Child Item

Site Totals

61434 Questions Answered 270 Categories

The Dangers of Rooting

As you get to know your new Android phone, you may or may not have come across the term or name "Rooting". I want this thread to make users aware of the dangers of rooting.

***Before anything else, I want to stress that I nor Verizon advocate the act of rooting, and will not be held responsible for any damage that may happen to your phone. Rooting can and will void your warranty.***

Rooting is another word for 'hacking' or in an easier way to understand, get the administrator privileges for your phone.

While rooting can help you learn many things about your device, they also can reap very bad consequences, such as:

Bricking your phone (or in an easier way to explain, making your phone a pretty paper weight).
Corrupting core files.
Stopping OTA updates from going to your phone.
Have your phone open to malicious software and applications that can do serious harm to your phone.

As you can see, it can reap very negative things. I have read/seen people who have literally had to buy brand new phones because they tried the latest and greatest RoM. Rooting is essentially something that you must take at your own caution.

Many people root their phone for various reasons. But does that mean it's worth it? In my opinion, no. Technology is always changing. You could root your Droid to have its processor capped at 600MHz, but there's still going to be that other phone that has a 1GHZ Processor or better. It's best to just enjoy what you have now, and to appreciate it for what it's worth.Nothing in my opinion, is worth putting a $500 phone in danger.

Should you go root, please be aware that most problems on this forums can't help.

Comments

xsnstr

WOW this is almost as scary as my local weather maybe I should stay home and never go out.

Now lets not spread all this misinformation about rooting phones

Ok lets address thos scary bullet points

While rooting can help you learn many things about your device, they also can reap very bad consequences, such as:

Bricking your phone (or in an easier way to explain, making your phone a pretty paper weight).

Hmm bricking true changes you make to root or rom updates may stop the phone from booting or working or make it more difficult to place it back in a bootloader freindly mode {edited}

Corrupting core files.

Yeah but if I load an update to my OS I could also corrupt core files or even data files whoooo guess I could just load the non corrupted files back? flash a non corrupted rom? Back brings up a good point backup backup backup.

Stopping OTA updates from going to your phone

Well at least until the OTA update is cooked back in the rom or update oh wait true may not be the official one...{edited}

Have your phone open to malicious software and applications that can do serious harm to your phone.

I am so glad my phone cant get malicious apps because its not rooted......oh wait does DROID09 ring a bell oh and it was even an official marketplace app required NO root.

{please keep your posts courteous}

Further, any posted content that states any benefits of why rooting or hacking should be done is also not allowed.

Thank you

supitsmike

I had a feeling that one of these were going to show up. And instead of doing your research on the poster that made this thread, you instead take the other route. Very well:

xsnstr wrote:
WOW this is almost as scary as my local weather maybe I should stay home and never go out.

Now lets not spread all this misinformation about rooting phones
Ok lets address thos scary bullet points

While rooting can help you learn many things about your device, they also can reap very bad consequences, such as:
Bricking your phone (or in an easier way to explain, making your phone a pretty paper weight).

Hmm bricking true changes you make to root or rom updates may stop the phone from booting or working or make it more difficult to place it back in a bootloader freindly mode {edit}
You agree with me first, then you challenge it by saying "Oh well you can fix it by doing this and this." There are two things wrong here. You're breaking the Terms and Condidtions of the Forums, and, you're staying off track on the real focus of the thread.

Corrupting core files.
Yeah but if I load an update to my OS I could also corrupt core files or even data files whoooo guess I could just load the non corrupted files back? flash a non corrupted rom? Back brings up a good point backup backup backup.
Again, I don't recall saying that wasn't possible. I'm stating that because of the terms and condidtions, I am only permitted to speak about rooting to a certain point. It is not the full disclosure of it, however, I am helping as much as I can. Though once again you validate my post/point, yet refute it by your own experiences. Which isn't what this thread is about.

Stopping OTA updates from going to your phone

Well at least until the OTA update is cooked back in the rom or update oh wait true may not be the official one....but if I am dropping roms I can just get the new one before the OTA and upload anyways....win win
It helps to actually read the forum rules before doing a drive-by post, otherwise then you'd really see the point in this thread. I don't think I need to repeat the pattern that's happening here.

Have your phone open to malicious software and applications that can do serious harm to your phone.

I am so glad my phone cant get malicious apps because its not rooted......oh wait does DROID09 ring a bell oh and it was even an official marketplace app required NO root.
I'd say that this is probably the only valid point you bring. However, rooting can increase those chances considerably. You cannot deny that at all.

