What is Rooting on Android?
Rooting is the process of gaining privileged access, known as root access, to the Android Operating System infrastructure. Having root access allows the user to bypass some of the limitations software and hardware developers put on their products, install custom icons, themes and widgets which aren’t normally available, and even change the way the phone works completely. The terms rooting and root
access comes from the fact that the most privileged user on any Linux operating system is called Root, and Android is based on Linux.
A rooted phone is capable of having custom versions of the operating system installed, which are called ROM’s. Rooted phones can also have apps installed (available officially from the Google Play Store) which allows you to increase performance by overclocking the processor or create full custom backups of all apps and software. Rooting will even let you force an upgrade to a newer version of the Android OS, even if the handset is locked to an older version.
Rooting of Android smartphones has been around almost as long as the operating system itself, with the very first phone to be rooted being the first widely available Android handset, the T-Mobile G1 (also known as the HTC Dream). A few industrious users of this new phone discovered that anything typed on the on-screen keyboard was interpreted as a command in the root shell. Google quickly released a patch
to fix this exploit, but a signed image of the exploitable firmware was leaked and rooting continued to increase and expand.
Is Rooting Legal?
Up until the last quarter of 2022, smartphones and tablets (and other mobile devices) were exempt from the law which made it illegal to circumvent security controls that are intended to stop piracy and copyright violations. Things have now changed and rooting is now, thanks to a new ruling by the US Library of Congress, a bit of a legal minefield.
It is legal to root an Android smartphone if the sole purpose is to allow interoperability of lawful applications and software on the device. It is illegal, however, to unlock a phone so that it can be used on another carrier network without the consent of the supplying carrier. So if you bought your phone from Verizon Wireless, you will need permission from Verizon to unlock it or request that the carrier unlocks it for you. The grey area to this is where the handset is no longer under contract from the carrier.
Benefits of Rooting
Install Custom ROM’s – The main reason many people want to root their phone is so that they can install custom ROM’s. A custom ROM is a piece of software which alters the way the phone works at a core level. You can find ROM’s which simply change the user interface, which contain different versions of Android or which contain additional settings and functions such as overclocking. Installing Custom ROM’s is not the same thing as Rooting your phone. The ability to install ROM’s comes from the act of Rooting.
Taking Control – Another benefit of rooting is the ability to completely control what software and services you have on your phone. Rooting can allow you to remove bloatware apps (apps installed by the phone manufacturer or carrier which cannot normally be removed) that you might never use or ever want. Rooting also gives you access to a much wider range of customisation. You can alter almost any aspect of a theme, without changing the theme itself.
Create Full Backups – Many custom ROM’s include the ability to backup any data or app, no matter what options the software developer decided to include. You will also be able to make a backup of the whole system and save it to an external SD card. This is not only useful for saving important data and settings, but also means that you can try out different ROM’s safe in the knowledge that you can restore to your saved version if you don’t like the new one.
Drawbacks of Rooting
Killing Your Phone – If you follow all the proper precautions, killing (or Bricking, due to the fact that it will be as useful as a brick) your phone shouldn’t be a major worry. But remember, your Android phone is a complicated piece of electronic equipment, so if you are not totally sure that you understand what you are doing or cannot afford to lose the cost of replacing the phone, then rooting may not be for you.
Increased Security Risks – Because you may be installing software from unknown sources (or non-official sources), there is always the possibility that something malicious could be included in the software package. By rooting, you could potentially be giving someone Superuser rights to your phone via their app or ROM. Superuser access means that This means that they could access everything and anything on your phone. One way to avoid this is to only use well-known ROM’s and research things properly before you install anything.
Potential Hardware Damage – Once your phone is rooted there are several ways to overclock the CPU to potentially increase performance. Whilst this is usually fine if you stick within the workable limits of the hardware, if you do not set fail-safe limits you run the risk of burning out the processor and killing your lovely smartphone.