Database Users

Hello all first lg phone

Hi all first lg phone ever.always been a htc fan.as my contract was up this month. i decided That the htc m8 was not worth the upgrade from my m7. So here i am a proper LG phone virgin

me too, just joined this sub-forum, coming from the Nexus 4 end. Gotta say this G3 is a step up from the Nexus. Just got to figure a way out to delete all the LG crap, especially the McAffee anti virus. Anyone know how to get shot of unwanted apps, was easy with the nexus.

I rooted my G3 with this..
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2850906
Then deleted all the LG and AT&T bloat ware with titanium backup...
_________________
IT'S OVER 9000!!

UK-Sense said:
me too, just joined this sub-forum, coming from the Nexus 4 end. Gotta say this G3 is a step up from the Nexus. Just got to figure a way out to delete all the LG crap, especially the McAffee anti virus. Anyone know how to get shot of unwanted apps, was easy with the nexus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Disable it. Settings-Apps-find the app, click it-hit Disable. If you cannot disable it, then you will have to root and freeze it with Titanium.

GoogleAndroid said:
Disable it. Settings-Apps-find the app, click it-hit Disable. If you cannot disable it, then you will have to root and freeze it with Titanium.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have already disabled a few apps but I want to delete them totally, they are just using space up. Cannot root as my two banking apps will not run and neither will Sky Go

UK-Sense said:
I have already disabled a few apps but I want to delete them totally, they are just using space up. Cannot root as my two banking apps will not run and neither will Sky Go
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Click to collapse
I don't believe you can without root. You could root, remove them, and use a root hider for the apps that won't work with root.

UK-Sense said:
I have already disabled a few apps but I want to delete them totally, they are just using space up. Cannot root as my two banking apps will not run and neither will Sky Go
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Click to collapse
root doesn't break apps. Root is just a permissions thing. IT's like gaining admin access and nothing more. Unless I'm sorely mistaken about some unique thing with the G3 root exploit I've never heard of root breaking an app.

imucarmen said:
root doesn't break apps. Root is just a permissions thing. IT's like gaining admin access and nothing more. Unless I'm sorely mistaken about some unique thing with the G3 root exploit I've never heard of root breaking an app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well there are several apps that don't work with root.

thats strange because I haven't noticed. I rooted my G3 as soon as I got home with it and I didn't have any apps break due to it. I don't use all the apps though and froze a lot of them. Perhaps the ones it "breaks" are those I don't use. Can you tell me which apps having root breaks because I'd like to check that out because in almost 4 years of rooting my past 5 phones I've never encountered root breaking an app.

Isis/softcard can read if you can get root permissions and displays an error message, but if you use rootcloak from xposed framework, it'll run just fine.
Sent from my LG-D850

UK-Sense said:
I have already disabled a few apps but I want to delete them totally, they are just using space up. Cannot root as my two banking apps will not run and neither will Sky Go
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah you can. All you gotta do is, root with Stump, get superSU from playstore and then get titanium, do what you gotta do and then go to superSU and "Unroot".
That option deletes root. Goodluck
Sent from my LG-D852 using Tapatalk

imucarmen said:
thats strange because I haven't noticed. I rooted my G3 as soon as I got home with it and I didn't have any apps break due to it. I don't use all the apps though and froze a lot of them. Perhaps the ones it "breaks" are those I don't use. Can you tell me which apps having root breaks because I'd like to check that out because in almost 4 years of rooting my past 5 phones I've never encountered root breaking an app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well the two main ones for me are Halifax Banking and Sky Go. Also the Barclays banking app will not work. When you try to run them you get a message saying "Sorry we do not support rooted phones".
As it happens I have now moved a few apps to my SD card so have freed up a bit of space which was my main reason for my original post, I rather like the LG way of doing things, much better than Sense and definitely better than TW, so might just keep it stock :good:

Also my first LG phone been 4 days and I love it!! First thing I did was root with Towelroot the easiest I've ever rooted an android. With root everything is the way I want it now and so much less bloatware then my S4 had.
Really happy with this phone and quickly got use the buttons in the back which I find much easier.

imucarmen said:
thats strange because I haven't noticed. I rooted my G3 as soon as I got home with it and I didn't have any apps break due to it. I don't use all the apps though and froze a lot of them. Perhaps the ones it "breaks" are those I don't use. Can you tell me which apps having root breaks because I'd like to check that out because in almost 4 years of rooting my past 5 phones I've never encountered root breaking an app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Banking apps, not all but the ones I use don't work plus sky go.

