Does unlocking the bootloader leave traces apps can see? - X Style (Pure) Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

My apologies if this is a well-known question/answer, but I've not been able to find anything...
I have an old GS4 which was nicely rooted. Some apps try to determine if you've got root and so the eXposed "Root Cloak" module came in handy.
Yesterday I received my Moto X Pure. So little bloat on it that I almost decided I didn't need root. But, wow, I'd forgotten just how many adverts spring up all over the place. OK, root needed. Reading around it seems that to root this device requires unlocking the bootloader and using TWRP. OK... I can do that.
But the question I have is whether this will stop the "oh noes, malware!" detecting apps from running because my device is now "insecure".
(Alternatively, ability to block ads inside apps without needing root would work )
Thanks!

So I took this risk, anyway. Unlocked the bootloader (which caused a reset of the phone), reinstalled my apps etc etc, and they seem to work and are not complaining about the unlocked loader.
So that's good

Related

[Q] Root Question related later ota

after a few hours searching, I am still a bit confusing on following question:
1. trip rootchecker
If I do not choose do this during rooting, in other word, I only have adb shell root.
a) should I still be able to install twrp and flash other rom? my impression is "yes", am I right?
b) But if I choose do this, then my warranty is gone. If I later flash back the stock,
will this be wiped and "forget"? i.e. the warranty is back?
Or is this "root checker" will send somthing to LG once it is tripped, hence warranty
is permanently voided?
2. ota
It seems once rooted, one can not take any ota, right? even the kitkat in future?
would "trip rootchecker" matter in this case?
even though thanks to thecubed, it seems we do have a solution.
If you choose not to trip the root checker, root will not work properly and neither will the apps that require it.
It doesn't send any info to LG or your carriers. All it does is... If in the future you break your phone somehow and take it into your carrier store to get it fixed, they will check the phone to see if it's ever been rooted. If it's been tripped, it'll give a number code on the screen to tell them it either was rooted in the past but isn't anymore, is currently rooted, or was never rooted.
Then it will be at the store's discretion on whether or not they'll help you out or make you pay full price to fix it or get it replaced.
I don't know how it is for the G2, but I know awhile back some newer HTC phones got S-OFF which allowed them to reset the root checker to make the device think it's never been rooted. Our phones may have a similar method out there somewhere... Though probably not as it'd be fairly big news. I am however, willing to bet that there is a crack team or two working on disabling that for our devices.
Sent from CAMACHO, my Verizon G2 (VS980) running PAC ROM.

Finally rooted then I rebooted...

So hi all, this is my first post on XDA. Finding information these days you think would be easy but alas it's been one big waiting game.
A little background, I've wanted for the longest time to link my ps3 controller (WIRELESSLY) to my s4, but Verizon forced an upgrade to Lollipop, I hate it and it's been a nightmare for me.
I learned I would have to be root to get the controller to work wirelessly, but I wanted root access for other reasons well such as bloatware removal and interface customization.
So I've been skulking around forums like a hawk, finally I found king root but it wouldn't root my phone and I wasn't about to install it on my PC, too risky... so I waited and waited and waited.
several months pass...
New update for King root will now work to root my phone, and I was able to replace it with super-sume, root checker showed I was rooted and Bazinga! Off I was at last. I removed a couple pieces of bloatware but before I continued I thought it might be wise to reboot the phone while rooted to make sure everything is kosher.
Phone comes back up, no problems. but now ROOT ACCESS IS GONE. I read up and discovered that in some cases the boot-loader will unroot the phone everytime you reboot. I don't want to have to re-root my phone over and over again, that's a pain in the arse.
I read up on some laws felt confident if I called Verizon they wouldn't be able to give me a hard-time, I just wanted to know how to disable the boot-loader locking things up.
I ended up with tier two, who they stated all their 4G devices are unlocked... when I got into the nitty gritty regarding the bootloader the techs I spoke with were lost.
I just want to be able to root my phone and KEEP root. I wish I had Kit-Kat because this wouldn't even be an issue but I don't. Can anyone help? I'm so sick of this crap.
HALP PLZ :crying: :crying:
Another small caveat I should mention, when I reboot my phone, it has an unlocked padlock but root checker states that root access in no longer properly installed and I can't do anything that I'd be able to do rooted either. Before the reboot, root was showing as properly installed.
Wrong forum, there is a Verizon subsection.
Verizon phones are all unlocked...... meaning you can insert whatever SIM card you feel like putting into it.
The bootloader, however, is locked. It will remain locked and it's more than likely never going to be unlocked. Write access is dependent on an unlocked bootloader. The security checks are set up as such that if you attempt to alter the system files, they'll just all return to normal on a reboot.
You can use a temp root method on Android 4.4, but as you figured out.... when you reboot, Bye Bye Root!
There is not, nor has there been, nor will there be a bootloader unlock unless somebody cracks Samsung's encryption keys. You have a better chance of winning the Powerball jackpot than doing that.
Use CF root if you wanna perm and thing solved..

