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Why Do We Root? (Then vs. Now)

Do you root, and have your reasons changed over time?


  • Total voters
    78

codesplice

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Oct 29, 2013
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Root access has long been a staple of the Android enthusiast scene. After all, we chose Android over iOS because we don't like being told what to do, right? ;) What better way to exercise that freedom than by rooting and generally mucking about on /system? As Android has matured, I've noticed that a lot of my reasons to root have changed as well - some have even disappeared.

If you're not sure what all the fuss is about, this might be a good place to start!

This post has two purposes:
  1. First, an opportunity for me to document my root experience. I think it will be interesting to look back on how my rooting needs have changed - both now as well as in the future.
  2. Second, I hope that it will inspire others to share their root stories. I'm curious to see if my progression matches up with anyone else's.

My earliest experience with Android came in mid-2009, with a 1.5 Cupcake build ported to run off the SD card in my Windows Mobile AT&T Tilt (HTC Kaiser/TyTN II). That was, of course, rooted - and buggy as hell. My first real Android device was a Nexus One that I ordered in April 2010 while deployed to Afghanistan. I booted it once and immediately did "fastboot oem unlock" and flashed superuser.zip - again, while living in a tent in Afghanistan. Next was a Galaxy Nexus, which I didn't even boot before unlocking and rooting. The same goes for my Nexus 4, my current daily-driven Android device. All these were rooted, all of these ran custom ROMs and kernels and themes and mods.

As Lollipop's release started to near I decided that I wanted to try an experiment to find out just how comfortable could I be with completely stock Android. I flashed the 4.4.4 factory image onto my phone around October 20. I installed my usual set of applications and applied my usual settings, but did not flash a custom recovery or otherwise tamper with the system. I used that, in its bone-stock format, until I flashed the 5.0 factory image on November 14, which I used in similar bone-stock format until finally rooting again on November 26. I've now had a few days to settle in with my new-old root.

So what have I learned from this experience? Stock Android is far more ready to suit my needs out-of-the-box than it used to be. I was actually pretty content without root for over a month - by far a new record for me.

