Siddharth1
Beginner
I used to until i owned iPhone 6 plus but now it's too much of a hassle.
All OS Do you still root your phone?
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NotMyRealName
nitin_g3
Guide
I've owned Samsung galaxy s3, oneplus 2 before my current oneplus 6. I rooted all of them the day I purchased them. Always had official/unofficial CyanogenMod (now known as lineage os) flashed.
Top reasons for root was to get rid of bloatware and to be able to use titanium backup pro to restore everything (sms, Wi-Fi passwords, app data, home screen layout and what not) whenever I wanted to clean flash a new build or new os.
There was also one app which allowed you to block ads at app level. That app doesn't work anymore. And oxygen os on the oneplus has improved quite a lot. Now these days google allows you to backup sms, call logs, apps, Wi-Fi passwords etc, so don't feel like I need to use Titanium backup for that. Also apps these days are able to detect root, root hiding doesn't work anymore on most of the apps (banking apps mostly).
The only thing I miss on my non-root phone these days is to be able to block ads on app level.
Top reasons for root was to get rid of bloatware and to be able to use titanium backup pro to restore everything (sms, Wi-Fi passwords, app data, home screen layout and what not) whenever I wanted to clean flash a new build or new os.
There was also one app which allowed you to block ads at app level. That app doesn't work anymore. And oxygen os on the oneplus has improved quite a lot. Now these days google allows you to backup sms, call logs, apps, Wi-Fi passwords etc, so don't feel like I need to use Titanium backup for that. Also apps these days are able to detect root, root hiding doesn't work anymore on most of the apps (banking apps mostly).
The only thing I miss on my non-root phone these days is to be able to block ads on app level.
Use DNS66
nitin_g3
Guide
Thanks, any impact on network speed and battery backup?
My experience is very limited but I didnt see any difference. Only irritating bit is it shuts down time from time and have to launch it. Something in the order of 3-4 times a day
nitin_g3
Guide
Is there a way I can whitelist some urls/domains?
Can't find it in the app.
Edit: Never mind, found it in the hosts section, you have to add the url and select allow and then save.
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I am rooting since HTC explorer(Any Explorer user/fan here?), squeezed my entire college days with this phone by rooting it. It had so many mods. Then nexus 5, moto g5 and rooted as latest as K20 pro. But honestly I don't want to root anymore, just want a hassle free experience right out of box. Bought a Samsung S21 recently and don't think I'm going back to rooting again.
As I got older, all the love of tinkering and throwing caution to the winds has gone away now. I thinks its a part of getting old.
I feel it is still with me just not with phones anymore.
As I got older, all the love of tinkering and throwing caution to the winds has gone away now. I thinks its a part of getting old.
I feel it is still with me just not with phones anymore.
I used to root/ flash custom ROMs in my nexus 4 back in 2014-15. Post that I lost interest and it seemed the ROM development slowed down and stopped receiving next version of android updates/ comes with limited functionality like Volte doesn't work, etc. which was a big factor at that time as Jio was launched and free. So I kind of lost interest and slowly stopped flashing ROMs and rooting phones.Looks like Google is going towards locking down Android and we all know that phone manufacturers are making it harder and harder to root phones and unlock the bootloader.
Related to poll questions and their answers.
If you said Yes,
So is there anyone even now who will go to the trouble of rooting their phones, say in next few years when it becomes even more harder than it is now?
If you said No,
Was it because it was too much trouble or just lost interest or any other reason like not worth the trouble etc?
If you said Maybe in future,
How long into the future and why are you still holding off?
My answer is No, because I have a Redmi Note 5 and the wait period of a few weeks to months was too much for me. Plus their software to unlock root only works in windows. I felt it was too unfriendly so I just abandoned all plans for rooting. I wanted to root it for GCam and activate camera2api. I don't feel any need now to root since I think the Android OS has matured a lot now and lot of things we got through rooting is available without rooting. Example, when I rooted my Honor device, I wanted the latest OS and updates on it plus other stuff like custom icons in notification and status bar. Now I get all those custom icon things in Themes in MIUI. No security updates though from months. Plus the OS's have some drawback or another like something is not working properly. As I got older, all the love of tinkering and throwing caution to the winds has gone away now. I thinks its a part of getting old.