Rooting as a whole

Seems after getting the Note 4 I have found my self wondering how I was ever with out root. Its crazy I cant stand this phone with out root. Its maddening to know I have Ads and apps I don't need. If Verizon didn't offer this phone at Christmas for 150.00 I would have never got it. #1 Reason no root was out yet but I took a chance. I know now or always have that you DEVS work hard to get stuff done. This was just a big ....
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HARD WORK!

Root will be out soon. I had no patience and switched to the Dev edition. I HATE ads and clustered samsung status bar with passion...

WhiteReign said:
Seems after getting the Note 4 I have found my self wondering how I was ever with out root. Its crazy I cant stand this phone with out root. Its maddening to know I have Ads and apps I don't need. If Verizon didn't offer this phone at Christmas for 150.00 I would have never got it. #1 Reason no root was out yet but I took a chance. I know now or always have that you DEVS work hard to get stuff done. This was just a big ....
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HARD WORK!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Articulated very nicely. I too long for Root and full control of my phone restored in my hands.

Op is the one who has joined XDA since 2011 and more than 400+ thanks (out of 500+ posts ) Posted this in the wrong forum accidentally or didn't know this is development forum

This is exactly why I sold my Verizon n4 and got a nexus 6. I have never had a phone without root. It was driving me nuts as well. I love the phone but couldn't deal with no root. I check back periodically to see if root has been achieved. Maybe one day I will have a n4 again.

Meh... You can disable the bloat with the stock app manager... Yeah, not 100%, but I am not gonna obsess about 4 or 5 tiny apps or services running in the background that I don't see or notice anyway... I am not that much of a control freak... It's a phone, not the center of my universe that I feel compelled to bend 100% to my will.. hehe
Root would be nice I guess, but on these newer phones, the appeal is less and less. I can skin it however I want with dozens of launchers, and debloating a few extra apps with root won't make it any faster...
By the time root comes out, the devs will have moved on to newer phones so the ROM support will suck anyway...

It's unfortunate. I would love to have root access on this phone for various reasons . My next phone will have it, even if I have to leave Verizon.
Sadly, the Verizon Note 4 is never going to see it...at least not before the next round of Note flagships

First post, just got a note 4. Had a rooted lg g2 before it. I'm loving the note so far (only had it about a week), but I use limelight to play computer games on my phone and it doesn't support mouse input very well without root access. . . As has been said I've disabled most of the bloat, but it would be nice to be able to just get rid of it. Also Sixaxis controller requires root to pair a ps3 or 4 controller to my phone... I hope root comes soon, maybe I should become a developer to help the cause. I too thank you for all your work.

SquireSCA said:
Meh... You can disable the bloat with the stock app manager... Yeah, not 100%, but I am not gonna obsess about 4 or 5 tiny apps or services running in the background that I don't see or notice anyway... I am not that much of a control freak... It's a phone, not the center of my universe that I feel compelled to bend 100% to my will.. hehe
Root would be nice I guess, but on these newer phones, the appeal is less and less. I can skin it however I want with dozens of launchers, and debloating a few extra apps with root won't make it any faster...
By the time root comes out, the devs will have moved on to newer phones so the ROM support will suck anyway...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can disable any app you want using adb shell.
This issue around root has been interesting for me. For awhile, I was like you, OP and many others who feel they must have root. However, after about 5 weeks of use now, I find myself perfectly happy with the Note 4 just the way it is and I wonder if I'll even take root-ability into consideration when making my next phone purchase.

mlin said:
You can disable any app you want using adb shell.
This issue around root has been interesting for me. For awhile, I was like you, OP and many others who feel they must have root. However, after about 5 weeks of use now, I find myself perfectly happy with the Note 4 just the way it is and I wonder if I'll even take root-ability into consideration when making my next phone purchase.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am with you. Root used to be mandatory IMHO, as phone makers just didn't seem to be able to get the phone's to work properly out of the box... slow, clunky, missing things, instability, outdated software, etc...
Nowadays, I just don't see that. Typically it is the ROMs that are unstable, miss features, etc... I see thread after thread of this great new ROM! But the camera is flunky, doesn't have data, or the IR blaster doesn't work, etc...
I had an LG G2 and the ROMs didn't impress me much. Went to a GS5 and was even less impressed. None of the ones that I tried were measurably faster than stock, none were 100% functional, or if they were, they were just tweaked stock ROMs and so what's the point? Risk warranty issues or bricking it, or not able to get OTA's, for what? Just to be able to brag to my nerd friends that I had a transparent status bar because a regular one bothers me SOOOO SOOOO much? LOL
The Note 4, is amazing. Debloat it with ADB or with the app manager, install your favorite launcher and icon pack to get the look and feel that you want, and know that it will work 100%, it's fast, stable and no warranty issues, no being left out when Lollipop drops and you want it but it breaks root again so you have to stick with the old software, etc...

