To Root Or Not To Root? - Android Q&A

Jayce spills the goods on the risks & rewards of rooting your Android phone ... Matrix style!

----------------------------------------------------
Stay connected to Android Authority:

Follow the Team:

[WindowCleaningWizards]

You can also get in-app purchases for free if you root

[BABA-GOMI]

Always root your secondary cheap android phone first.
Never flash a custom Rom...there is really no need.
Rooted is more fun.

[mumphis]

Nexus Users can't live without Rooting....who's with me?

[iancaro]

I think I shall root as soon as my updates stop.

[MrCristopher]

Root do NOT void varranty.
 *EDIT* on certain phones!

[kylehoell]

I am an android geek and you are right about the little things that matter to an android geek and not an average user, because i'll doing something to my phone through xposed or a custom rom, then show my friends or family members a little thing that they can do and they will say something like "you put in all the effort just to make that little of a difference?" but to me its a big difference and worth the amount of time.  

[RomelBacchus]

I consider myself an android enthusiast; love the OS; it keeps getting better with time. i've always hated touchwiz and all the samsung bloatware on my galaxy S3... took the leap and used the Cyanogenmod installer- rooting was a breeze n now my phone runs like a beast :D

[cloroxbeach]

Actually rooting your phone would give you better security, mostly because the best security apps are only available with root.

[LetMattEntertainYou]

I wish people would stop with the "rooting voids the warranty" rumour. It simply doesn't. You break your phone or even brick it, it'll be repaired no problem under warranty regardless of root.

[jeffreycodoy]

ok root you phone if the warranty or 1 year warranty is over ... rooted or unroot after the warranty expired what well happen?

[EnvAdam]

root+stupid=fail

how it always goes

[jordonhaye]

I'm not a root user because I'm afraid of viruses, but I would want to try rooting a phone just to know all about rooting.

[DrDarp]

I never worry about warranty IF you are smart enough to root it then you can unroot it and simply flash stock rom remove the yellow triangle (If you have) and slap that phone on their faces.
I personally don't like exposed because i had a love with it but after a long time if found out that exposed actually does slow your device down believe me or not it also makes some apps crack like my Newsstand was crashing because of swipe away. So use a custom rom currently i am using Carbon with elemental x. LOVE it.

[urmilshroff]

Actually, bricking a phone is of two types- *soft brick* and *hard brick*.
While flashing ROMs, there is a possibility that the phone can get _soft_ bricked (i.e. get stuck in a bootloop) and never boot. This can be easily fixed by heading back into Recovery Mode and re-flashing the same or another ROM, or performing a factory reset. Soft bricks can be easily fixed.
On the other hand, _hard_ bricks are difficult to fix. This happens when the device cannot boot into Recovery Mode or anything else and gets completely stuck at the initial boot logo; or the screen doesn't even come on. This may be a permanent issue and may be caused by incorrectly installing Recovery/Bootloader updates from unreliable sources. *Flashing ROMs does **_not_** cause hard bricks*, so your point over there is invalid,

[YiannhsBekas]

14 year old Android Geek with a 2011 xperia mini running CM11 4.4.4 and a completely stock Nexus 5 so i bet iam both an Enthusiast and a Geek lol ^_^

[moviegametime]

I'm an Android enthusiast but every time I get more excited about the new world I can discover as a geek...

[TarekMidani]

Android enthusiast. And the one thing I enjoy about rooting is trashing the perfectly-named _Crapware_
But I only take the "red pill" if the phone is neither a Nexus nor a Moto

[robertomiro]

Actually rooting does void your warranty BUT you can always go back to the stock firmware if you need it. Also you guys at Android Authority should make a weekly video about rooting (apps, roms, mods, etc..)

[xlr]

Am I only the one who's watching this in custom rom flashed and rooted device

[jericgarcia]

I regard myself as an Android Geek.  I rooted my phone since I got my first android device and never hesitated about voiding the warranty. Rooting just give you that "you really own your phone" idea and tweaking every single thing on your device. I constantly change ROM every single while and prefer AOSP roms over TW ROMs since I am using a Samsung phone.