Rooting Question

[Steven58]

So, the last phone I was able to root and rom was the Galaxy Nexus that many folks from here bought for me, because of the Gnex thread.

I loved the fun of trying lousy ROMs which messed up all my data, only to be able to wipe and restore a completely stable one. Such fun. Such power.

So, here's my question. Is rooting and Rom'ing pretty much dead nowadays due to security software, banking apps and financial on the androids? It's been awhile since I did so myself.

 

[ocnbrze]

no its not dead and depending on the phone there are some workarounds. i myself have not rooted since the days of the OG HTC EVO 3G. with the new phones coming out i do not see a reason to root my phones. back then it was almost necessary. you could increase your storage capacity, flash kernels that boosted performance and saved battery life. AOSP roms were my favorite......what was once Cyanogen roms are now Lineage OS......ahhhhh those were the days!!!!!!!

xda is still going strong. you can peak your head there to see what the devs are doing.

 

[Brian706]

Currently on a Pixel 5 and it's the first phone I haven't rooted. Android 12 has me considering going for it.

 

[The_Chief]

I haven't rooted & ROMmed a phone since the Galaxy Note 4. Virtually every reason I did was to get features that weren't stock. Now they're stock.

Do I get nandroid backups? No, but my data is saved in Google backup, Samsung Cloud and OneDrive. Rooting would prevent, as you said, financial apps from working (I buy cryptocurrency, deposit checks and transfer funds by phone).

For me, Steven, rooting is pretty much dead. HOWEVER:

I AM reviving Ginny my Galaxy Nexus - so I may end up slapping a custom ROM on it for a very specific use. Since Samsung abandoned the Gear 360 VR camera (which is awesome), it's not supported by newer Android devices. Older devices running Android 8 or less SHOULD be able to connect and use it. So I'm hopeful that Ginny will serve as a dedicated controller.

 

[Hadron]

I used to do this very seriously between 2010 and 2016. I didn't root my Pixel 2, in part because ROM development was much weaker than my previous HTC devices (I think a reflection of the general decrease in ROM development more than anything else, though the Pixel 2XL got a bit more love), in part because personal circumstances meant that I actually needed to use a banking app (which I'd never done before), which made it simpler not to root. And I've not rooted my s21 because, erm, probably because I've got used to not doing it.

I have recently played around with my HTC One, using root abilities to strip it down to a more-or-less single use device. And when I see crap on my s21 like a Samsung Calendar app or "game optimising service" which they won't even let me disable I am tempted to get back into the game (European Samsungs being rootable, unlike their North American counterparts). But it's really not a necessity the way it used to be, so I always decide I've more important things to do.

 

[Davdi]

The last phone I rooted was an HTC 10 EVO (Bolt), but that was to install some Pentesting and forensics apps that need root to work - I used to be a cyber security writer & courseware author/trainer, now reitred.