Root On Android: What Is It, What Is It For And What Are Its Drawbacks

We are going to explain to you what it is to root Android or root your devices, something that you have surely heard when someone has told you about how much Android can be customized. We are also going to tell you exactly what it is for doing it today, although making it clear that in general for years it no longer makes much sense.

We are going to start by explaining to you simply and easily to understand what exactly is being rooted. Then, we will go on to explain both the advantages of what it is for and the disadvantages of doing so. Our idea with this article is not that you throw yourself into doing it or convince yourself of anything, but that you know why some very advanced users keep talking about it so much, and why it has been so important years ago in Android.

What is rooting for Android

If you have a Windows computer, you will already know that there are some features and changes in settings for which you need to have administrator permission. So, in this operating system there are two levels at which you can operate, something that means that if you create a simple user account on a computer for someone, they cannot make deep changes without the supervision of the person who controls the machine.

In the same way, in Android, there can also be two levels, the normal user and the superuser. The difference is that the root level is locked by default, which allows the vendor to control the user experience and how far they can go when making changes.

The administrator permission of Windows and the root level of Android are not comparable. We have started by giving this example just to use a closer concept when explaining that there can be several levels of permissions in operating systems. But they are not comparable because in Android there are many changes that you can do without root permissions, and you can install almost any application.

Rooting Android is the operation that must be carried out to obtain superuser permissions, and thus have the permission of the mobile to make the deepest changes within the operating system. Come on, you have full control of your mobile to do whatever you want with it. This allows you to have a version of Android that is not controlled by the manufacturer, but by the developer community, something that has some advantages and also disadvantages.

So, we can say that rooting your device is something like unlocking it, removing the impediments with which the manufacturer keeps you at the user level all the time. Once you have rooted the mobile, you will be able to install the superuser permissions through an application, and then you will be able to obtain all the control over it.

What is the use of rooting Android?

Rooting Android still has some advantages that make more advanced users still resort to it in some cases. The most widespread is to be able to install ROMs or modified versions of Android, such as LineageOS or Paranoid Android.

This allows you to have a version of Android that is not controlled by the manufacturer of your mobile but by the developer community. Thanks to this, for example, you can update a mobile that is already old and that the manufacturer has ignored to new versions of Android with all its advantages.

Rooting can also help you get the most out of the hardware, taking full advantage of the internal components of the mobile. For example, you can install applications to modify the frequency of the processor, or applications to analyze the battery and prevent other apps from running in the background and consuming resources.

In addition to this, by rooting Android you will also be able to uninstall any application from your device, even those that you can never generally uninstall by decision of the manufacturer or Google itself. Although yes, uninstalling some applications can cause the mobile to stop working correctly.

And finally, thanks to those modified or cooked versions (the term used by developers) of Android, it can also be used to have new functions on the mobile, or even have a greater customization capacity to give it exactly the look you want without the limits. that has been imposed by the manufacturer.

What are the disadvantages of rooting Android?

The main disadvantage of rooting Android is that your manufacturer may ignore the warranty of your device, so if something goes wrong you may not have support to fix it for you. The process today is quite simple, although if something goes wrong in the process there may be errors that can damage your mobile and make it stop working. In addition, Google itself puts more and more impediments with certificates to monitor the hardware.

Another notable drawback is that your mobile may have very little support from the community. Rooting a mobile is normally to install a modified version of Android and thus have more options, but these versions cannot be done for all models, there are not enough developers for it, so it will depend a lot on the device you have.

There is usually more involvement from third-party developers on popular devices, as more people have them and it makes more sense to work with them. But precisely the most popular devices are also those that manufacturers take care of the most, and in many cases, it is not necessary to root.

Regarding the issue of support by the community, we must also add that the adapted version of Android that you install may have bugs and may not work as well. Keep in mind that this does not make money, and that the developers do it for the love of freedom and as a hobby, so they do not have the resources to make sure that everything works right the first time on all mobiles.

You should also keep in mind that when you install a custom version of Android you can have a higher version of Android on your mobile, but it will stay there. ROMs or custom versions are not updated automatically, and to continue receiving improvements or fixing bugs you will have to manually update your device, spending time doing it and perhaps losing some data in the process.

If you have a ROM, you should also forget about official updates from the manufacturer to improve the device, security patches to avoid vulnerabilities or updates that add new applications. All the additions you must put manually waiting for the community of independent developers to adapt it for your mobile.

To all this, we must also add the drawback that it makes less and less sense to do so. Android is becoming better optimized, and little by little manufacturers are paying more attention to keeping their main mobiles updated to new versions of Android. In addition, there are also more and more customization options and apps that do not require root that already allow you to gain other functions and do fancy things without the need for more.

In addition, there are also very good third-party launchers that install without root, and allow you to change the look of your device without having to install cooked versions of Android. Not to mention that the number of applications that cannot be uninstalled is usually less, so for the majority of users it is less and less worth it to risk damaging the mobile or tablet for advantages that are less and less notable.

Perhaps, if you have an old mobile or tablet that you no longer use, rooting it can be a good way to practice and get to know Android better, learning a lot about its internal processes, but always keeping in mind that you could leave the device unusable. But it is not advisable to do it with your main mobile, the one that you cannot do without and that you prefer to have work as well as possible for you.