Database Users

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.

system less xposed/root pokemongo.

So I know more s7 owners than I play Pokémon go. Hell, half of the world plays. Do we have any way of running system less xposed yet to get the app to work? Play store hasn't updated yet, but I want a play before it does...

doubtful. from what i understand magic mask needs an unlocked bootloader. and im pretty sure we need a custom SU and xposed just to run the phone with the ENGboot. i could be way off the mark though lol

I'm wondering if suhide can do the same thing...

not sure. i know rootcloak doesnt work which hides root. from what i understand the SafetyNet checks if anything even the slightest changes are in the /system area every 30 mins. even the slightest variation to system is counted as root and kicks you off. i dont know anything about SUhide but if its in system i doubt it will work at all. i did read that if you run cyanogenmod13 rename the su to .bin i believe and toggle off root in the options you can play. i dont think the att version has CM13 unfortunately. ATT and Samsung hate us root users lol so doubt we ever will. isnt ENGboot still the only way to root the s7?

Yes... I unrooted, but quickly rerooted after a day without adaway and xposed. It's terrible that when purchasing a new device you need to consider it's unlock ability as a factor... back to the nexus I go I suppose

twizt3d said:
Yes... I unrooted, but quickly rerooted after a day without adaway and xposed. It's terrible that when purchasing a new device you need to consider it's unlock ability as a factor... back to the nexus I go I suppose
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right? For the past couple months I've pondered if I should sell my S7 for an unlockable device. I thought about maybe a OnePlus but really don't know. I like Samsung devices because they're always packed full of features compared to others in the same price range, from my experience anyways

What do you miss most about having root?

Hello all,
My Lg G4 experienced a dreaded boot loop because of overheating and Sprint decided it was best to give me the Lg G5 instead. The "upgrade" bothers me because there is no root yet for this phone, making it the first time I'll be without root access.
Root is indispensable namely for full, proper backups (Titanium Backup) and WiFi hotspot/tethering. I do not use the latter every day but it is indispensable for me.
Other aspects include Xposed (some tweaks are impossible even with separate apps), moving photos and videos to SD card, and some programs such as SoundAbout.
Formerly rooted users - how has life been for you without root? What apps do you miss, and how did you get around them?

I don't even know where to start. I've been using Android since the HTC Evo, and pretty much had a new Android phone every year...ALL rooted.
I basically, mostly miss all the things you mentioned though, such as titanium backup, and wifi tethering. Also used rom toolbox and other apps to make small tweeks as far as performance upgrades and visual preferences.
But the thing i might possibly miss the most, is the ability to BLOCK ADS!! Omg i didn't realize how much i despised seeing ads in my apps until i couldn't use root. I love this phone itself, but without root, Im pretty sure I'm going to be getting the Google Pixel soon. Nexus phones are usually rooted fairly easily and the phone itself is great also.
Sent from my LGLS992 using XDA-Developers mobile app

mistermidas said:
But the thing i might possibly miss the most, is the ability to BLOCK ADS!! Omg i didn't realize how much i despised seeing ads in my apps until i couldn't use root. I love this phone itself, but without root, Im pretty sure I'm going to be getting the Google Pixel soon. Nexus phones are usually rooted fairly easily and the phone itself is great also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can do that without root. Check out Adgaurd and or Adclear.
I use Adgaurd paid myself.

geeksmurf said:
You can do that without root. Check out Adgaurd and or Adclear.
I use Adgaurd paid myself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I've used adguard but it messes up my connection. It will stop my downloads and in general makes everything slow as hell. With root I can just put a hosts file in my etc folder and actually seems to speed up my connection.
Sent from my LGLS992 using XDA-Developers mobile app

i miss putting on a half baked CM rom that degrades photo quality, breaks core features of the phone and generally sucks just so i can say i rooted my phone.
/s
only thing I really miss is hot spot usage.
oh and the ability to fix this f*cking wakelock that won't go away and I can't trace without root.

This thread makes me sad inside because my buddy on T-Mobile just flashed cm and is making me jealous and angry that I bought this phone without doing research first. Lol.
I miss all the root and fun of trying new roms

Hotspot, hands down. Ad blocking (including YouTube ads) is 2nd.

AdBlock, unbloating, and the greatest thing I miss, viper4android.

How on Earth do I get rid of Sprint's visual voicemail? Before I just got rid of the program in Titanium Backup, either by uninstalling it or freezing it. Same with a bunch of other programs I can't get rid of
Even something as simple as getting rid of some notifications in the menu area - impossible without root.

I miss orbot,as for adblockers I use adguard,its the best I've used,paid or free. The thing I miss most is AOSP Roms

I would have to say it would be being able to delete unwanted apps, change my battery icon, take out ads on you tube and apps, being able to do full backups of my phone, and tethering my phone with wifi.

