Ben asks:
When someone says he/she wants to root their smartphone, what does that mean?
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21 Answers -
Susendeep Dutta
June 23, 2012It means that gaining full access to your Android’s file system and control it as a superuser.
Ravi Meena
June 23, 2012just like on windows you have administrator account and other accounts with less privileges. rooting a phone means gaining access to administrator account. after rooting you can do all stuff which requires administrator privileges, you can even install other version of operating system on your phone.
So I can run IOS?????????????
September 27, 2012No.Not in Android hardware.
October 25, 2012Sir from where can I get android operating system software?
November 10, 2012You can get to test Android ISO under the link below -
http://code.google.com/p/android-x86/downloads/list
November 19, 2012Vrancken René
June 23, 2012wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooting_(Android_OS)
Gerwell Taroma
June 23, 2012is it possible to root a non-android phone like those of nokia?
ryandigweed0
June 23, 2012Its just like jailbreaking an iphone. Gain more control of your phone. Can overclock it then, and even install the apps to the Memory card, rather than the internal memory.
shaurya boogie
June 23, 2012It is quite simple. Rooting means to weaken the security of your mobile to install a newer version of android or apps in, i think in usb debugging mode. galaxy nexus is actually made to be rooted. It is a legal process and you can do it to void your phone’s warranty. go to xda-developers.com . rooting is equivalent to jailbreaking in iOS and windows mango.
it does not weaken the security rather gives you the power , saying it weakens security is not wrong if you consider removing the bloatware which do not “secure the device”
June 24, 2012Mohta is correct. Rooting your phone most certainly does not, by any means of the definition, weaken it. In fact, with all the additional options to explore, one might say you are actually strengthening it! For me, rooting is the only way to go. I really dislike being limited to what I can do on my OWN phone. I used to hate it in Windows when I would try to access or delete something and I would get a pop up message saying “access denied” please contact your system administrator. HELLO, I am the administrator! When you root your phone, you gain superuser privileges. What part of “super” are you getting “weaken” from?
It is true that on most phones, rooting it voids the warranty because you can mess up certain system files that you would otherwise not have been able to. However, most phones can be restored back to default with NO traces of ever being rooted. Take that at&t!
You should note though, that installing certain apps on your rooted phone (such as Wifi Tether) most likely will violate your TOS thru your carrier. It is possible for this result in a “bricked” phone but highly unlikely. It is not that easy to brick an android. I have been doing it for years and never had any problems. You should, however, consider the benefits and risks before beginning, back everything up, and be sure you know how to restore to default settings before rooting your phone..
October 21, 2012Anytime you make it easier to gain access to elevated rights on a system, you’re weakening the security of your system.
October 24, 2012Stephen your an idiot. The only way this is weakening the security is twords you, the user. The phone will allow you to do more, over clock settings and such. if your worried about security don’t download apps with spyware and shit
December 5, 2012The reason these privileges are removed from you in the first place (by the phone’s OS) is for security. Phones remain one of the easiest things for someone to hack into and if they can hack into your account, they have whatever privileges you might. On an “unrooted” phone, this would be miniscule, only possibly giving them information contained in your phone. On a rooted phone, this can be used to cause irreparable damage.
“Security” doesn’t mean you’re ignoring things that are unlikely to happen, only an idiot would believe that
December 5, 2012Ben
June 23, 2012Thank you people.
Kannon Y
June 23, 2012There are a few things that I wanted to add – first, the majority of users who root their phones do so because Android by default oftentimes has poor battery performance and responsiveness. This is because the default, carrier designed version of Android that comes installed on most handsets is loaded with a class of software colloquially known as “bloatware” and spyware. These sorts of software cause slowdown, poor battery life and egregious lapses in data insecurity.
Rooting allows users to install custom ROMs and custom kernels – effectively, these modifications frequently improve battery endurance and system performance. Root access also permits WiFi tethering, Ad-Blocking and a lot more.
Believe it or not, many cell phone manufacturers and cellular service providers are hostile toward users rooting their devices. They frequently release updates that disable root access. Fortunately, most handset manufacturers are too lazy to release regular OS updates. On the downside, because they seek to discourage root access, rooting your phone will void its warranty (however, if you made a backup, you can always flash back).
Jason Reid
June 24, 2012Android is basically Linux…
Rooting your phone means giving yourself root, or superuser (A.K.A. admin) access, giving you access to system files and the ability to change things that normally are marked read only
Roooting allows you to change various aspects of the phone that are typically locked by the software or manufacturer. Additionally, you can install custom versions of the Android OS on a rooted phone.
Oluwaphemmy Popoola
June 27, 2012google it Bro, there is to much info for you to learn on search engines
I googled it and got this forum as the top result.
