SuperSU and root have been two traditional elements that in Android had always gone hand in hand, especially when many users were forced to change the ROM and make modifications to the terminal to increase its performance compared to the one it brought from the factory.
Today, we are going to delve a little into the subject. We will explain SuperSU in-depth, answering the most common questions about this application and offering you the data you need to know what it is for, how you can use it, and the requirements that You must comply with to install it on your device.
What is SuperSU?
SuperSU is an application developed by Chainfire – even though it announced its termination at the time – with which you can manage the root permissions that you can grant to the applications that request it, since, after all, these administrator privileges they should not be granted lightly, and Android, by itself, does not incorporate a native manager when it comes to root.
As you know, thanks to root, we can grant certain applications administrator permissions to perform tasks on our smartphone that Android cannot do by itself, such as removing any application from the system. Something that has its good points, but that in turn can have some risk. SuperSU is the strictly necessary tool used to manage the root access of the applications that we have installed on our terminal and, in this way, have some control over the tasks that these types of applications perform.
How to install SuperSU on Android?
Even though Google removed this application from the store some time ago, today, its installation is as simple as searching for it on Google Play and downloading it. However, you can always resort to the official Chainfire website to do the same.
On the official Chainfire page, unlike on Google Play, we will download a ZIP that we will have to flash by accessing the Custom Recovery of our smartphone. To do this, you must save this ZIP in the internal memory of your terminal and access Recovery by pressing and holding power off and volume down button while the smartphone is off. Once you access it, all you have to do is click on Install and look for the ZIP in your smartphone’s memory. After doing this, you can restart your terminal, and you will find the application correctly installed.
However, this method is the most complicated, and some complications may arise with the installation, so it is best to download it from the application store to avoid any possible problems in this process. Of course, you must know that if you do not have root access in your terminal previously, this application will not help you since it does not root the device but rather manages its root permissions.
Therefore, if you want to root your terminal, we recommend that you access forums such as XDA Developers or HTC Mania and look for the subforum of your smartphone. There, you will find –if it is possible– a tutorial on how to root your smartphone or tablet, since depending on the model, it can be done in one way or another.
How to use SuperSU?
SuperSU is a root permission manager, and as such, its main mission is to give us the facility to grant or deny superuser permission to those applications that request it. We can do this in two different ways. In the first place, at the moment in which the application requests permission, a pop-up window will appear in which we can give a positive or negative response to this request. However, if we enter the application itself, a list will appear with those applications that use this type of permission. Of course, if we do not press either of the two options in 15 seconds, SuperSU will automatically deny root access.
If we have granted it, a green pad will appear next to the symbol and the application’s name. If we have denied it, it will appear in red. Here, we can change the decision we made when the application requested it for the first time, something that comes in handy if we have given it by mistake, we have changed our decision, or we want to grant root permission only at specific times.
On the other hand, the application has different types of related functions that also provide great added value and even has a Premium mode in which you can access somewhat more elaborate additions that are quite worth it if you can take advantage of them, such as:
- Remove root access temporarily.
- Notifications of application access to superuser permissions
- Remove root access permanently
- Configuration of individual access notifications for each application
- Convert third-party apps into system apps
- Application hibernation
- Four different themes for the application
- Automatic start before fully powering up the terminal
- Ghost mode
- Recovery script to update Custom ROMs without losing root access
These are features that make the root access experience more complete. And, for example, certain applications, such as Super Mario Run, do not work if they detect that you have these permissions available on your terminal, so you may want to choose to remove root access temporarily to play a game. Or, you may want to make Nova Launcher a system app, so you don’t delete it by mistake.
Sharlene Meriel is an avid gamer with a knack for technology. He has been writing about the latest technologies for the past 5 years. His contribution in technology journalism has been noteworthy. He is also a day trader with interest in the Forex market.
