this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2023
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what does rooting a phone mean and is it safe (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 year ago by jackpot@lemmy.ml to c/android@lemmy.ml
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[–] glibg10b@lemmy.ml 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It means getting access to parts of an operating system that you usually don't have access to. This allows you to improve the performance of your phone, increase its battery life, browse protected files, change the boot animation, customize the UI, change certain behaviors, set a battery charging limit, use v4a (an amazing equalizer app), uninstall system apps, and much more

The process of rooting is a little convoluted and depends on the phone, but you should be able to find a guide for your phone if you look for one. Things can go wrong if you don't follow the steps perfectly, but there's always a way out

Your phone will be wiped, so you need to back up your data

Your warranty will get voided in the process, but can often un-void it by unrooting

Your phone will be no less secure, as long as you use a good superuser app (everyone recommends Magisk) and only give root access to apps you trust. Think of it as "run as administrator"

[–] Illecors@lemmy.cafe 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Your phone will be no less secure, as long as you use a good superuser app

This is factually incorrect and a dangerous statement. Your phone will be insecure, because you will have your bootloader unlocked - anyone can boot into that subsystem and access/alter the OS. It's not a deal breaker for most, but some countries can become dangerous. Tread with caution.

[–] glibg10b@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

anyone can boot into that subsystem and access/alter the OS

Right. I was looking at it from a malware point of view, since OP's question "is it safe" is vague and can have one of at least three meanings. If your phone is rooted and the wrong person has physical access to it, they can bypass factory reset protection, among other things

However, most phones nowadays encrypt their user's data using the lock screen password as the encryption key. I think this would limit an attacker's access to user data, but don't quote me on that

[–] beta_tester@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why are people saying it's a bad idea? Especially in the grapheneos circle. You won't get info on their forum about rooting it.

[–] ShittyKopper@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 1 year ago

GrapheneOS is the extremely paranoid security-above-literally-anything-else ROM so of course they'd say it's a bad idea.

The TLDR is that, without special protection (bootloader relocking, which is the reason why Graphene only supports the extremely limited amount of devices it does), rooting and bootloader unlocking intentionally punches holes in Android's security model in exchange for greater control.

[–] Melody@lemmy.one 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

"Rooting" is literally the act of taking control of the "root" user profile. This is the same as SYSTEM on Windows and even "root" on a Macintosh. As the names imply; the "root" user is the first user. When you are "root"; there are no rules about what you can run. You are essentially as powerful as the operating system itself.

But that omnipotent power does come with a great responsibility. With root access you can literally order the Operating System or even the hardware to kill itself; deleting important files or altering core code is not going to be met with resistance. Sometimes it will even comply with your commands without even checking if they are valid.

Without appropriate understanding of what you are commanding your device to do...Yes, rooting can be dangerous. However; if you do know exactly what you are doing, or are following instructions that are well known to work exactly how you intended them to that were written by someone who does know what they are doing...then Yes, Rooting can be Safe

[–] Melody@lemmy.one 3 points 1 year ago

The trouble with Rooting is trust. You are placing trust in a number of apps and software components to not abuse that access.

If you limit apps that are granted root access and make sure only safe apps are granted access; then all should be well. But don't blame anyone if you damage your device.

This is why Rooting your device should ideally only be done after any manufacturer, OEM and carrier warranty has expired. It has benefits; but so too do the guardrails we program into modern operating systems. Rooting your device can be akin to bowling without the bumpers preventing your ball from falling into the gutter.

[–] areyouevenreal@lemmy.antemeridiem.xyz 1 points 1 year ago

It would be good to point out that a user of a rooted phone isn't as likely to go running random terminal commands as root as you would in Linux. Most of the time users of rooted phones are running apps that use root privileges without running commands themselves. Also if you don't know what your doing then don't run random terminal commands.

[–] Elephant0991@lemmy.bleh.au 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Some apps (like banking) may not work on rooted phones.

Even if you root your phone properly, you may not be able to unroot it.

[–] glibg10b@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Some apps (like banking) may not work on rooted phones.

They use Google SafetyNet to check for root. There are ways to trick SafetyNet on a per-app basis

Even if you root your phone properly, you may not be able to unroot it.

With Magisk, it's as easy as flashing a single file, and if you want to be thorough, you can just wipe a few partitions and re-install your ROM

[–] NightOwl@lemmy.one 4 points 1 year ago

Benefit I found from rooting is backing up apps, since Android still sucks in that area. Especially third party app data.