Root [AT&T] New to andriod

[joshgs4]

Hello all. Im new to andriod and so far im likin it. Ive always been a iphone guy but got sick of the same old boring iphone shit. So ive went to a galaxy s4. I always jailbroke my phones so of course im wanting to root my s4 but I have NO CLUE what im doin on this platform or what I need to do or should do. I just know I wanna customize it for me. I would appreciate any help I can get. Yes ive looked thru the all things rooted thread but I havent got all this droid language down yet so I dont understand it. So if someone could "dumb" it down for me abit and help me would be great! Thanks again

 

[lotus49]

Rooting really isn't that hard and since it's done on a PC rather than the phone (although of course you have to connect the phone to the PC) it has very little to do with an understanding of Android.

I used this method http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2292615 and it was pretty simple. If you aren't sure what you are doing, be careful. It's unlikely that you will brick your phone but it is theoretically possible so make sure you read all the steps carefully and understand what is required before you actually do it.

Rooting is worthwhile though. A lot of apps won't work properly without root (eg Titanium Backup Pro and Tasker).

 

[joshgs4]

Thanks for the reply. Im just so use to how easy it is to JB a iphone so this rooting sounds a little more complicated. Is it like on iphones where after its rotted you have a app like cydia? Where u get all ur stuff?

 

[Roll-Tide]

Why root if you have no idea WHY you would need root access? I've rooted before, and I understand most of the terminology involved with it but I see no need in rooting the phone... For me anyway. With a 3rd party launcher, browser, and keyboard I've got everything customized how I want it.

 

[Podivin]

To a degree I agree with R-T, you might consider holding off on rooting until you find yourself with the need (that said, I tend to root my phones just days after I get them...).

To answer your question, most root apps come from the Play Store just like the other apps, they just specify 'root is required'.

Rooting the S4 isn't as easy as JBing an iPhone, but it's not really hard either. There is likely some terminology you need to get up to speed on (Google is your friend). And for this phone there are several steps that you MUST follow, but all of them are easy to do. You do want to make sure that you're in a quiet space with no interruptions while you do it, so that you can do each step in order as it's needed.
Also, before you begin the root process make sure your phone has a near-full charge. You won't actually need that much juice to root the phone, but if things go wrong and you find yourself struggling with a step in the process, that's where you'll appreciate having plenty of battery to work with.

 

[joshgs4]

I want to root it to get rid of all this BS bloatware on it and to use the phone the way I want it not how samsung thinks I need it. Ive been reading up on all the terminology so im gettin there.

 

[WalkaboutDavid]

I want to root it to get rid of all this BS bloatware on it and to use the phone the way I want it not how samsung thinks I need it. Ive been reading up on all the terminology so im gettin there.

To get rid of the "bs bloatware", Click on system settings, go to application manager, slide over to "all applications." Scroll down the list of applications, and click on anyone you don't want, and then click on disable. It will still take up some small bit of ram on your phone but will never run or be seen by you again.

 

[Atma]

Welcome to the forums Josh :hello:

Which Model/Carrier S4 do you have? I'll move this into the root forum for that phone and you can get more specific help.

 

[matther22xdroid]

To get rid of the "bs bloatware", Click on system settings, go to application manager, slide over to "all applications." Scroll down the list of applications, and click on anyone you don't want, and then click on disable. It will still take up some small bit of ram on your phone but will never run or be seen by you again.

This doesn't always turn out great. Disabling certain apps can and will most likely have negative effects on your phone.

Study up on rooting and its advantages and disadvantages. Learn the terminology and what it means. Then root your phone and eventually ROM (which rids your phone of bloatware and improves performance/battery life, plus certain roms add tons of features). If your computer savvy you will be able to easily follow the directions to Root the S4. I'm rooted and running clean ROM and it is bloatware free!

 

[joshgs4]

This doesn't always turn out great. Disabling certain apps can and will most likely have negative effects on your phone.

Study up on rooting and its advantages and disadvantages. Learn the terminology and what it means. Then root your phone and eventually ROM (which rids your phone of bloatware and improves performance/battery life, plus certain roms add tons of features). If your computer savvy you will be able to easily follow the directions to Root the S4. I'm rooted and running clean ROM and it is bloatware free!

Thank you. Yes disabling them can cause negitave effects. You have stated most all reasons I want to root my phone. I dont need anyone trying to talk me out of it.

Ive read up on "kernals" just gotta study up ROM.

also im on at&t

 

[lotus49]

You can root your phone without installing a new ROM. The kernel is the just core part of the operating system and that's the only bit you need to replace to root your phone.

A custom ROM is the whole operating system with the kernel and all the associated system binaries and applications. I'd stick with rooting first, which is lower risk. You can start to think about installing new ROMs when you are a bit more familiar with what you are doing.

Android users don't need something like Cydia or rooting to install apps from other sources though. We can just tick an option in the settings and we can install any app we can copy onto or download to the phone. It's much easier than with an iPhone in that respect.

 

[Roll-Tide]

You can root your phone without installing a new ROM. The kernel is the just core part of the operating system and that's the only bit you need to replace to root your phone.

A custom ROM is the whole operating system with the kernel and all the associated system binaries and applications. I'd stick with rooting first, which is lower risk. You can start to think about installing new ROMs when you are a bit more familiar with what you are doing.

Android users don't need something like Cydia or rooting to install apps from other sources though. We can just tick an option in the settings and we can install any app we can copy onto or download to the phone. It's much easier than with an iPhone in that respect.

Gaining root access has nothing to do with replacing the kernel

 

[WalkaboutDavid]

This doesn't always turn out great. Disabling certain apps can and will most likely have negative effects on your phone.

