Root [Sprint] Rooted Sprint S4 Now

Now ... my standard question when someone wants to know how to root a particular phone - why did you root it? All rooting does is allow apps that need root access to run. If there were no root apps you were thinking of running, the answer to "now what" is "you're done". If there were apps you were thinking of running, install them and run them.

Rooting an android phone is like right-clicking a program in Windows and clicking "Run as administrator", that all. All your existing apps will run the same as they always have, you'll still have as much storage as you had before (minus just a tad for the su binary, busybox and the Superuser app), the phone will still run just as fast or slow as it did (I ran Antutu before and after rooting - the difference was a drop of 2 - out or 36,000 - after rooting. That's not even "statistically insignificant", it's non-existent. A stray cosmic ray can cause more difference than that.)

Rooting doesn't "do" anything, it just allows apps that need administrative rights to get them. Oh, and it prevents OTA updates from working (usually).

So if you expected anything to happen from rooting, sorry, it won't. If you want to install Xposed and some of its modules and make all sorts of changes to the look, feel and operation of the phone, now you can.

I understand what Rukbat is saying but let me play Devil's advocate for a moment.

Personally, I would not consider an unrooted phone as I would find it far too restrictive. Rooting allows you SuperUser access to change virtually every aspect of the OS.

For instance, rooting allowed me to install stock KitKat on my phone 3 months ago and I do not have Knox Security or a locked bootloader on Android 4.4.2. It allows me to install de-bloated ROMs that remove Samsung and carrier bloatware, saving up to 1GB. I can use custom kernels with a choice of governors and schedulers for performance or battery saving and to overclock/volt to, say, 2300 Mhz for gaming, or underclock/volt to 1134 Mhz for battery life. I can configure almost every aspect of the look and feel of my phone. If I want to improve my signal, no problem, I just flash a different modem. If I need, say, a desktop clock whilst the phone is charging I can incorporate one. It also means that in a matter of minutes I can do full mirror image backups, nandroids, of my phone's OS and files and restore them just as quickly. I can switch from JB to KK and back again in no time. I can even extract certain elements such as SMS and save them as well as having multiple backups of apps and their settings available to me. I can access the system area of the phone for instance and change my boot animation or insert my own ringtones and alerts directly into the system folders. I can change the look of contacts or my dial pad without having to download loads more apps as these modifications can be inserted and run at system level. So much so, that all my Play Store apps are now easily accommodated on the internal memory with 6.5GB of space to spare. The list of things that you could do goes on and on. For instance, I long ago, as most rooters have, dispensed with Kies as there are other, more reliable, methods open to us for firmware updates, backups and storage.

However, there are caveats... theses things do not happen overnight and you need to read, read, read and research, research, research, before embarking on these sort of changes and understand what you are doing. Be aware of Knox security, the Samsung flash counter and how rooting may affect your warranty. Above all, understand that with SuperUser access comes the ability to SuperUser screw up! There is one line in almost all of my Dummies Guides...

"Flash in haste... repent at leisure!"

I would suggest posing your requirements on the...

(Sprint) Galaxy S4 - All Things Root forum.

Ironass, all I'm saying is that rooting also allows

#rm -r -f --no-preserve-root *

Even

#rm -r -f * is disastrous.

Me? Root first, then turn it on the first time. How do you get rid of /data/data/stupid/ when you uninstalled stupid without clearing data and it won't reinstall because it looks installed? And that's about the simplest case of "oops".

I also want nandroid backup as part of every stock recovery (and a billion dollars and a 500 year lifespan). I can clone a drive in Linux. Then if I have a brain fart, I can do it over. Android? One little mistake and it's search for someone who's fixed this before.

But I still always ask why? To have more memory? To make the phone run faster? To get a better signal? (I've seen all these reasons.)

To install TiB is a good enough reason.

@Rockman:

Wireless tether (assuming your carrier doesn't block it) is doable without root. The S4 - before the 4.3 garbage - had a stable ROM. (And 4.3.2 will probably be stable. 4.4? Where's the "don't upgrade this phone" button?)

Thread moved to a more appropriate forum.

Rockman... you be safe out there, ok? I appreciate the work you do.