Rooting is the Android equivalent of jailbreaking, allowing you to install unapproved apps, remove unwanted bloatware, update the operating system, replace the firmware, overclock (or underclock) the processor, customize everything, and so on.
Of course, for the average user, this sounds like a scary process, and it can be. After all, tinkering with the core software of your smartphone may appear to be a recipe for disaster. If you make a mistake, your phone may become bricked.
Advantages
The ability to have complete control over the device’s appearance, feel, and behavior is one of the benefits of rooting. All aspects of the operating system can be customized because a superuser has access to the device’s system files; the only real limitation is the level of coding expertise. The following are some of the most obvious benefits of rooted devices:
- The status bar, control menu, virtual on-screen navigation buttons, and more can all be changed visually, from the color and type of the battery status indicator to the boot animation that appears while the device is booting.
- Full kernel control, allowing for overclocking and underclocking of the CPU and GPU, for example.Full application control, including the ability to back up, restore, or batch-edit apps, as well as the ability to uninstall bloatware that comes pre-installed on some phones.
- Third-party applications are used to create custom automated system-level processes.
- Installation of software (such as Xposed, Magisk, SuperSU, BusyBox, and others) that allows for additional levels of control or management of root access on a rooted device.
- More Unix shell commands are available, both standalone and via Android Debug Bridge.
- Ability to get around vendor or Google restrictions, such as scoped storage, which hampered file system access and compatibility with well-known third-party mobile apps like file managers.
- Task management abilities that are more extensive
- Ability to manually stop misbehaving and/or unresponsive system tasks like the media scanner and camera server.
- Ability to downgrade applications without having to uninstall them and delete their user data. After an update broke compatibility and/or removed useful functionality, a downgrade may be necessary.
- Ability to control battery charging current, allowing the operating system to remove a technically unnecessary throttling imposed while the screen is on. On the other hand, if you want to extend the life of your battery, you might want to reduce the current. APIs may differ from one vendor to the next. On Samsung Galaxy devices, for example, this is accomplished by setting a value in the /sys/devices/platform/sec-battery/power supply/battery/siop level system file to 100, which represents the highest technically supported charging rate.
- The capacity of charging can be limited to reduce battery wear.
Risks
Assume that all of these benefits have persuaded you to root your Android device. However, you can do it at your own risk, jeopardizing your mobile security. This is why:
- You can make a brick out of your smartphone. Well, not literally, but if you mess up the rooting process, which involves making code modifications to your phone, your phone’s software can become so damaged that it becomes as useless as a brick.
- Your phone’s warranty expires. Let’s say you root your phone and then have a phone malfunction, either hardware or software-related. The warranty is no longer valid as a result of Android rooting, and the manufacturer will not cover the damages.