{edited}

MrHost

I thank the best things that could be mentioned in this topic are the following:

Rooting will VOID your WARRANTY!!!
Rooting is NOT suggested by this poster or the company's forum we are in either.

OK, The two biggest points are right there.

Let's be honest. Rooting isn't that big of a deal on a phone. The biggest things a user has to consider is, do they have the technical knowledge to perform rooting a their phone and do they mind taking the risk mentioned above.

There are several things that can be done to brick a phone, and rooting a phone does raise the chances tremendously, when done by a non technical or misguided person. I have rooted a phone before (I haven't however with my Eris). I never bricked a phone, but had many close chances of it happening. A person who decides to "Root" their phone needs to read much information which of course should not be listed or mentioned about resources on doing so.

"Rooting" has one specific reason for happening, to go out side the boundaries of the seller. Verizon, in this case has set boundaries to help limit issues that may arise from rooting a phone. A "Rooted" phone doesn't always have all the applications needed, or may exceed current support by upgrading to a different ROM. This causes problems more so for the person who decided to "Root" their phone. On the other hand, people who have rooted thier phones try and take it out on their seller because it no longer works or the battery dies much quicker or the signal strength is worse. This isn't a fault of the seller, but of the users desire to break the boundaries set by the seller.

I want the latest a greatest. There is a price for those that try to get it without following the guidelines. The hardware you have in your phone may not support or run very well with the newer version of the operating system. There are many more issues besides that. I agree with the original poster, there are side effects when "rooting" and each perosn is responsible for understanding this.

Bricking your phone (or in an easier way to explain, making your phone a pretty paper weight).

Reply> Bricking is typically the side effect by a non-technical or misguided person. They will propablly be the same person who is already calling the helpline more than they need to and think they can fix their own problem. If done correctly, and PROPER RESEARCH is done, this will not be a typical side effect. I will nto point out the PROPER RESEARCH but it isn't just reading one page that tells you how to do it.

Corrupting core files.

Reply> I have never come across this personally(not when "rooting" a phone in the past), but it is typically fixed by restoring to factory settings of the unit just like on a non-rooted phone. Which I had to do theother day, to my non-rooted phone.

Stopping OTA updates from going to your phone.

Reply> Honestly, this a mute point to a "Rooted" phone. The fix provided OTA is unlikely to work on their phone in it's condition, or if it did it more than likely would or could brick the phone anyway (If your phone is rooted, you shoudln't want OTA anyway).

Have your phone open to malicious software and applications that can do serious harm to your phone.

Reply> I have to go ith the second poster on this one. Scare tactic. A phone that is "Rooted" or not are just as likely to get attacked by a malicious application. Malicious programs don't lookat a phone and say, ok we got a target now this **bleep** "Rooted" his phone. Malicious applications are targeted at main system functions to cause problems for the most people, not the "rooted" ones. Any one who believes they are safe because they are using the sellers home grown ROM is fulling themselves. I recommend security applications regardless of "Root" or not.

Also as supitsmike mentioned, you will not and shoudl not find help with a rooted phone in this forum.

"Rooting" is not evil. It should be left to those that are technically knowledgeable and FULLY understand the risk mentioned by supitsmike . I think your brief introduction and arguments were more of a scartactic, like microsoft would put out. I love Microsoft, btw. Windows 7 is my friend.

I dont' believe by stating over and over again about the other posters response being against the rules is appropriate unless you mention which rules he is breaking. I admit, I may nto have read the rules in full disclosure, but I never read the paperwork when I signed up for my wireless plan either. If xsnstr or I are breaking the rules, please point it out a bit so we can understand what we are doing wrong. If the topic is a problem, maybe it is you who broke the rules, but as I said I don't have an answer there.

MrHost

Quick follow-up as I noticed some edited areas above. I don't believe I mentioned any specific benifts, but as HTC says You are You. I love HTC phones. They are the best in my book.

supitsmike

MrHost wrote:
Let's be honest. Rooting isn't that big of a deal on a phone. The biggest things a user has to consider is, do they have the technical knowledge to perform rooting a their phone and do they mind taking the risk mentioned above.

I don't think it's a 'big' deal. I think it's something that naturally comes up with Android phones. I, however, as a contributor to these forums (Specifically Android section) have to abide by the rules here. It seems to me that the other two people that have posted here haven't done their research or haven't been on these forums long enough to know that I made a thread like this before, stating benefits as well.