I'm with you guys. I come from a Nexus4 and still have a Nexus7. I miss root for Titanium backup and that's about it. Sure I'm going to once it drops but the note is a very capable device able to stand on its own.

SquireSCA said:
Meh... You can disable the bloat with the stock app manager... Yeah, not 100%, but I am not gonna obsess about 4 or 5 tiny apps or services running in the background that I don't see or notice anyway... I am not that much of a control freak... It's a phone, not the center of my universe that I feel compelled to bend 100% to my will.. hehe
Root would be nice I guess, but on these newer phones, the appeal is less and less. I can skin it however I want with dozens of launchers, and debloating a few extra apps with root won't make it any faster...
By the time root comes out, the devs will have moved on to newer phones so the ROM support will suck anyway...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4 or 5 apps? You must be oblivious to the hundreds of services and dozens of apps that are running on your phone. Don't forget about hundreds of intents that must all be doing something in your favor.
Big Red just wants your phone to run smooth and they want your battery life to be even more fabulous.

xdadevnube said:
4 or 5 apps? You must be oblivious to the hundreds of services and dozens of apps that are running on your phone. Don't forget about hundreds of intents that must all be doing something in your favor.
Big Red just wants your phone to run smooth and they want your battery life to be even more fabulous.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can disable any app on the phone with this.

xdadevnube said:
4 or 5 apps? You must be oblivious to the hundreds of services and dozens of apps that are running on your phone. Don't forget about hundreds of intents that must all be doing something in your favor.
Big Red just wants your phone to run smooth and they want your battery life to be even more fabulous.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can disable most of the things in the app manager. There are only a few that you can't, but then you can do that with ADB. Either way, you can debloat the phone, without root, and without risk of messing up your warranty or the ability to get the Lollipop OTA in a few weeks.
Also, a lot of reviews have shown that disabling everything under the sun to free up RAM, can actually slow your phone down, not speed it up.
Getting the true crap disabled, is the biggest thing and anyone can do that without root today.

It doesn't have to be the center of someone's Universe for them to enjoy changing it and making it their own, people do this will all types of things. Some would call it a "hobby" or an interest. Lots of people enjoy spending hours on Facebook or playing video games, others enjoy tinkering with their devices.
I went for a while with a retail Note 4 and ended up getting a DE. There are too many things that I missed, here are some of them:
Add WiFi HotSpot Toggle and Bypass Subscription Check
Add Flashlight Toggle
AdAway
Titanium Backup
Viper4Android
Root Explorer
Xposed Framework with the following modules:
-Youtube AdAway
-Play Store Link In App Info
-Wanam
-Swype Keyboard Tweaks
-Notify Clean (Clean notification area)
-No Map Tips (Disable Google Play Maps location accuracy tips)
-Google Play Music Listen Later (Change the default Google Play Music pane and tabs)
-Disable Clear Defaults Dialog
Chrome Pie (Add Pie control to Chrome)

SquireSCA said:
Meh... You can disable the bloat with the stock app manager... Yeah, not 100%, but I am not gonna obsess about 4 or 5 tiny apps or services running in the background that I don't see or notice anyway... I am not that much of a control freak... It's a phone, not the center of my universe that I feel compelled to bend 100% to my will.. hehe
Root would be nice I guess, but on these newer phones, the appeal is less and less. I can skin it however I want with dozens of launchers, and debloating a few extra apps with root won't make it any faster...
By the time root comes out, the devs will have moved on to newer phones so the ROM support will suck anyway...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And whats even better you can block every single possible app with adb !
Until we get root its live able without it.
Sent from my SM-N910V using XDA Free mobile app

SquireSCA said:
You can disable most of the things in the app manager. There are only a few that you can't, but then you can do that with ADB. Either way, you can debloat the phone, without root, and without risk of messing up your warranty or the ability to get the Lollipop OTA in a few weeks.
Also, a lot of reviews have shown that disabling everything under the sun to free up RAM, can actually slow your phone down, not speed it up.
Getting the true crap disabled, is the biggest thing and anyone can do that without root today.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
like I said, oblivious

The Note 4 is so sick the way it is! Do I wish we had root? Check. Do I wish we had unlocked bootloader? Check. Am I gonna give up on THE best phone out right now because I don't have those things? Hell NO! The phone is a beast! And I'll keep waiting, maybe for nothing....... but if it is for nothing, I'll live. Love the Note 4! And sticking with it no matter what.