Fail safetynet even after complete wipe!!

So my safetynet checker says I failed even though I completely wiped all data! Even the sdcard data! I did a complete fastboot flash of all the system image files including the userdata file. I did not root the phone yet and I don't plan to either, I just want Android Pay.
CTS Profile Match = fail
That's what I get from the safetnet checker...My only other idea is to relock and unlock the bootloader again.
It seems you're not alone. I saw a few posts on reddit describing the same thing. The consensus is that Google may possibly be requiring locked bootloaders as well now for Safetynet.
Granted, I live in Canada and we don't have Android Pay yet. But I just won't even bother if this is the case.
It appears you are right mattkroeder...I relocked my bootloader and it passed, I unlocked it again and it failed....
Damn! I could not figure out why my Pay didn't work today. I'm stock, unlocked, custom ROM, no root. I just tried safetynet and its red. That seems like a bigger hurdle then not allowing rooted phones no pay.
It has been said all along that it was a losing battle....I just hoped that they would eventually block any and all root access at worst. Blocking the bootloader unlock I think puts a nail in the coffin of that little game. You will only be able to have Android Pay with a completely stock phone....
Looks like it is the case now. Now I'm gonna waste 2-3 hours of my precious life, reverting everything back to stock and locked.
GatorsUF said:
It has been said all along that it was a losing battle....I just hoped that they would eventually block any and all root access at worst. Blocking the bootloader unlock I think puts a nail in the coffin of that little game. You will only be able to have Android Pay with a completely stock phone....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Rooting an sm-n910t WITHOUT a factory reset