In the olden days, I would root to:
  • Remove unused system apps. This was less for reasons of storage space (after all, /system can't easily be used for user-installed applications), but more so that services that I didn't want or use wouldn't be running in the background. Now this isn't really necessary because I can Disable pretty much any pre-installed application that I don't want.
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  • Overclock the processor. Once upon a time, Android devices didn't perform all that great. Juicing a few hundred more megahertz out of the system could make a lot of actions a whole lot more bearable. Now I don't really need this as most modern Android devices have plenty of oomph for performing daily tasks, and the OS has really been optimized for better performance on the whole (thank you, Project Butter).
  • Theme or otherwise change the look of the OS. Whether it was installing an entirely-new ROM, flashing a .zip theme, using CyanogenMod's T-Mobile theme engine, or manually replacing strategically-placed PNGs, it was all about trying to make my Android look just a little bit better. After all, it needed it - from the searing white statusbar of Cupcake-Froyo to the black-and-green "hacker" look of Gingerbread, Android was not visually attractive. (Granted, a lot of those early themes were just as bad - if not worse.) Now, though, Material Design has given Android a consistent (and gorgeous, in my opinion) design language. It looks great, and I don't really feel the urge to mess with it.
  • Turn on the flashlight. Remember when this used to require root? It did - and the implementation often had to be built specifically for a given device, using low-level hardware black magic to make it work. I can't remember exactly when that changed, but at some point you could use an app like TeslaLED to control the video camera's flash without root. Now,though, Lollipop adds a handy Flashlight toggle built right into the Quick Settings menu.
  • Take a screenshot. Yes, this also used to require root access to do it locally on the device (as opposed to via adb). Now, Android 4+ has an integrated screenshot capability (Power + Volume-Down).
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  • Disable persistent notifications for high-priority background apps. Android is generally pretty good at managing running applications, but I use some apps which need to run in the background without being terminated by the OS. Android, however, requires these high-priority background services to display a persistent entry in the notification bar. The alternative used to be using root to enable these applications to run as system apps. Now, though, Android 4.1+ lets me disable notifications on a per-app basis at the system level. All of the stability of knowing that those important background apps won't get killed, none of the notification clutter. Win!
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  • Save battery with apps like JuiceDefender, which need root access for some of the lower-level controls. Eventually, though, I stopped using these apps altogether; I simply found that constantly toggling data and forcing sync on my schedule was actually less efficient than letting Android handle all of that on its own. Now, with Project Volta, Android is able to handle all of that messy sync business (and other battery-critical tasks) even better.
  • Use Tasker like a boss. Tasker is one of very few apps that has been installed on ALL of my Android devices, and much of its utility is derived from the ability to automatically adjust various settings - some of which (particularly those that are security-related) tend to require root access. Recent Android versions added the Device Administrators role which opens up a lot of those security and other settings to trusted applications, like the super-handy Secure Settings Tasker plugin, without requiring full root-level access. That's awesome, but I still needed root for some of the more advanced capability (like enabling/disabling the Pattern lockscreen). Now, Lollipop's Smart Unlock options let me automatically disable my PIN/Password/Pattern lockscreen whenever my phone is connected to my Pebble smartwatch or my car's head unit as well as when I'm at home. No Tasker needed for that; I still use Tasker for plenty of other things, but that eliminated my last real Tasker root requirement.
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  • Backup/restore. With all of that tinkering, I was bound to run into trouble sooner or later. Titanium Backup has long been a life preserver for tinkerers like me, making it easy somewhat less painful to hop between devices and ROMs - and at least making it possible to recover from critical failures. Root was required to let TB jump over all the pesky file permissions and be able to access application files and their data. Now, Android 4.0 introduced the adb backup mechanism, which applications like Helium are able to leverage to create and restore application data backups without requiring root. Add in Lollipop's much-improved backup/restore capability (which actually lets you choose which applications should be reinstalled from your Google account, rather than just hoping that everything works out) and moving between devices or getting set back up after a factory reset has become much easier than it used to be.

So there's why I was able to be pretty happy without root on 4.4 and especially with 5.0. Why did my spirit break and my phone root itself* last week?

* well, basically ;)

Now, I use root to:
  • Get a "warmer" (and dimmer) display at night via Chainfire's CF.lumen. Yep, the primary thing that drove me to root my otherwise-stock device is purely cosmetic. CF.lumen automatically makes the display colors warmer (less blue, and thus easier on your nighttime eyes) when the sun goes down. Other apps, like Twilight, do this by applying a red-filtered overlay ontop of the display; this causes the black pixels to look quite a bit washed out, as the filter gets applied regardless of color. CF.lumen actually adjusts the color calibration at the kernel level, resulting in a more natural and even change (which includes the navbar, which an overlay can't touch). The app is also able to significantly decrease the backlight brightness, well below the factory minimum. After spending a month of getting by with Twilight, my eyes are much happier with a proper solution for playing my phone at night. (The colors in the screenshot are VASTLY exaggerated - that just seems to be a Thing Which Happens. The important bit is that the color calibration is applied evenly across the entire display without causing the blacks to look washed out.)
    acQI0Mj.png
  • Enable LTE with a hybrid radio and build.prop tweaks. While not necessarily one of those things that I have to have, getting LTE capability back is a pretty sweet bonus.
    gqF9qWQ.png
  • Flash a custom kernel. Again, not something that I can't live without, but it can be a nice thing to have. I rooted primarily for the above-mentioned CF.lumen goodness, but I didn't waste any more time before flashing the latest Faux123 kernel which includes his new "Intellimm" governor for extended battery life. (I even built a quick Tasker profile to automatically switch to this governor when the battery gets below 40% - a preemptive move before Lollipop's Battery Saver kicks in at 15%.)
    t0X22tQ.png

That's it. That's the extent of what I'm now using root for.