zounduser said:
The Note 4 is so sick the way it is! Do I wish we had root? Check. Do I wish we had unlocked bootloader? Check. Am I gonna give up on THE best phone out right now because I don't have those things? Hell NO! The phone is a beast! And I'll keep waiting, maybe for nothing....... but if it is for nothing, I'll live. Love the Note 4! And sticking with it no matter what.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Phone sucks without root. Seems like you don't need your xda account anymore
Sent from my SM-N900V using XDA Free mobile app
---------- Post added at 11:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:20 PM ----------
I can't use a phone without pie controls. Comes in handywhen laying in the bed
Sent from my SM-N900V using XDA Free mobile app

I miss being able to use better battery stats to follow wakelocks. I haven't had any real issues with wakelocks so far, but it really is just a matter of time.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Sell me on root

I haven't updated and I have plenty of devices that are rooted, but it's always usually a hassle, usually stuff breaks and not everything works. The main reason I like to root. Is to remove bloatware and change some main features. What for you guys is the selling point to root your phone?

I haven't done it yet, but I like to have it to increase battery life to the max and remove ads.

GigaSPX said:
I haven't done it yet, but I like to have it to increase battery life to the max and remove ads.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's root... If that doesn't sell you... then buy an iPhone.

RBThompsonV said:
it's root... If that doesn't sell you... then buy an iPhone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you referring to me or TC? I'm just telling him what I like root for and what its selling point for me is.
Even then, an iPhone still can't do as much as stock Android phones. I just haven't the time to do root on my S7 Edge because I'm still speculating on whether the bugs will be fixed and all (such as making Samsung Pay work).

GigaSPX said:
Are you referring to me or TC? I'm just telling him what I like root for and what its selling point for me is.
Even then, an iPhone still can't do as much as stock Android phones. I just haven't the time to do root on my S7 Edge because I'm still speculating on whether the bugs will be fixed and all (such as making Samsung Pay work).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I was just being a douche to the OP....

I'm on apd2 just got the phone today. Is that version rootable?
Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

alsgarage said:
I'm on apd2 just got the phone today. Is that version rootable?
Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup and PE1 is also.

Doesn't look like anyone is selling this person on root. I'll try.
I have rooted my phones in the past but going to stay away from it for now on the S7 Edge because of Samsung Pay.
Best reasons to root from my perspective, off the top of my head:
Titanium backup! This is one of the things I miss the most.
Xposed Modules: GravityBox (love playing and tweaking the settings), YouTube Adaway (if you don't have a Red account, use this)
Viper4Android (best audio tweaking/enhancing mod for any phone)
Liveboot (changes boot animation, love this one)
There's this thing called Lucky Patcher but you can research that on your own

xocomaox said:
Doesn't look like anyone is selling this person on root. I'll try.
I have rooted my phones in the past but going to stay away from it for now on the S7 Edge because of Samsung Pay.
Best reasons to root from my perspective, off the top of my head:
Titanium backup! This is one of the things I miss the most.
Xposed Modules: GravityBox (love playing and tweaking the settings), YouTube Adaway (if you don't have a Red account, use this)
Viper4Android (best audio tweaking/enhancing mod for any phone)
Liveboot (changes boot animation, love this one)
There's this thing called Lucky Patcher but you can research that on your own
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See, that's why I'm swaying my mind about root. Samsung Pay is extraordinarily versatile and it actually accepted one of my credit cards for use. I have NEVER used Samsung Pay in a real life situation yet since I haven't a need to, but I would like to keep my options opened in case I do forget my wallet and all.
Whyyyyyyy? >_<

GigaSPX said:
See, that's why I'm swaying my mind about root. Samsung Pay is extraordinarily versatile and it actually accepted one of my credit cards for use. I have NEVER used Samsung Pay in a real life situation yet since I haven't a need to, but I would like to keep my options opened in case I do forget my wallet and all.
Whyyyyyyy? >_<
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should really try it out sooner rather than later. There are such great things with root and you currently have nothing keeping you from doing it. You can always go back to stock to use SPay, but at least decide if you would like it or not.
Actually, if you live in the US, make three small purchases between now and August 2nd to get a free $10 Amazon gift card. It's the current promo going on right now. Although you may want to waif for another "First use" Samsung Pay promo where you can sometimes get decent stuff. I got a $30 eBay gift card for my first SPay use back in April.

And Qualcomm S7 root is reversible so you can try it and, if you don't like it, restore the non-rooted state with Samsung Pay.
Other thoughts (on how I use root):
App settings: this allows you to set DPI (and other settings) per app. This way, I can run the phone at 400 dpi but have the camera and other apps run at their native DPI full screen
Amplify/Greenify can do wonders to your battery by controlling how often certain programs call home.