And it got deleted and put on my 'record', if you will, and now I can't write about that stuff. But what I will do is give people some kind of knowledge -- because that's all I can do for now.

There are several things that can be done to brick a phone, and rooting a phone does raise the chances tremendously, when done by a non technical or misguided person. {edit} A person who decides to "Root" their phone needs to read much information which of course should not be listed or mentioned about resources on doing so.

"Rooting" has one specific reason for happening, to go out side the boundaries of the seller. Verizon, in this case has set boundaries to help limit issues that may arise from rooting a phone. A "Rooted" phone doesn't always have all the applications needed, or may exceed current support by upgrading to a different ROM. This causes problems more so for the person who decided to "Root" their phone. On the other hand, people who have rooted thier phones try and take it out on their seller because it no longer works or the battery dies much quicker or the signal strength is worse. This isn't a fault of the seller, but of the users desire to break the boundaries set by the seller.

I want the latest a greatest. There is a price for those that try to get it without following the guidelines. The hardware you have in your phone may not support or run very well with the newer version of the operating system. There are many more issues besides that. I agree with the original poster, there are side effects when "rooting" and each perosn is responsible for understanding this.

Right, I completely understand that. The misconception here is that all I'm trying to do is 'scare' someone away. That I'm trying to just banish it. I'm not, I'm merely following guidelines here.

Bricking your phone (or in an easier way to explain, making your phone a pretty paper weight).
     Reply> Bricking is typically the side effect by a non-technical or misguided person. They will propablly be the same person who is already calling the helpline more than they need to and think they can fix their own problem. {edit}

Here's the thing though: Verizon's network is huge. Literally, huge. And only a very small percentage of customers use these forums. Most of them (And by looking around at the threads that are created here now) are...well...average users. They don't know that whole "rooting" scene.

Lets put this into perspective; My friend who owns a G1 kept telling me that he was on RC29 (For those of you who don't know, that's the phone in it's most primal state -- before Cupcake) still. And that he couldn't update his phone. I was mind boggled and I went to look at it myself. Turns out his kernel version was not that of a natural, unrooted Android phone, but of someone else's (I won't state his name, to prevent Google searches and so that I don't endorse rooting on here). So after about an hour, I got it back to 1.6. Turns out his SD card wasn't formated to Fat32 and that (out of all things, can you believe it) kept me in a circle.

Fact is, the average user doesn't know about rooting, and before anything they should know about the dangers that it brings.

{edit}

Stopping OTA updates from going to your phone.
                    Reply> Honestly, this a mute point to a "Rooted" phone. The fix provided OTA is unlikely to work on their phone in it's condition, or if it did it more than likely would or could brick the phone anyway (If your phone is rooted, you shoudln't want OTA anyway).

To the average user, they don't know that.

Have your phone open to malicious software and applications that can do serious harm to your phone.
                    Reply> I have to go ith the second poster on this one. Scare tactic. A phone that is "Rooted" or not are just as likely to get attacked by a malicious application. Malicious programs don't lookat a phone and say, ok we got a target now this **bleep** "Rooted" his phone. Malicious applications are targeted at main system functions to cause problems for the most people, not the "rooted" ones. Any one who believes they are safe because they are using the sellers home grown ROM is fulling themselves. I recommend security applications regardless of "Root" or not.

Then I'm going to have to go with Kalin here and say that anything that you download can put your phone's software at a risk.

Anything.

Also as supitsmike mentioned, you will not and shoudl not find help with a rooted phone in this forum.

"Rooting" is not evil. It should be left to those that are technically knowledgeable and FULLY understand the risk mentioned by supitsmike . I think your brief introduction and arguments were more of a scartactic, like microsoft would put out. I love Microsoft, btw. Windows 7 is my friend.
I dont' believe by stating over and over again about the other posters response being against the rules is appropriate unless you mention which rules he is breaking. I admit, I may nto have read the rules in full disclosure, but I never read the paperwork when I signed up for my wireless plan either. If xsnstr or I are breaking the rules, please point it out a bit so we can understand what we are doing wrong. If the topic is a problem, maybe it is you who broke the rules, but as I said I don't have an answer there.

I never called Rooting evil, I'm just following guidelines.

And to answer your question, I'm not breaking any rules, because as it just so happens I had the draft of the original post checked out so that I wouldn't get in trouble for it.

Further, any posted content that states any benefits of why rooting or hacking should be done is also not allowed. Please refer to your Wireless Customer Agreement regarding modifying your device outside of the original manufacturer's specifications.

