Rooting an Android, it’s Advantages and Disadvantages

If you are an Android user then you must have heard about the term rooting. There are tons of forums or articles discussing “rooting” an Android phone on the internet. While this article is not intended to show how to root your phone nor to convince you to or not to root, it is intended to provide an impartial summary of the advantages and disadvantages of rooting an android phone.

What is “Rooting?”

“Rooting” your device means obtaining “superuser” rights and permissions to your Android’s software. With these elevated user privileges, you gain the ability to load custom software (ROM’s), install custom themes, increase performance, increase battery life, and the ability to install software that would otherwise cost extra money. Basically, “rooting” means to get to the root of the operating system and to have the ability to make global changes. In the iPhone world, this would be equivalent to “Jailbreaking”.

Advantages

“Rooting” your Android phone does afford you numerous benefits, including;

Custom ROMs-

This is the most powerful feature of “rooted” phones. There are hundreds of custom ROM’s that can do anything from speeding up the processing speed of your phone to changing the entire look and feel of your phone. For instance, you might be stuck with an older Android device that is stuck on an older version of the Android OS and it is not getting any of the newer updated versions of Android. With a custom ROM, you could load up the latest and greatest available Android versions and bring that antiquated device up to par with some of the newer ones.

Backing up your Device-

The ability to easily backup all your Apps and Data is one feature that is sorely missed on the stock build of Android devices. Buy if you root your device, backing up everything on your device becomes a simple task. Titanium Backup is a must have app for anyone who has rooted and wants to backup and restore their phones.

Custom Themes-

Themes are basically the graphics that appear on your Android device. Rooting your device allows you the ability to fully customize just about every graphic on your device. You can load custom themes that totally change the look and feel of your device.

Running special Apps-

Superuser is an app that can only be run on a rooted Android phone. This allows you to control which apps have access to the “root” system. Another popular application that “rooting” affords is the ability to tether a computer to your Android phone so that the computer can access the Internet using the phone’s data connection. Another program can allow your Android to be used as a WiFi Hotspot without having to pay your provider for the feature.

Kernel, speed, and Battery-

There are many custom ROM’s and apps available for rooted devices that will allow you to drastically improve the performance (speed) and also improve battery of your device. A lot of developers tweak the Kernels (layer of code that handles communication between the hardware and software) for added performance, battery life, and more.

Disadvantages

There are two main disadvantages to rooting and Android phone;

Voids warranty-

Once rooted, don’t try to bring your phone back for service or warranty work. The manufacturer of your device will void the warranty. You are on your own!

Bricking-

The main reason not to root your device is the potential risk of “Bricking”. Bricking means screwing up your phone software so badly that your device can no longer function properly and is pretty much as useless as a brick.

Security-

There is an increased risk of unknowingly installing malicious software when you root an Android device. Root access circumvents the security restrictions that are put in place by the Android OS. There isn’t really an effective way to tell just what the application intends to do with that “Superuser” power. You are putting a lot of trust into the developer’s hands. In most cases, these applications are open source and the community can take a look at the source code to access the risk. But, nevertheless, the risk is there. Fortunately, malicious software on the rooted devices hasn’t been a problem as of yet. But there will be a potential risk in the future. It is better to have an Anti-Virus and Security App just to be safe.

There is no easy way to teach how to root Android device. Each device has a unique method to rooting and do some research before rooting. XDA Developer Forums is the best place to get help to root your device. Or you can simply Google your phone model and the term root. Hope you enjoy this article and good luck all of you! If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.