After 2014-15, I switched to multiple phones like LG G3, LG V20 and finally to Samsung Galaxy S9+. I rooted S9+ and it tripped the Knox at the hardware level which cannot be reset with software and my office apps which generally works on MDM prohibits Knox reset phone which was a major inconvenience for me. So I switched to iPhone 11 in July 2020. After switching to iPhone things are stable and seamless.
used to root/custom rom day 1 on all phones before switching to iphone. all were flagships. last one was root only because i wanted the best stability (7 pro with oos, even with stock had bugs with the major one being notifications).
reasons for root (since many years):
viper4android
ios emojis (android emojis uhm... don't need an explanation for that)
custom kernel offered better performance/battery
and a couple other modules i don't remember now
now have a secondary poco x3 pro. custom romed the first day possible (after a week) since miui was just unbearable (didn't plan to touch it initially). now it's a completely different phone with Arrow OS. ui is infinitely better and performance difference is night and day. no idea about battery since i don't use it much.
i miss viper4android though. it could make cheap earphones/headphones sound fantastic.
reasons for root (since many years):
viper4android
ios emojis (android emojis uhm... don't need an explanation for that)
custom kernel offered better performance/battery
and a couple other modules i don't remember now
now have a secondary poco x3 pro. custom romed the first day possible (after a week) since miui was just unbearable (didn't plan to touch it initially). now it's a completely different phone with Arrow OS. ui is infinitely better and performance difference is night and day. no idea about battery since i don't use it much.
+1
i miss viper4android though. it could make cheap earphones/headphones sound fantastic.
rsaeon
Guide
I don't root or run custom roms anymore on my main device, or even install APK's. Ever since 2FA with OTPs and Authenticator apps became necessary, the risk was/is far too great.
I have a soft rule that a phone should last for and be responsive for 1 month for every 1k spent. This lets me play with unofficial flagships (25k range, like Samsung's A series) every two years and not worry too much about depreciation. Earlier, I was a 'top end model or nothing' type of person until we hit 100k flagships and it became utterly ridiculous.
I used to travel a lot, so I kept my phones as close to stock as possible because of border/customs inspections (they have to the authority to detain you, if you've recently factory reset your device). A rooted device would've allowed them more access to the device than what I would have been comfortable with.
I do keep my older phones around to play with, and try out custom roms out of curiousity every now and then. But they never get sim cards or leave the house. I'm a having a blast with the Xperia Play and an NES emulator these days.
I have a soft rule that a phone should last for and be responsive for 1 month for every 1k spent. This lets me play with unofficial flagships (25k range, like Samsung's A series) every two years and not worry too much about depreciation. Earlier, I was a 'top end model or nothing' type of person until we hit 100k flagships and it became utterly ridiculous.
I used to travel a lot, so I kept my phones as close to stock as possible because of border/customs inspections (they have to the authority to detain you, if you've recently factory reset your device). A rooted device would've allowed them more access to the device than what I would have been comfortable with.
I do keep my older phones around to play with, and try out custom roms out of curiousity every now and then. But they never get sim cards or leave the house. I'm a having a blast with the Xperia Play and an NES emulator these days.
I started rooting and stuff in Froyo/GB days and was continuing to do it till I got the OP7T, which I haven't rooted yet though I unlocked the bootloader on day 1. I haven't installed and used Gpay even now because my intention was to root and install a different ROM, but initially TWRP wasn't out yet and then I became lazy.
I know Gpay can be used with Magisk and stuff, but ever since Axis Bank's mobile banking app asked for SU access I stopped trusting them. I was like WTF. If I'm not mistaken even Paytm pulled this stunt before they were called out. I still keep thinking I'll install a custom one day, which might happen if Oxygen OS annoys me enough.
I know Gpay can be used with Magisk and stuff, but ever since Axis Bank's mobile banking app asked for SU access I stopped trusting them. I was like WTF. If I'm not mistaken even Paytm pulled this stunt before they were called out. I still keep thinking I'll install a custom one day, which might happen if Oxygen OS annoys me enough.
nithin1992
Discoverer
Don't root or jailbreak anymore! Both iOS and Android have matured quite a bit reducing the need for it
RPisOP
Contributor
I used to root my phones , last phone was a Oneplus 5 , i use a Oneplus 6 now and i just haven't found any need to do so , OOS for Android 10 is pretty good and has alot of features, i didn't wanna go through the trouble of wiping the whole phone and going through the whole process, also using magisk hide or hiding the root from apps i use is very annoying and i found that the cons outweighed the prosLooks like Google is going towards locking down Android and we all know that phone manufacturers are making it harder and harder to root phones and unlock the bootloader.
Related to poll questions and their answers.
If you said Yes,
So is there anyone even now who will go to the trouble of rooting their phones, say in next few years when it becomes even more harder than it is now?
If you said No,
Was it because it was too much trouble or just lost interest or any other reason like not worth the trouble etc?
If you said Maybe in future,
How long into the future and why are you still holding off?
My answer is No, because I have a Redmi Note 5 and the wait period of a few weeks to months was too much for me. Plus their software to unlock root only works in windows. I felt it was too unfriendly so I just abandoned all plans for rooting. I wanted to root it for GCam and activate camera2api. I don't feel any need now to root since I think the Android OS has matured a lot now and lot of things we got through rooting is available without rooting. Example, when I rooted my Honor device, I wanted the latest OS and updates on it plus other stuff like custom icons in notification and status bar. Now I get all those custom icon things in Themes in MIUI. No security updates though from months. Plus the OS's have some drawback or another like something is not working properly. As I got older, all the love of tinkering and throwing caution to the winds has gone away now. I thinks its a part of getting old.