Thank you

MrHost

I had responded originally because your original post was so vague that it sounded like a "scare tactic" as I mentioned earlier. I wasn't giving any benefits during my reply, but responding to the vagueness of your statements. "Rooting" has it's place to be discussed and questioned with honest answers. This forum is not the place for it. Wrong topic in the wrong place.

Top 10 reasons NOT TO ROOT:

Your not technical enough to do it, you don't have the right resources
Bad idea!
Voids warranty!
Not supported by verizon!
OTA updates may cause many more problems, assuming you get them anymore!
It's not what jesus would do! (and I know because I asked him last night before bed, but he did sound like my mother a bit..it might have been a wrong number I called)
Your dentist doesn't approve
Additional fees may apply for devices
Can your pocket book afford the $500 to replace it
If it was meant to be, it would have been shipped like that so techno-winnies won't mess up the darn phone and waste technical support time about something they likely caused.

See, a list in all good fun and it shouldn't bring up an argument as I don't really care to hear back about a disagreement, I just want people to add more to the list.

Besides, it looks like you are on the moderators list. You got edited..unless you did that. LOL.

Top 10 list are the best!!! They are awesome. Soon to follow...A top 10 list of why top10 list kick butt!

MrHost

I was reading your post on "your android phone and you 101" http://community.vzw.com/t5/Android-Devices/Your-Android-Phone-and-You-101/td-p/112654

Awesome write up, and you even mention the main benefit of the topic here. I just wanted to say awesome job on the write up. I plan to read more as I get more active on here.

MsShan

I just purchased my Droid and I want to hide and encrypt my Contacts in an area on the phone that only I know where my contacts are and only I can access them. As I was researching to obtain information on the best app for the process of encryption, etc. I came across information about rooting the Droid and then I could get an app allowing me to hide my Contacts in a manner that I want them hidden on my phone (similar to hiding, encrypting files on a computer). So, I have been researching the process of rooting my Droid for several days now and I have called and spoken twice with Verizon reps about the Droid rooting process. {Keep it Legal}

I am not a novice, consider myself somewhat technically literate, so after more research, I was going to attempt the root process, as I think I can comprehend what's involved with the process, its drawbacks {Keep it Legal}. I not sure that's what I want to do now I'll have to mull it over, research more, and I will certainly talk with Verizon again about this.

Be Careful. While our members are generally helpful and eager to provide useful information, Wireless customers need to be cautious on what you decide to download as there is always potential risk that your device may be damaged or void your warranty.

Further, any posted content that states any benefits of why rooting or hacking should be done is also not allowed.

Thank you.

xelerated

I am so irritated with this CRAP.

"Rooting" has one specific reason for happening, to go out side the boundaries of the seller. Verizon, in this case has set boundaries to help limit issues that may arise from rooting a phone. "

No, When I was able to root and rom my note 2, I used a slim ROM. i ran about 400-600 MB of ram at any given time.

Now that i got a factory refurb (bad wireless chip) im locked, and of my 1.7 GB or RAM i use A MINIMUM of 1.5GM at any given time.

It barely works as a phone let alone anything else.

And to top it off, I OWN this phone. not Verizon. So through all of this headache and hassle I have decided that im going to move to ATT, with all 6 of my lines...for 2 reasons. 1. my bill will be almost 50% less. 2. I can root, rom, do whatever I want to my phone that I bring. Verizon needs to get their head out of their rectum and listen to the users. If its rooted then you dont get support, simple as that. Its not like verizon support has actually ever been helpful except when they want to collect the bill.

LinuxDragon57

I would just like to know why the MyVerizon App just requested root access to my phone when Verizon is against rooting so much. Rooting Android in 2020 isn't that useful. However, it is Linux at its core and my Linux desktop gets root by default. Further as provided by the GPL, it is completely legal for me to root my Android phone. Even better, it is completely illegal under 15 USC 2301 et seq. for a company to void a customer's device simply because they modified, upgraded, or repaired their own device. Thus installing a custom ROM or rooting can be considered to have all three advantages. I am typing this on both a rooted Android phone that gets OTA updates because I installed a custom ROM that has rooting built in as a feature. Any posts scaremongering against rooting or modifying YOUR device (Verizon does not own it and should not be allowed to dictate what you can do with it), are simply garbage.

[Deleted User]

Due to the age of this thread, it will be locked in order to keep discussions current. If you have the same or a similar question/issue we invite you to start a new thread on the topic.

Child Item