Everything... I hate this phone. I had all my tasker tasks, and all my games backed up on titanium backup. I want vanilla Android back. I want my foxfi back. I just want to be able to use my phone without stipulations. I will never buy another LG again. I'm going back to HTC.
Sent from my LGLS992 using XDA-Developers mobile app

You can remove ads in youtube using no root data firewall and using an adblock dns for that firewall so it uses that dns. Dont know why android blocks ability to set dns on mobile argh
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jianjia.firewall&hl=en
https://alternate-dns.com/ 198.101.242.72 and 23.253.163.53 as your DNS server
WHAT I MISS MOST:
Stop these stupid programs from having ability to autorun in background. With root on my amazon tablet, I can remove those handlers. I wonder if this can be done through adb?

root or not

I just got this device and haven't rooted any phone in a while. Is it worth rooting or no? What really are the advantages? BTW I decided to buy this from BB instead of a V20 from someone off of CL (doohhhh!!!) Lol.

From day to day uses performance and battery is quite good so if you don't care about latest Android version , security patches and heavy customisation you will be fine without root.
Because stock android on G5 plus is super smooth its first phone that I didn't root although I purchased g5plus because of development for Moto is very good but I don't ever feel that I need to root my device because I am quite happy with battery life and performance.
Hope it helps you to decide.

carnivalrejectq said:
I just got this device and haven't rooted any phone in a while. Is it worth rooting or no? What really are the advantages? BTW I decided to buy this from BB instead of a V20 from someone off of CL (doohhhh!!!) Lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I sed to root mainly to install ad block and maybe to try and get extra battery for my old NExus 5x but battery on the G5 Plus is good and I now use dns66 for adblock.

carnivalrejectq said:
I just got this device and haven't rooted any phone in a while. Is it worth rooting or no? What really are the advantages? BTW I decided to buy this from BB instead of a V20 from someone off of CL (doohhhh!!!) Lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me, the only real reason I root is to that I can install Adaway and remove bloatware.

badtlc said:
For me, the only real reason I root is to that I can install Adaway and remove bloatware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should've bought the v20. Some guy on CL was gonna sell it for 200. I was just skeptical cuz it wasn't unlocked and idk, have been burned before.

carnivalrejectq said:
I should've bought the v20. Some guy on CL was gonna sell it for 200. I was just skeptical cuz it wasn't unlocked and idk, have been burned before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You were right to be wary. That is definitely one of those "sounds too good to be true" situations.
Personally I like to root. Ad blockers, mods, debloating, backups, etc are all advantages I like to have.

Even with root adaway mostly remove ad from browsers for that you can have any third party chromium based browser. And if you want to black ads in all apps you can use adguard adclear or DNS they work better then AdAway without xposed even with rooted device you can not do.muchnfor the ads and even if you can do adguard is blbettef
As for the debloting you can remove system users for primery users with ADB you can find tutorial on XDA. You can use greenify without root you just have to grant ADB permission same goes for the app which stop any background service for apps.
You can remove YouTube and install ad free and background playback enabled version of YouTube.
And as for the customisation no offence but all custom ROM have some kind of bugs I try many custom roms on different device but something was always broken in custom ROMs. So in my opinion you cannot reli in custom roms
You can customise navigation bar and increase number of tiles in quick pulldown from 5 to your liking without root.
7.1.1 shortcuts works better then 7.1.1 on nova with sesame.
So basically you can block ads , remove bloat and customise navigation bar and quick setting without root.so until xposed is there I don't see any reason to root. Only think you can think of is security patches.

To root or not to root

Hi All
I will be receiving my OnePlus 6T (in thunder purple) this week and wanted to know if there is any benefit to rooting anymore, having read posts about widevine L1-L3 etc
I'd like to install the notification mod, speaker mod and the google camera app, (or anything else that is recommended) however i'm not sure if i can do these without root
I like to tinker with my phones and im pretty clued up with this sort of thing, ive just been out of the scene for a couple of years!
Looking forward to peoples views and comments.
Thanks all

I root just for the speaker mod alone. :good:
GCam doesn't require root.

tengtengvn said:
I root just for the speaker mod alone. :good:
GCam doesn't require root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, how big is the widevine issue once unlocked and rooted?

I use to root, but haven't in the last 3-4 years. The Huawei Mate phones I've used, really didn't need it. Pretty clean, and nothing I really needed to root anyway. Plus, unless you tweak them, I wouldn't be able to use Google pay.

Well, I was happy without root since the Note 5 but since Google is eager to slowly kill off various important apps that used to work without root on Oreo then I was forced to root this 6T since it's running on Pie. I think it's worth it now. I have call recording natively baked into the phone app, I can use Swift once more and I forgot how useful Titanium Backup is. I'm getting ready to try the speaker mod, as well.