Anyone know if update that came out today kills root?
Sent from my SM-G935V using XDA-Developers mobile app

mdonnelly1127 said:
Anyone know if update that came out today kills root?
Sent from my SM-G935V using XDA-Developers mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure it does not as the idea behind this root method is that you are not rooting the kernel that this firmware update comes with, but the engineering one. Since you are only allowed to flash "official" firmwares, this update would not block it.
You're not exploiting the carrier's stuff, but an engineering kernel that is legal to flash tot he phone without rejection. If that makes sense.

xocomaox said:
I'm pretty sure it does not as the idea behind this root method is that you are not rooting the kernel that this firmware update comes with, but the engineering one. Since you are only allowed to flash "official" firmwares, this update would not block it.
You're not exploiting the carrier's stuff, but an engineering kernel that is legal to flash tot he phone without rejection. If that makes sense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does lol thank you
Sent from my SM-G935V using XDA-Developers mobile app

i love having root but I actually use SamPay allot so unfortunately root doesn't give me anything i want more than SamPay. Hopefully something like rootcloak will allow SamPay to work soon??

Is Samsung Pay more useful than Android Pay, which I believe works with root? I don't really care about either app because my bank is always behind the times and still can't be used in Apple Pay or Android Pay (I just tried again and still not supported by my bank).
You guys pretty much hit all the reasons that I like root, especially all the Xposed modules to do things like keep YouTube playing with screen off and recording phone calls, and just having control over the operating system in general. I couldn't imagine if Windows was locked down like Android, yet 99% of people just accept being restricted on their mobile devices. I've always tinkered with computers though so having less than root or admin access to stuff is maddening. I'm glad that I'm a domain admin at work and not just another pleeb user, haha.
I wouldn't necessarily count on root helping your battery life a ton, though. I've done lots of crap to try and help, yet it still consumes 2 or 3% an hour in standby, just as it did when it was full of bloat with tons of wake locks. That's with AOD on and Bluetooth enabled and connected to my Gear S2 though, which are bigger battery hogs than the little tweaks that I've done with Greenify, Amplify, and Titanium app-freezing.
A couple other things I want root for are Tasker & FolderMount, though the latter has caused me to Odin my phone back to life twice in an attempt to make it work.

snake2332 said:
Is Samsung Pay more useful than Android Pay, which I believe works with root? I don't really care about either app because my bank is always behind the times and still can't be used in Apple Pay or Android Pay (I just tried again and still not supported by my bank).
You guys pretty much hit all the reasons that I like root, especially all the Xposed modules to do things like keep YouTube playing with screen off and recording phone calls, and just having control over the operating system in general. I couldn't imagine if Windows was locked down like Android, yet 99% of people just accept being restricted on their mobile devices. I've always tinkered with computers though so having less than root or admin access to stuff is maddening. I'm glad that I'm a domain admin at work and not just another pleeb user, haha.
I wouldn't necessarily count on root helping your battery life a ton, though. I've done lots of crap to try and help, yet it still consumes 2 or 3% an hour in standby, just as it did when it was full of bloat with tons of wake locks. That's with AOD on and Bluetooth enabled and connected to my Gear S2 though, which are bigger battery hogs than the little tweaks that I've done with Greenify, Amplify, and Titanium app-freezing.
A couple other things I want root for are Tasker & FolderMount, though the latter has caused me to Odin my phone back to life twice in an attempt to make it work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android Pay does not work with root iirc.

snake2332 said:
Is Samsung Pay more useful than Android Pay, which I believe works with root? I don't really care about either app because my bank is always behind the times and still can't be used in Apple Pay or Android Pay (I just tried again and still not supported by my bank).
You guys pretty much hit all the reasons that I like root, especially all the Xposed modules to do things like keep YouTube playing with screen off and recording phone calls, and just having control over the operating system in general. I couldn't imagine if Windows was locked down like Android, yet 99% of people just accept being restricted on their mobile devices. I've always tinkered with computers though so having less than root or admin access to stuff is maddening. I'm glad that I'm a domain admin at work and not just another pleeb user, haha.
I wouldn't necessarily count on root helping your battery life a ton, though. I've done lots of crap to try and help, yet it still consumes 2 or 3% an hour in standby, just as it did when it was full of bloat with tons of wake locks. That's with AOD on and Bluetooth enabled and connected to my Gear S2 though, which are bigger battery hogs than the little tweaks that I've done with Greenify, Amplify, and Titanium app-freezing.
A couple other things I want root for are Tasker & FolderMount, though the latter has caused me to Odin my phone back to life twice in an attempt to make it work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMO, I feel like I have faster battery drainage with root than without, and I'm on the U firmware right now.