Now, how about you? Why do you root, and have those reasons changed at all during the time you've been using Android?
 
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I rooted my first Android (a HTC Desire - the first phone of that name) largely because I knew that sooner or later I would: I don't change phones annually or even bi-annually, so I was going to keep it longer than official software support would last, so sooner or later I'd have to root to get updates. Knowing it would happen eventually, I managed to hold out for a few weeks...

That said, there was a huge reason to root the Desire: storage. 147MB /data partition meant that even though apps were (much) smaller back then you would quickly need to be able to either use a partitioned SD card for storage, install a smaller ROM and repartition the internal storage, or both. And to be honest it also ran faster with an AOSP ROM, you could do proper backups, deeper theming and all of the usual, and I also ended up questing for the ultimate ROM+kernel combination.

Now, some of the reasons still apply. Storage isn't a factor (and I really don't want to end up moving apps around again - I'd just buy a device with enough storage), and actually a combination of more powerful hardware and a relatively lighter skin means my current HTC ran fine even with pure stock. Indeed I'm actually still using a Sense-based ROM. However, I still want control, proper backups, custom kernels, control, ROM options and control. I guess that while some people worry about voiding their warranty, I feel that until I've rooted, installed a custom recovery and bypassed any NAND security I'm just less able to fix things myself.
 
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There was only one reason I rooted my phone. That was to be able to automatically change keyboards with orientation. I normally type in landscape orientation. The keyboard I used was Kii and now SwiftKey. I like these keyboards because I really like their landscape layout. It is split in the middle so I don't have to reach far into the centre of the keyboard with my thumbs when typing.

When in portrait, I find it to be easier to use the gesture typing features. Swype is by far the best keyboard for gesture typing. Although Kii and SwiftKey both support gesture typing, it was no where near as good as Swype.

I found it annoying to have to manually switch keyboards. I managed to find a solution with the Keyboard Manager app. It automatically changes keyboards to Swype in portrait and to Kii or SwiftKey in landscape. Keyboard Manager required root, so I rooted my phone.

The rooting process is rather non-trivial to me. It takes more than installing an app and running it. As it was my first time, it probably took me almost half an hour. I wanted to make sure I followed all of the steps correctly. There was a component of downloading a file to my PC and then copying it to my phone. There were also a number of other prompts I need to go through.

The solution worked quite well. Later, I found a solution that worked without having to root. There was a new Keyboard Manager+ app that can do the same thing without rooting. I had some difficulty finding easy to follow instructions to unroot my phone. Eventually, I did it by using Kies to do an OS update to my Galaxy S3 phone. I was more interested in the OS update as I found my phone to become laggy after a few days. Rebooting every few days was becoming annoying. The Keyboard Manager+ method was not as good as the rooted method to auto change my keyboard. Eventually, I just didn't bother with Keyboard Manager+ and just used SwiftKey exclusively.
 
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@Stuntman You just nailed a reason that I had totally forgotten about (I knew there were bound to be several!). I, like you, tried a variety of different solutions for switching between keyboard based on device orientation or even what app was in the foreground (I really like Hackers Keyboard for use in the terminal). I don't think I ever found a good non-root solution, but I did settle on using Secure Settings with Tasker to give me greater flexibility.

Lately I've just been using the Google keyboard for everything (with the PC layout enabled and available for use in the terminal), but I'm not as wild about the Lollipop version. I may end up giving Swiftkey another run.
 
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Root for fewer reasons. Codesplice hit on several of them, Hadron hit on another...more ability to fix problems. 2 points of adb access (assuming recovery) is perhaps the biggest reason I'll always want root + custom recovery. Add to that the nandroid backup without the need for an app, TiBu, and the one somewhat newer reason...Xposed.