(SOLVED)
Hi,
Ive been searching around all week now trying to find a way to do the above, root my note 4 without a factory reset.
As far as i can gather, my bootloader is unlocked.
I suspect it has had somekind of non-t-mobile standard wizardry performed upon it prior to my ownership (2nd hand). The reason i think this (naive?) is as i understand it, these, in the UK, were locked to t-mobile sims new, however, mine can use any sim. also, since my ownership (couple years +), maybe 3 or 4 times it has randomly rebooted and gone into some kind of anti-"fiddling" mode stating something along the lines of "this phone has none genuine blah blah and is now locked. take it into a t-mobile shop to get fixed". A simple battery pull has "fixed" the issue each and every time.
Now, the actual main reason i want to root this, apart from the obvious other advantages, is to be able to perform a complete backup (including all the backup locked out apps). i have a few apps ive paid for, but have since been pulled from the play store, thus, should this phone die, i have no way of restoring them.
it seems that, the only way to backup these apps is to root the phone. i can only find ways in which to root my phone that involve a factory reset. hence im stuck in a catch 22.
According to posts i've read, fastboot doesn't work with my phone. I have been reticent to actually follow through with any method which may reset/factory wipe my phone (as, if i understand it correctly, changing the bootloader/recovery will?).
even though i have found apk's for some of these apps, they are only for the trial versions, and not what i have previously paid for. furthermore, some of these companies have either gone bust, or simply refuse to respond to my emails. losing their cache i can live with, losing the full apps i "can't".
i use a laptop with arch installed. i have occassional access to a windows10 pc.
please please tell me it is possible to root this phone without losing these apps. Or at the very least, a way of pulling/backing up these apps.
ive not found a browser that can see into the data\app folder. adb can see into the data\app folder and pull apps, but not the apps i want to backup which have been pulled from the play store that ive paid for.
phone details:
model sm-n910t
android 6.0.1
baseband n910tuvu2eqi2
kernel 3.10.40 - 9385989
[email protected]#1
build no mmb29m.n910tuvu2eqi2
Hrafnblod said:
Hi,
Ive been searching around all week now trying to find a way to do the above, root my note 4 without a factory reset.
As far as i can gather, my bootloader is unlocked.
I suspect it has had somekind of non-t-mobile standard wizardry performed upon it prior to my ownership (2nd hand). The reason i think this (naive?) is as i understand it, these, in the UK, were locked to t-mobile sims new, however, mine can use any sim. also, since my ownership (couple years +), maybe 3 or 4 times it has randomly rebooted and gone into some kind of anti-"fiddling" mode stating something along the lines of "this phone has none genuine blah blah and is now locked. take it into a t-mobile shop to get fixed". A simple battery pull has "fixed" the issue each and every time.
Now, the actual main reason i want to root this, apart from the obvious other advantages, is to be able to perform a complete backup (including all the backup locked out apps). i have a few apps ive paid for, but have since been pulled from the play store, thus, should this phone die, i have no way of restoring them.
it seems that, the only way to backup these apps is to root the phone. i can only find ways in which to root my phone that involve a factory reset. hence im stuck in a catch 22.
According to posts i've read, fastboot doesn't work with my phone. I have been reticent to actually follow through with any method which may reset/factory wipe my phone (as, if i understand it correctly, changing the bootloader/recovery will?).
even though i have found apk's for some of these apps, they are only for the trial versions, and not what i have previously paid for. furthermore, some of these companies have either gone bust, or simply refuse to respond to my emails. losing their cache i can live with, losing the full apps i "can't".
i use a laptop with arch installed. i have occassional access to a windows10 pc.
please please tell me it is possible to root this phone without losing these apps. Or at the very least, a way of pulling/backing up these apps.
ive not found a browser that can see into the data\app folder. adb can see into the data\app folder and pull apps, but not the apps i want to backup which have been pulled from the play store that ive paid for.
phone details:
model sm-n910t
android 6.0.1
baseband n910tuvu2eqi2
kernel 3.10.40 - 9385989
[email protected]#1
build no mmb29m.n910tuvu2eqi2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried Odin? Samsung phones don't use fastboot but have their own flashing tool.
QuoPrimum said:
Have you tried Odin? Samsung phones don't use fastboot but have their own flashing tool.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm now rooted, cheers
I used ODIN on windows and CF_Auto Root.
I was just incredibly worried about getting a phone wipe/reset. I think, with having read through so many different guides and discussions, and having first tried to find a linux only solution, I'd ended up confusing myself. It just seemed that, when I thought I understood the process enough to actually physically start the rooting, all I could see was boot loop, bricking and factory reset issues in the guides.
Awesome forum.
Any apps you buy on the play store don't just disappear.
Check your actual purchase list for your Google account, it'll force a cached page.
Which is how I found out Activision pushed a (paid) mobile version of Zombies, removed it, then pushed the same game to the market which they continued to update.

Need help with app that is demanding unrooting.

Hi!
I have issue with app on my S7 Edge that demands me to unroot. I rooted my phone 5 years ago or more and I don't remember a thing about it. I did this to permanently remove bloatware. Only way I know to unroot is to flash stock-rom again but I don't want to loose my hard effort on debloating + data and so on. Is there any tricks for that? Like hide/remove su binary? I really don't remember where to start. Also with factory reset or something I cant remember I lost root access partially - that is apps can still tell that phone is rooted (root checker tells that root access is available but then also orange warning that root access is not properly installed on this device). But they can't request root privilege for some reason. But I still have this custom recovery rom installed where I have basically root access to phone - do you think I could use this to somehow hide temporarily root from my app that is complaining about it and then later restore root to the full - that is to make apps able to request root access again? I would like to keep my apps/data and I remember them getting lost in process of rooting due to some samsung encryption crap - not sure how to check data/app loss would be case now since I did it so long time ago. Could anyone help me out?
For documentation purposes. So in my case I had lost root with factory reset. I had to boot into TWRP and re-flash super su. Difference from official tutorial: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...ial-twrp-for-galaxy-s7-edge-hero2lte.3334084/ was that in step 9 my phone did not complain about dm-verity,. I did not have to disable encryption and I did not loose my data. Someone may correct me but it was because I had already rooted in past and the most likely cause for "loosing" root was doing factory reset. PS I have european model so I am not sure how much it makes this tutorial different.
Now what is left to do is come up with ideas how to hide root from 1 specific app in Android 7.

Categories

Resources