I would say that if you don't know if/why you want root, then you probably don't want it. Particularly in the case of the s7e for VZ. There really isn't anything in the way of custom ROMs or mods yet. I also don't think battery life and performance are any better with root, and in fact I believe it could be the opposite. One of the most common things I hear is people wanting to remove bloat, although the effect of that can mostly be accomplished through an app like package disabler.
Having said that I rooted simply because I wanted to. I like knowing that I can do whatever I'd like on my device. While I have yet to find any critical functionality that being rooted on the S7E gives me that I didn't have without it...I like playing around with things like tasker, and editing the build.prop file.
I've had Titanium backup for a long time, and I certainly like being able to use that again.
I'd like to see a native tethering mod, but since I have Foxfi that's simply a matter of convenience.

I used to be all about root until the Note 5. That phone was fast enough and good enough battery that I didn't need to break samsung pay forever to get root. Then I had a Nexus 6p, rooted immediately but no ROMS were as dependable as stock so I stayed stock and used Android Pay. Now I jump ship to VZW where we seem to get the lock down more often than not, and I really don't care.
Keep it stock, enjoy monthly security updates and Samsung Pay. Just use Samsung browser adaway for Internet ads, and Package Disabler Pro if you'd care to slim down any apps that aren't easily disabled without it. Root causes more headache than its worth for me.

Non Root alternatives

It seems that the days of rooting our phones is slowly coming to an end. The latest carrier phones are all very difficult or impossible to root. I have had every android phone I have owned since 2011, rooted. So I am very dependent on things like Titanium Backup, Adaway, Root explorer & various battery utilities. My question is, if I did not root, what are some alternatives to these apps that do not require root. I use Titanium for de-bloating & backing up. Here are a couple of screenshots that show what I use root for. Appreciate any comments on this.
Pat

patcal said:
It seems that the days of rooting our phones is slowly coming to an end. The latest carrier phones are all very difficult or impossible to root. I have had every android phone I have owned since 2011, rooted. So I am very dependent on things like Titanium Backup, Adaway, Root explorer & various battery utilities. My question is, if I did not root, what are some alternatives to these apps that do not require root. I use Titanium for de-bloating & backing up. Here are a couple of screenshots that show what I use root for. Appreciate any comments on this.
Pat
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's a start https://forum.xda-developers.com/s7-edge/how-to/root-modifications-t3339094 it's for the S7 edge and has some great information. I also recommended adhell for blocking ads.

sabresfan said:
Here's a start https://forum.xda-developers.com/s7-edge/how-to/root-modifications-t3339094 it's for the S7 edge and has some great information. I also recommended adhell for blocking ads.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. I obviously did not search enough.
Pat

I have to admit there are some cool apps & mods in here.
Even though this is an older thread, I thought I'd mention a couple of apps I use.
Hiya is an unknown caller identifier & blocker, it was built into one of the note 7 ports I ran in my note 4 and have since been using it on my S7E (it may have been the default unknown caller identifier on the note 7?). It's free, it works, and I like it. (some people like true caller which is an alternative but I had read that people's unsolicited sales calls went up after installing true caller? I don't know if that's true, I read it somewhere so I'm sharing that info. I have NOT noticed any of that in the months I've been running hiya for the record btw)
Hiya caller ID and blocker
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.webascender.callerid
DNS66 is another completely free ad blocking VPN (like block this, adguard, etc) this one uses adaway host files (among others) and has whitelist for apps too. Seems to work, but there has been some serious debate in here about ad blocking, so I'll just mention it and let the android warriors decide on there own. AFAIK it blocks system wide, in browser and in apps?
DNS66 VPN system wide ad blocking with multiple host file selections including adaway host file, custom entries, whitelist and more.
https://github.com/julian-klode/dns66
Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 01:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:00 PM ----------
Well this post was made to he wrong threads, go to the one sabresfan linked to above... It's worth reading regardless if you have root or not. Great info there. I'm just going to leave that info posted above since I think those are good apps and worth installing irregardless.
Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

Thanks for the info. I am really not wanting to give up root but the "writing is on the wall" so to speak. I played around with Helium backup yesterday. Compared to Titanium, I was underwhelmed.

