If you want to get the most out of your Android smartphone, you can't avoid rooting it. However, the process also has disadvantages.
These are the advantages of rooting Android
Rooting gives you the highest possible level of access to your Android device that is otherwise locked. You can apply these rights yourself or grant them to apps that need them. This opens up a number of possibilities, including:
- Personalize Android: Rooting allows you to customize the design of your smartphone to the utmost.
- Custom Roms: If you don't like the installed Android, you can install your own custom ROM on your smartphone. Ideally, this will breathe new life into an old device.
- Remove pre-installed apps: In some cases, the manufacturer prevents you from deleting installed apps. With root rights, you can get rid of these useless applications.
- Better backups: Thanks to root, you can create complete system backups. App data and settings can also be easily backed up and restored.
- Effective ad blockers: Ad blockers like AdAway remove unwanted advertising from most apps and websites. Although there are ad blockers that do not require root, these have to be set up as a local VPN and do not work with real VPN services.
- Safety-related benefits: You can see in real time which apps are using which permissions, when and why. If necessary, you can also more easily revoke certain permissions from an app.
- Better performance: By removing bloatware and accessing hardware settings, you can increase the performance of your smartphone thanks to root. For example, you can adjust the CPU speed
These are the disadvantages of rooting
However, the advantages of a rooted smartphone do not come without side effects. Rooting itself is not always easy and if something goes wrong, the smartphone is unusable in the worst case scenario. And there are other disadvantages.
- Guarantee waiver: Almost all manufacturers point out in their terms and conditions that the warranty on the smartphone expires after a rooting process.
- Security risks: Integrated security systems are often deactivated during the rooting process and cannot be activated afterwards. You should also not give apps full access to your system without thinking.
- Some apps no longer work: Rooting changes the system's SafetyNet license, which means that some apps no longer work properly. This particularly affects banking apps or Google Pay. If you root with Magisk, you can hide the root status (MagiskHide).
- System updates made difficult: After rooting, automatic system updates are usually no longer possible. If you want to update your rooted smartphone, you have to flash updates manually.
- With custom ROMs, this restriction often does not apply because they have either been specially adapted or do not receive OTA updates anyway.
This is what you need to root Android
To root, you usually have to connect your smartphone to your computer via a cable. Depending on the manufacturer, you will need your own software or root the device via the command prompt.
- Usually they simply flash a suitable Root kit via a custom recovery.
- A practical alternative is Magisk. Magical offers the above mentioned advantage of attempting to hide root access from certain apps.
- If you do not feel confident using the methods mentioned above, you can in some cases also use “One-Click-Root”-Apps like KingRoot or TowelRoot, which you simply have to install to root your smartphone. However, this only works on a few devices and often does not provide the same range of functions as other root methods.
- The SuperSU package was relatively well-known and versatile for a long time. However, it is no longer being developed further and is therefore no longer suitable for newer devices.
- In general, the process of rooting Android devices is often different. It is therefore important to look for up-to-date instructions and the appropriate files specifically for your device. A good place to start is the XDA Developers online forums.
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