I've disabled every single app installed by Verizon and Samsung with the exception of stuff I'm using or stuff that the OS won't allow me to disable (like Samsung Hub). No ill effects at all.

In theory, disabling a program could have a negative impact. But, in that case, you'd just get a forced close and then you can go back into the menu and enable it. There is no risk whatsoever.

I also don't see how disabling a program in the app manager would have more risk than rooting and then deleting the program from ROM.

Study up on rooting and its advantages and disadvantages. Learn the terminology and what it means. Then root your phone and eventually ROM (which rids your phone of bloatware and improves performance/battery life, plus certain roms add tons of features). If your computer savvy you will be able to easily follow the directions to Root the S4. I'm rooted and running clean ROM and it is bloatware free!

Rooting has all sorts of advantages and actually deleting bloatware, not just disabling, it a great thing. I still don't see anything wrong with just relying on the application manager for most users though.

 

[joshgs4]

In titanium back up it keeps tellin me to go to setting and tick unknown sources? I cant find anything so what does that mean?

 

[Atma]

In titanium back up it keeps tellin me to go to setting and tick unknown sources? I cant find anything so what does that mean?

Hi josh. I moved this to the AT&T all things root forum for you. Go to settings, more, security and you will find the unknown sources check box. You have titanium installed so does that mean you are rooted? If you haven't done so already, I suggest doing a backup in recovery before doing anything else. If something goes wrong, you can restore your backup.

 

[joshgs4]

Thank you it keep sayin got to app manager and I knew I couldnt find it there lol. Yes I am now rooted, I clicked on back up but under all the apps it says no back up yet? Why? Thanks for all this help!

 

[Atma]

Thank you it keep sayin got to app manager and I knew I couldnt find it there lol. Yes I am now rooted, I clicked on back up but under all the apps it says no back up yet? Why? Thanks for all this help!

Do you have the free version or paid version of Titanium? I have the paid version and can't remember if the free version has batch backup. If not, I think you will have to select each app and back it up. Look in the upper right corner. Is there a check mark on a white box? If so, tap that and then you can do a batch backup of all your apps at once. If you don't have that, I highly recommend getting the paid version if you can afford it. Its well worth the money.

You might check out our Titanium Backup Tutorial and also check out our FAQs. There are some good ones in there for rooting.

Also, when I was mentioning backing up, I was talking more about a nandroid backup in recovery. When you rooted did you install TWRP or ClockworkMod recovery?

*EDIT* btw .. when you backup apps with Titanium, don't backup system apps. Just backup apps you have downloaded. If you restore system apps it can cause a lot of problems.

 

[joshgs4]

Thanks. I dont recall anything about TWRP or clockworkmod? How can I tell? I rooted using motochopper.

 

[Atma]

Thanks. I dont recall anything about TWRP or clockworkmod? How can I tell? I rooted using motochopper.

Ok, you probably still have the stock recovery. If you want to flash roms or do a nandroid backup (backup your whole system), you'll need a custom recovery. Check this thread, in the OP there is a link for a video How to install TWRP recovery.

 

[joshgs4]

Will check it out thanks. Also maybe u can help me with this.... I bought the 3.5 mm to rca cable but all I get is sound on my tv no picture? Ive tried swaping the cable around but no success? Is the somethin im missing that I havent turned on?

 

[Atma]

Will check it out thanks. Also maybe u can help me with this.... I bought the 3.5 mm to rca cable but all I get is sound on my tv no picture? Ive tried swaping the cable around but no success? Is the somethin im missing that I havent turned on?

I'm sorry, I'm not sure about that. I think I have seen that discussion in the S4 general forum. Seems like they just had to reboot but I'm not sure. Try a search in the general forum.

 

[burritosaurus]

Has anyone successfully rooted a galaxy s4 with a Mac here?

 

[joshgs4]

Has anyone successfully rooted a galaxy s4 with a Mac here?

The method I used for rooting mine had the file to root with mac. So surely it works

 

[boyo1991]

The thing about android is that if you want to root it for complete customization, don't root it. I don't root mu devices. Because outside of backup and overclocking there's not much for the cost benefit. I just never felt like it was worth my time to do. Maybe its only slightly dangerous to root, but the time it takes to find out its really just your phone on USB debugging and an application on your pc. If your looking for customization, there's plenty of launchers, and widgets themes and more to customize it to no end.

That being said it can get you pretty well acquainted with how android works, and can be a fun process of research. I have no use for it and just enjoy research so I've looked it up, and just looked up both the source code for android, and its architecture. If you want a fun hands on way to learn about it, go for it, but most average users don't need a root.

If you have any questions I'd be glad to answer to the best of my ability, I am by no means an expert, technically I haven't even rooted a singular device. But I hope that I can help influence your decision. There are great reasons for and against rooting. Depending on your perception of the cost benefit.

Good luck with your venture, I hope you find what your waiting for!

 

[Roll-Tide]

Will check it out thanks. Also maybe u can help me with this.... I bought the 3.5 mm to rca cable but all I get is sound on my tv no picture? Ive tried swaping the cable around but no success? Is the somethin im missing that I havent turned on?

The 3.5mm headphone jack is just that, a headphone jack... Audio only, no video. For video mirroring, you have to purchase an mhl to hdmi adapter plug like this one http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005LGUDKK/ref=cm_sw_r_an_am_ap_am_us?ie=UTF8

Plug one end into your phone, am hdmi cable (not included) from the adapter to the TV... And a power cord to the wall to power it I think. It's been a while since I've used mine but it worked flawlessly on my s3 and Note 2