I've yet to see a backup app in the same league as TiBU, PDP does a great job of disabling unwanted apps.
For backup, I've been using Samsung cloud account. Its not perfect but works ok I guess.
Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

Araltd said:
I've yet to see a backup app in the same league as TiBU, PDP does a great job of disabling unwanted apps.
For backup, I've been using Samsung cloud account. Its not perfect but works ok I guess.
Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Am I correct in that PDP just disables the apps, not removes them?

patcal said:
Am I correct in that PDP just disables the apps, not removes them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it just disables them from loading or starting but they still take up space. Which honestly is no big deal imo. Disabling them eliminates them loading at all so essentially they are not there...
Sent from my Rooted Galaxy S7 EDGE on Android 7.0 Nougat, here's the instructions how to do it!

Anyone feel the need to root anymore?

I've rooted just about every phone I've owned (sans the AT&T Note 5 never again a carrier phone for me after that).
I bought the OnePlus unlocked direct (vs trade in) so I'd have the easy "option" down the road versus playing the SIM unlock and bootloader bin file rodeo.
With that said, I've set up the entire phone and shockingly...I'm happy.
I've got iYTBP without root. I've got legitimate adblocking on a per-app base without root. Most importantly, I've retained L1 Windvine provision for DRM content (e.g. Netflix and YouTube TV) which you lose once the bootloader is unlocked. I enjoyed flashing the 9.0.4 update as an incremdental OTA with no drama. Rooted you have to take the full, then reflash TWRP, then flash Magisk, etc. etc. etc.
All I'm missing is Titanium Backup. Substratum I've enjoyed but can live without. Occasional app updates and you have force closed apps until the theme is either updated or reapplied.
I dunno maybe I'm getting old, but I don't miss the constant tinkering. The 6T is blistering fast, bloat-free, and "works." First phone I'm honestly happy to not root.
Who else feels the same? :good:

I haven't rooted a phone since my Nexus 6. 6P went unrooted, Pixel XL, and Pixel XL2 went unrooted and no bootloader locked.
I don't feel the need to do so on my 6T BUT here are some things that might make me reconsider
Always on Display.
Audio enhancements for BT 5.0 similar to that of the moto x4 where you could connect multiple BT speakers and play to them simultaneously.
USB-C enhancements like video out (highly doubt the hardware is even there to support it)
the key to happiness

Nosferatu. said:
I've rooted just about every phone I've owned (sans the AT&T Note 5 never again a carrier phone for me after that).
I bought the OnePlus unlocked direct (vs trade in) so I'd have the easy "option" down the road versus playing the SIM unlock and bootloader bin file rodeo.
With that said, I've set up the entire phone and shockingly...I'm happy.
I've got iYTBP without root. I've got legitimate adblocking on a per-app base without root. Most importantly, I've retained L1 Windvine provision for DRM content (e.g. Netflix and YouTube TV) which you lose once the bootloader is unlocked. I enjoyed flashing the 9.0.4 update as an incremdental OTA with no drama. Rooted you have to take the full, then reflash TWRP, then flash Magisk, etc. etc. etc.
All I'm missing is Titanium Backup. Substratum I've enjoyed but can live without. Occasional app updates and you have force closed apps until the theme is either updated or reapplied.
I dunno maybe I'm getting old, but I don't miss the constant tinkering. The 6T is blistering fast, bloat-free, and "works." First phone I'm honestly happy to not root.
Who else feels the same? :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can I ask what Adblocker you use? I used AdHell3 on my Galaxy S9 and absolutely loved it, using Blockada now but it doesn't block ads nearly as much as Adhell did.

I've only owned nexus and pixel phones and rooted every single one. Never even had a second thought to root my 6t. I probably would have been happy without root but I'm happier with it.
I love having substratum, adaway and viper4android. I agree it is quite tedious to update but I can live with it for the added benefit of the 3 apps I listed. Haven't even updated to oos 9.0.5 yet.

Does anyone of these roots make it faster and more clean guis?
GeekMcLeod said:
I've only owned nexus and pixel phones and rooted every single one. Never even had a second thought to root my 6t. I probably would have been happy without root but I'm happier with it.
I love having substratum, adaway and viper4android. I agree it is quite tedious to update but I can live with it for the added benefit of the 3 apps I listed. Haven't even updated to oos 9.0.5 yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

coolguy said:
Does anyone of these roots make it faster and more clean guis?
Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They don't make it any faster, but I don't feel the need for it to be any faster. Looks cleaner, to me, with substratum because everything is dark.

The theme dark mode is already all dark right?
GeekMcLeod said:
They don't make it any faster, but I don't feel the need for it to be any faster. Looks cleaner, to me, with substratum because everything is dark.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

TheKnux said:
Can I ask what Adblocker you use? I used AdHell3 on my Galaxy S9 and absolutely loved it, using Blockada now but it doesn't block ads nearly as much as Adhell did.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Blockada. I also have NordVPN which can block adds for me as well but that's a paid service. I use it for when travelling. I like that the "key" icon for the VPN running is hidden thanks to the notch. Coming from a 5T where there was no notch I had to have root to remove that icon as it's non-removable from the stock settings control panel.