September 13, 2012Jerry Ireland
June 30, 2012The term “Rooting”is the same as jail breaking on IOS devices.Rooting a android is unlocking your phone to endless possibilities and making it your own.I have my IOS device jailbroken and I love it..The best way with easy instructions is do as I did when I had an android,follow makeuseof.come easy page and you will be ready to make your android your own,..here is the link http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/root-android-phone-superoneclick-2/
Rob Hindle
June 30, 2012Your question has been answered but can I add…
The main reason for rooting is to change the software. That might be just deleting some default items provided by the original supplier – for example mine came with mapping software I had to pay to use wheras google maps was better and free (apart from data costs depending on the contract). Initially I just wanted rid of the clutter. However you can make more radical changes like replacing Andrioid operating system with a newer version.
That may seem attractive and sometimes is beneficial, however there are some things to be aware of…
The “upgrade” process is a fairly technical task, instructions are not always clear and correct and there’s the possibility of “bricking” the phone (i.e. the upgrade goes wrong and there’s no way to recover it to old or new version – so the phone is now useless).
The replacement versions are produced by enthusiasts – they may be absolutely fine but there are risks, maybe its a bit buggy and could even include some malware.
If you’ve already got paid apps on the phone replacing the OS may mean you need to reload (and possibly even re-purchase) them.
The phone hardware may be inadequate to support the replacement OS in some respect.
Once upgraded configuring the phone to work with your chosen sim may be another technical challenge (I found it was fine for phone calls but had a bit of a battle persuading it to handle SMS text messaging).
So… if you do want to upgrade the software: check that it’s compatible with the phone (My phone model was manufactured with 2 different screen technologies and so there were 2 replacement Android variants specific to the screen technology so look very carefully at the detailed specification of phone and software), be wary of Beta versions, stick with versions that have been around long enough for other folk to have used them and found any problems, look around the various offerings with a skeptical eye with the aim of finding a trustworthy provider.
The risk may be more acceptable of a £100 phone than a £500 model.
I’d also be a lot more cautious if I was locked into a 2 or 3 year contract rather than a purchased PAYG or sim-free phone.
goodie
September 3, 2012a rooted phone. can you wipe it out without going through an authendication process eg supply username or password or root password so u can control when and who can flash your phone. say you install avast anti theft app and you want to keep it even if the phone is hard reset. or you want to keep the samsung account for your galaxy even after the phone is hard reset.
basically i am asking how you could secure a phone using the superuser or rooted phone in the event of it being lost or stolen. coz theives can just flash the phone or hard reset them and go on to use them. if the requirements of a samsung account log in was required to do the hard reset this was going to be good.
dr. android
September 3, 2012”Basically, rooting unleashes your phone’s true potential. You can access the full hardware capacity of your device, making it achieve greater processing speeds, faster memory accessing and a lot of other cool features. Actually, to be more exact, rooting gives you access to the root user of your device”
You can find a small intro for rooting and what it’s al about on my site:
http://android-doctor.com/what-is-rooting-and-should-i-do-it/
I was wondering if it is difficult to load the play store on a new Android tablet I am getting? It says it s comes rooted out of the box?
October 3, 2012Thanks in advance for any help.
No.You can make sure that you can get apps by checking whether it has play store app or not.
October 25, 2012Sam
October 9, 2012How to root a andriod phone Samsung Galaxy Ace
Sam
October 9, 2012How to Root Samsung Galaxy Ace
Visit the link below -
http://androidadvices.com/root-samsung-galaxy-ace-s5830-gingerbread-236-ddkq8-firmware/
October 25, 2012vanessa
November 1, 2012How do I root my Samsung galaxy 111
Visit the link below to know how to do it -
http://www.theandroidsoul.com/cyanogenmod-9-cm9-for-galaxy-s3-i9300-guide/
November 19, 2012janet
November 3, 2012my phone is way too slow
Uninstall unnecessary apps and try a good quality launcher.
November 19, 2012Myint Ko Ko
December 4, 2012How and why does root on nokia 500?
Eggsamazing(:
December 10, 2012How do you root an LG Venice? I just got it, and I never rooted a phone before, but apparently you need to root it before you can download different fonts, and different keyboards for it. So, would anyone give me a link, or easily explain how to do it please?thankss(;
Server
December 14, 2012Well. I heard from my friend that he has recently rooted his
Samsung Galaxy S 3 and he went through it fine. He did it
because he wanted to install Pure Google ICS and replace
the Touchwis system apps. He also said something about
“flashing a ROM” or something like that. I thought to myself,
because I have the same phone, could I do it too, and understood
the risk that if something goes wrong, my precious phone
would literally become a paper weight. But an another thought
arose to my head too;
Is rooting a phone legal? That’s because if it’s illegal, I wouldn’t
do that. I hope I can get an answer