But yes, by and large there do seem to be fewer reasons to root than in the past. Some of that is due to Google and/or carriers listening to some of what we've asked for. But there have also been security enhancements and/or file structure changes that have made rooting more appealing than ever. Anyone remember being able to change boot animations back in the day? /data/local was accessible without root ala OG Incredible and OG Droid. Ah, the good old days of Froyo? Or Eclair? I've forgotten when certain structural changes occurred as time has gone on and if I weren't so lazy, I'd Google it. :p

Suffice to say, I'll always want root + custom recovery for reasons of controlling my device through the ups and downs even though these days I find myself running few to no custom roms.
 
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I've always rooted for many of the reasons above, but will also throw in that I want to navigate and poke-around the system without restriction (i.e., file contents and structure).

I also think unlocking the bootloader is a close relative to rooting since, for me at least, it provides some recovery options not available with simple rooting.

:)
 
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I've always rooted in the past, for the many of the "olden days" reasons cited in the OP. Although currently my daily use smart-phone(Oppo F7a) is not rooted, main reason is it can't OTA update if it's rooted and using manufacturer's firmware. If rooted, have to use a PC to update it and factory reset it each time, wiping everything.
 
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I ordered a G1 within minutes of availability. I started rooting it as soon as someone figured out how. And it was just standard procedure to root new phones for years. I put up with the hassle, buggy ROMs and stuff because I had good reasons to.

Not anymore. There's simply nothing I want or need to do that requires root. I buy Nexus devices and all is good.
 
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I ordered a G1 within minutes of availability. I started rooting it as soon as someone figured out how. And it was just standard procedure to root new phones for years. I put up with the hassle, buggy ROMs and stuff because I had good reasons to.

Not anymore. There's simply nothing I want or need to do that requires root. I buy Nexus devices and all is good.
I suppose I should add a "I used to, but don't root at all anymore" option to the poll. I'll try to remember to do that in the morning!
 
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I learned how to root and how to brick on the same day. I had only rooted to delete some built-in apps on a droid with limited space – I simultaneously saved space and made the thing unbootable. Now I have a new Kitkat droid with almost 5GB internal memory, way more than I need (so far), so rooting is the last thing on my mind.
 
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I learned how to root and how to brick on the same day. I had only rooted to delete some built-in apps on a droid with limited space – I simultaneously saved space and made the thing unbootable. Now I have a new Kitkat droid with almost 5GB internal memory, way more than I need (so far), so rooting is the last thing on my mind.

You can also learn how to boot loop as well, all in the same day. :D
 
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What's boot loop, lol. Do I want to find out? I'm going to take one step at a time and I don't think I want that step, lol. Unless it's apart of something im missing!

A boot loop is when there's a fatal error when the phone is starting up/booting and it's resetting, and so it ends up going round in circles, looping. An incorrect rooting can often cause it. Can be frustrating, but then so is bricking, i.e. turning your phone into a rectangular shaped object that's not a phone any more.
 
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I rooted my first Android, the HTC Hero, a few months after getting it for the usual reasons back then... removing unwanted system apps, App2SD, and Titanium Backup. Even with a clear well-written guide from XDA it was a scary ADB-based process!

The Desire Z that followed it, then the Galaxy S2, and my current Sony, have all been rooted as soon as possible. The reasons have largely changed as Android has matured though; now it's not about resource management/performance improvements so much as freedom to tinker (and recover from failed experiments!). TiB is still a staple reason, along with TWRP, Xposed and the ability to deodex.
 
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That's why I want to do this. It's my cell, not there's. But it sounds like it's so easy to mess up. I am reading everything and learning the do's and don't's. There are alot of don't's, lol.
The fact that you're reading and learning before attempting anything crazy tells me that you'll be just fine. :thumbsupdroid:

I worry about the members whose first post goes "Hi, I'm new to Android/rooting/the forum and I tried to root my Samsung Galaxy S 15 SE using some Youtube video about sharpening lawn mower blades but I accidentally deleted the turboencabulator and now my dishwasher won't run." :D
 
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