Only 2 reasons I still root.
Making backups with titanium backups on a schedule (don't want to lose my google authenticator and its billion codes), and adaway.

I rooted just so I could black out my theme. Since Google felt the need to lock down themeing in Pie.

Having root or no root is subjective and depends on what you do. Me personally I have more than 11 apps that needs root, TiB, V4A, AdBlocker kernel management are some that I use. The phone is fast and clean, with root it can be faster and cleaner.

coolguy said:
The theme dark mode is already all dark right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't use it but I doubt it themes as much as substratum does.

Nosferatu. said:
I use Blockada. I also have NordVPN which can block adds for me as well but that's a paid service. I use it for when travelling. I like that the "key" icon for the VPN running is hidden thanks to the notch. Coming from a 5T where there was no notch I had to have root to remove that icon as it's non-removable from the stock settings control panel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I only see Blockada DNS changer in the play store. Is there another app named Blockada that does AdBlocking? The only reason I root at this point is for AdAway. I'd like to have a solid alternative.

Yea I don't see a huge importance anymore on rooting my phone. I used to root my phones to get rid of bloat and have that pure android experience. OP already gives you that.

Nosferatu. said:
I've rooted just about every phone I've owned (sans the AT&T Note 5 never again a carrier phone for me after that).
I bought the OnePlus unlocked direct (vs trade in) so I'd have the easy "option" down the road versus playing the SIM unlock and bootloader bin file rodeo.
With that said, I've set up the entire phone and shockingly...I'm happy.
I've got iYTBP without root. I've got legitimate adblocking on a per-app base without root. Most importantly, I've retained L1 Windvine provision for DRM content (e.g. Netflix and YouTube TV) which you lose once the bootloader is unlocked. I enjoyed flashing the 9.0.4 update as an incremdental OTA with no drama. Rooted you have to take the full, then reflash TWRP, then flash Magisk, etc. etc. etc.
All I'm missing is Titanium Backup. Substratum I've enjoyed but can live without. Occasional app updates and you have force closed apps until the theme is either updated or reapplied.
I dunno maybe I'm getting old, but I don't miss the constant tinkering. The 6T is blistering fast, bloat-free, and "works." First phone I'm honestly happy to not root.
Who else feels the same? :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I root so I can backup and restore data via Titanium.
Also I want to use a system wide ad blocker.

tk8lm6 said:
I only see Blockada DNS changer in the play store. Is there another app named Blockada that does AdBlocking? The only reason I root at this point is for AdAway. I'd like to have a solid alternative.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have to get it through their website :good:
https://blokada.org/index.html

tk8lm6 said:
I only see Blockada DNS changer in the play store. Is there another app named Blockada that does AdBlocking? The only reason I root at this point is for AdAway. I'd like to have a solid alternative.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://energized.pro/
https://forum.xda-developers.com/an...energized-protection-ad-porn-malware-t3803773
The energized site is down for the next day or so but look up Energized on XDA. You can get Blokada on F-Droid. You're not going to find it in the Play Store. I found Blokada worked better than the DNSFilter app in said thread. System-wide ad blocking with either that or my paid VPN = no need to root for me.
The neat thing about Blokada vs the version of Adaway I used when on root is that I can whitelist particular apps that require a stock host file. Titanium Backup is nice and missed but I rarely used it. Plus if there's issues I prefer a clean install rather than injecting data. I prefer TWRP's backups over Titanium but that's a different topic of discussion.

To install Stereo Speaker mod..

Thanks. I guess I didn't realize that if you want to use this or Adguard DNS based as blocking, you can't easily use your third party VPN app (in my case ProtonVPN)
I guess I need to do some more homework.

I recieved my OP6t today and the first thing i did was unlock the BL and root it. After that i thought why. And the only thing worth rooting and losing L1 Widevine is AdAway.
5 min later, i flashed stock recovery and locked the bootloader so i can watch Netflix in HD ?
I only used Magisk and TWRP on my 5t for
- Stereo Speaker Mod (6t Speaker are awesome without Mod)
- AdAway (Just use a VPN service if you want or just use an ad block browser if the websites you use bombs you with ads, in app ads are more or less ok for me)
- Nandroid Backups (What should happen if you have everything stock ?)
- Youtube Vanced (just use the non-root Version with the right MicroG Apk)
- Viper4Android (i didn't used it anyway)
So, now full stock, always up to date without reflashing Magisk and so on. ?