Simply put, rooting is giving yourself explicit root access to your phone. Rooting, for those of you who don’t know, means giving yourself root access on your phone. In short, with root access, you have the ability to control how things work on your phone.
Rooting a phone is the process of hacking an Android operating system. People do this because they want to enable functionalities on their phones that the manufacturer did not permit. Rooting a phone may enable them, but it will also break whatever warranties and guarantees the phone may have had.
Since rooting gives you full administrative access to your device, you can modify the system in any way you like, remove built-in apps, and change settings. The benefits of rooting include being able to have complete control over the look and feel of your Android phone. Smartphone users often root Android to get around restrictions imposed by hardware manufacturers or improve the specifications of their devices.
Why People Root Phones at All
Many people want to root Android smartphones so that they can install various third-party apps or overcome certain system restrictions usually set by hardware manufacturers and operators. Most mobile phone companies warn users not to root their device unless they have technical knowledge of how Android devices work and a certain level of programming skills.
Tech-savvy users have already developed rooting methods that vary by device. Each Android OS model can have a different rooting process, and some rooting methods are fixed very quickly (so they don’t work anymore). The rooting process varies greatly depending on the device, but usually involves exploiting one or more security bugs in the firmware (i.e. the version of the installed Android mobile operating system) on the device.
This is basically the third aspect of jailbreaking the Apple iOS operating system (which grants administrative privileges to users) that is most directly related to Android rooting. Because the Android mobile operating system is based on a modified version of the Linux kernel, rooting an Android device provides the same access to administrative (superuser) permissions as you would on Linux or any other Unix-like operating system such as FreeBSD or macOS. In the Android ecosystem, since the platform depends on Linux permissions and file system ownership, rooting means gaining “superuser” access.
What Rooting Enables Android Users to Do
Rooting enables (or permits) you to change or replace application and system settings, run specialized applications (“Applications”) that require administrator-level permissions, or perform other actions that normal Android Mobile system users cannot. Essentially, root provides administrative (or root in Linux and Android terms) access to the operating system and the ability to make global changes.
Rooting gives you the right to change the Android operating system code or install other software that the manufacturer usually doesn’t allow you to install. Rooting is the process of gaining root access to the Android operating system code (the equivalent term for jailbreaking an Apple device).
Android rooting is the process of gaining privileged control over a device’s Android subsystem. Rooting Android phones allows owners to add, edit or delete system files, which in turn allows them to perform various settings and use applications that require root access. Rooting a phone gives you administrator access to the phone, so you can make changes to the phone’s systems, not just applications. Rooting your phone or tablet gives you full control of the system, and if you’re not careful, you can abuse that power source.
Rooting a Phone Grants Special Permissions
With a rooted phone, you can run applications that require access to certain system settings, as well as custom flash ROMs on the phone that add various extra features. Root access is also required if you want to install common things like certain custom fonts, and rooting Android also unlocks new features in certain apps and launchers.
For example, an Android phone sold for development purposes might allow rooting to aid in the testing and debugging process. It’s also important to note that rooting is not the same as unlocking your phone.
Whether or not rooting works often depends on the phone itself. Even if done right, if your phone doesn’t have adequate Android antivirus protection, rooting leaves your device open to all sorts of malware. The higher the level of control, the higher the level of risk, and rooting your phone can open your device to more dangerous malware. Well, not literally, but if you cheat the rooting process, i.e. change the code, your phone’s software may be so damaged that your smartphone will be practically useless as a brick.
Hacking Is Sometimes Beneficial
After all, hacking into your smartphone’s core software may seem like a recipe for disaster. Having root access without the ability to control who or what can use it is dangerous to your phone software and personal data. If you’ve been using Android for a while, you’ve probably noticed that getting root access on most devices is a lot harder than it used to be. That’s why you need to install an app that forces you to allow root access whenever you or another app tries to invoke superuser permissions.
Not to be confused with jailbreaking (on iOS devices), it is a method of unlocking an Android device to grant the user privileged control or root access. In practice, jailbreaking is often used to install apps that are not from the App Store (Android users can do this without restrictions). While rooting Android basically gives you full control over Android, jailbreaking only removes some of the limitations that exist in the software.
Rooting phones, regardless of operating system, usually means finding some kind of bug that allows you to bypass internal protection and take full control of the operating system – become a “root” user with all privileges and all access. Another popular rooting method is to download an older version of Android OS with an old bug that makes it easier to root your phone. Rooting also allows you to update older phones to the latest versions of Android long after the manufacturer and carrier have forgotten about your device.