Speaker mod seems useless. I root for adblocking without VPN (AdAway), root firewall (AFWall), and themes (Substratum).

I was a crack-flasher from way back and I don't find the need to unlock/root. I'd like Adaway but DNS66 pulls some of it's host files from Adaway.

I stopped rooting about a year or 2 ago with the note 4 and had no plans on it for the 6t but viper4android works perfectly so I rooted just for that. I have adguard for adblocker. As time goes on I might add some modules from magisk but as for now it's great. Titanium back up is always super useful as well.
MarylandCookie said:
Hi All
I will be receiving my OnePlus 6T (in thunder purple) this week and wanted to know if there is any benefit to rooting anymore, having read posts about widevine L1-L3 etc
I'd like to install the notification mod, speaker mod and the google camera app, (or anything else that is recommended) however i'm not sure if i can do these without root
I like to tinker with my phones and im pretty clued up with this sort of thing, ive just been out of the scene for a couple of years!
Looking forward to peoples views and comments.
Thanks all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thanks guys,
Some mixed feelings there. I’m guessing the speaker mod is not worth the hassle and the ad blocking can be achieved without root (looking at you blokada)
Not read up much on sunstratum, that’ll be my next to do...
Hmmm... decisions, decisions as I don’t want to decide to root 6 months down the line and find out I have to format my device (unlock bootloader)

MarylandCookie said:
Thanks guys,
Some mixed feelings there. I’m guessing the speaker mod is not worth the hassle and the ad blocking can be achieved without root (looking at you blokada)
Not read up much on sunstratum, that’ll be my next to do...
Hmmm... decisions, decisions as I don’t want to decide to root 6 months down the line and find out I have to format my device (unlock bootloader)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I personally love my 6t being rooted... I use adaway with Magisk v 18 which now has a Systemless host support in its (magisk)settings for ad blocking.. Substratum engine also works in magisk v 18 mod section. Swift black substratum theme works flawlessly.
Ex Kernel manager is great too.
I'm running ElementalX kernel 3.0.9. which is very smooth.
I updated to OOS 9.0.7. using TWRP fajita 3.2.3-8.
I have the stereo speaker mod also. It's not that impressive, but ok.
Well that's my 2 cents. personally I love this phone so much more now that it's rooted..
Hope this helps your decision.

So is the Widevine such a big issue with root?

MarylandCookie said:
So is the Widevine such a big issue with root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you watch netflix or something else that is using Widevine then yes! this is a big issue. You can always experiment with root and check it yourself. If you will not be happy with root you can always unroot + lock bootloader so all will return to normal.

meciu99 said:
If you watch netflix or something else that is using Widevine then yes! this is a big issue. You can always experiment with root and check it yourself. If you will not be happy with root you can always unroot + lock bootloader so all will return to normal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will I still be able to use my banking app? Also is there a site that lists what is reliant on widevine?

MarylandCookie said:
Thanks guys,
Some mixed feelings there. I’m guessing the speaker mod is not worth the hassle and the ad blocking can be achieved without root (looking at you blokada)
Not read up much on sunstratum, that’ll be my next to do...
Hmmm... decisions, decisions as I don’t want to decide to root 6 months down the line and find out I have to format my device (unlock bootloader)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not a hassle at all. So easy on this phone.
Speaker mod is great. I love it.

MarylandCookie said:
Thanks guys,
Some mixed feelings there. I’m guessing the speaker mod is not worth the hassle and the ad blocking can be achieved without root (looking at you blokada)
Not read up much on sunstratum, that’ll be my next to do...
Hmmm... decisions, decisions as I don’t want to decide to root 6 months down the line and find out I have to format my device (unlock bootloader)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unlock the BL and install Magisk.
No real hassle. You can take update locally and reroot.
The very first thing out of the box for my device was unlock the BL and root.

MarylandCookie said:
So is the Widevine such a big issue with root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Widevine is not directly related to root but with unlocked bootloader.
No issue with magisk and banking apps except a few that I don't remember of. Google pay works well

sounds like someone reading my threads...there's nothing here that wasn't mentioned in countless other threads. Weigh the pros and cons and make a decision...first time I've gone rootless in years.

OK.. got my handset.. its a beauty
1st thing i have done is Unlocked the bootloader.. so simple!
Will install magisk over the weekend and set phone up properly then. Have other family priorites that have come up to deal with at the moment.
Thanks all. Need to start reading, dont want to flash wrong recovery.

MarylandCookie said:
the ad blocking can be achieved without root (looking at you blokada)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For apps like Blokada, it's always running in the background and uses a VPN. If you use an actual VPN, this means you can't use Blokada while your VPN is running. AdAway just edits the host file. No app running in background, no VPN.

MarylandCookie said:
Will I still be able to use my banking app? Also is there a site that lists what is reliant on widevine?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm rooted and use BB&T banking app and Google pay +PayPal..