What is rooting and should you root your android device?
“Yes, you should”. If you just wanted my opinion on whether or not you should root your phone, there it is. But if you want to know “WHY?”, then stay tuned. In this article we shall discuss about both advantages and disadvantages of rooting an Android phone and why I prefer you to do it.
But first let’s know, “What is Rooting?”.
Rooting your android phone means nothing but getting access to the root directory. The app that gives/ revokes root access to certain app is called Super User. Initially, when you buy an Android device, you only have access to emulated/ 0 folder. Android apps that are installed when you buy a new phone are installed out of this folder. That is the reason why you can’t uninstall most of the apps that were present when you bought the phone.
If you didn’t understand what I just said, then here’s a simpler explanation. Your internal storage has many folders, out of which “emulated/0” is one. There are other folders as well like “system”, “data”, etc. Without root, you can only access “emulated/0” but after you root your phone, you will be able to access and modify the outer folders as well! Accessing those folder has good points and bad points as well, and it really depends on how you want it to be. So let’s start with the advantages.
Advantages:
1) Customization:
Having full control over something feels great, right? Well, that’s what you get by rooting your phone. You can make your phone look and feel like however you want it to. You can change the style of your navigation bar, status bar, settings, and almost any other piece of software. You can customize your phone full of unwanted bloatwares to make it a lot cleaner and cooler to use.
2) Early system upgrades:
If you have a rooted phone, you can try the latest version of Android on your phone before anyone else can. Getting latest version (even though your phone manufacturer didn’t provide update) doesn’t require root in all phones, but the process is quite similar. In the devices with locked bootloader (like most Xiaomi phones), you first need to unlock bootloader and then flash a custom recovery, which lets you to flash a custom ROM. But for most other phones, you first need to root your device in order to flash a custom recovery and then later flash a ROM.
3) Getting extra features:
After you have rooted you phone, you can make various other changes to your phone. You can edit the build.prop file to enable Camera2 API, which let’s you to use the Pixel 3 camera on your phone.
You can also get Pixel 3 exclusive features like Smart Compose for Gmail. You can also flash custom kernels (might not require root, as stated for custom ROMs) and make your device better for gaming or give it a longer battery life or make it however you want it to be.
The advantages are not limited. After you root your device, you yourself will come to know about many more features that you can try. Now, let’s hop into the disadvantages of rooting your smartphone.
Disadvantages:
1) Warranty void:
Most smartphone manufacturer don’t want their users to root their phone. This is because, mostly, the ROM and kernel you get when you buy your phone are somewhat like all rounders. They try to provide good battery life, good gaming experience, good UI etc… But as you root your device and flash custom ROMs/ kernals for far better gaming experience, for example, or something, it might not do good to your battery life. You may also end up with a far sluggish device if you accidentally do something wrong. What next? You end up spreading a hoax that the phone’s not good. The manufacturers want you to root your phone only if you know what you’re doing.
2) You can face a lot of problems if you “don’t know what you’re doing”!
If you accidentally remove an important system file, you might end up with a bricked device. You should also make sure that you don’t give root access to any malicious app. A person new to this field might grant root access to all the apps and end up with a device filled with spywares and bloatwares.
Furthermore, the process of rooting is not so simple and not universal. A method that works for me might not work for you. It is important that you search for a working rooting method for your phone. I recommend you visit the xda forum and search for your device. There, you will find tutorials ranging from rooting your device to flashing a custom ROM and much more.
All in all, if done correctly and used properly, rooting your device can prove to be very useful. Personally, I feel something missing if I don’t have my phone rooted. Many of the apps I use require root access for some reason or the other. So I would prefer you to root your phone, but be sure to do some more research on how to root your phone.
If you carry a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3. you may watch this tutorial on how you can safely root your device (The process is similar for most other Samsung devices as well): https://youtu.be/Heg7jchPM6Q
Thanks for making it to the end. Have a great day ahead!
