT&T for a while too.

[Don Katsu]

Um... Unless it's a carrier-branded/changed ROM that blocks it, any Android-version from (i think) 2.2 onwards supports tethering. And performance shouldn't vary either just by rooting, unless you have tons of carrier-bloatware that slows down the system.

I should have been specific

REMOVE Bloatware
Custom Kernels
Free Tethering (Wifi Tether.apk)
Custom Operating systems i.e installing JellyBean on a phone that only has Offical Gingerbread/ICS

[Kalima]

Want to also add full backup options (nandroid, titanium backup) when you're rooted. To me this is probably the most essential reason.

That plus having custom kernels, and free wifi hotspotting are the reasons why I support rooting.