Does Rooted Mobile Devices Good or Bad?

[nakamura12]

Does anyone tried using rooted mobile devices like android phones?. Did you experience problems or issues?.
Please let me know if anyone tried it. I have read a post before that some tried to root their mobile devices to remove an application that use google services. It is more likely a phone that doesn't have any apps that google is involved. Anyway, I am not planning to root my mobile phone but this thread would only serve as notice if rooted devices is better than unrooted or vice versa. My opinion is that rooted Mobile phones have higher vulnerability to virus as stated below which I don't like and it may cause problems to some of your files even if it's crypto related files or not.

I have seen some bitcointalk forum users who use mobile devices like android phones. I don't know of there are people out there that use mobile devices and the device is rooted. Rooting an android device for example have advantages and disadvantages.

One of the disadvantages of rooting android devices is "Higher Vulnerability to viruses and malwares. Flashing the device's ROM may likely introducing a virus. For those who are likely to install wallet apps in there phone is not recommended for those who have rooted devices. Even the unrooted phone could still get infected by viruses and malwares. If you are not an expert in rooting mobile devices then it is better that you don't.

One of the disadvantages is that flashing roms may result in softbrick or hardbrick which is not good.


Share your knowlede here.
Take Note: I am creating this thread for safety purposes. I am sure that some people downloaded a Wallet App on their phone. This thread is right for it.

[1715166476]

1715166476

[1715166476]

1715166476

[Findingnemo]

I had done rooting my devices years back when I need root permission to use some apps on my mobiles. Earlier android version allows apps like Kinguser to root the device without installing a custom rom but after the android pie it looks impossible to root with such apps.

So anyone who don't have enough knowledge about rooting will possibly brick their mobile so before flashing new rom make sure the baseband and kernel match with your device configuration.

Rooting means gives you full control of your device so one who knows what to do and not to do can get the best out of rooting their device but for rookies will end up into vulnerabilities.

[nakamura12]

Rookies who did root their mobile devices should not download a wallet app as you may lose your funds in it if you have put some crypto in your wallet for mobile versions as I have stated in the op that if it is higher vulnerability to viruses.

I had done rooting my devices years back when I need root permission to use some apps on my mobiles. Earlier android version allows apps like Kinguser to root the device without installing a custom rom but after the android pie it looks impossible to root with such apps.

So anyone who don't have enough knowledge about rooting will possibly brick their mobile so before flashing new rom make sure the baseband and kernel match with your device configuration.

Rooting means gives you full control of your device so one who knows what to do and not to do can get the best out of rooting their device but for rookies will end up into vulnerabilities.

Correct, I already mentioned it in the op that flashing new roms in your mobiles may result in hardbrick or softbrick. I did know that rooting mobile phones gave you full control and able to uninstall apps that you can't uninstall in unrooted state. Anyway, thank you for the reply that reminded me of something.

[Theb]

I do think that rooting phones is becoming less and less popular in the phone market. Mostly around 2012 to 2015 you will see a lot of android phones being rooted to further customize or improve their phones by adding their own personalized theme, removing bloatwares that comes installed in a phone, and also overclocking and undercloking, all of these things I have said can be done now by a unrooted phone. For instance Samsung phones have their own "theme" app or if they aren't satisfied they have launcher apps available in the playstore, users can also uninstall most of the unwanted apps that comes pre-installed with their device and also they can also underclock their phones to improve battery performance or overclock it if needed be. With more and more devices adapting to what the consumers want I do expect most of the members here in the forum are using unrooted phones.

But for members who have rooted phones we all know your phone's security more vulnerable the minute you have successfully rooted your phone. With apps and roms you have downloaded on different websites and security bypasses made by the root you know it's not safe to install a wallet nor any of your banking apps.

[joniboini]

All of my Android phones are rooted and installed with a custom ROM. Bricking my phone multiple times for learning experience and it's fun. Bad or good depends on how you use it. Even if you use an unrooted phone, if you use WhatsApp to send sensitive data then I doubt it is better than a rooted phone with Signal or Telegram.

Yes, there is an increase in vulnerability, but you also have more freedom to use your phone, such as using Magisk, blocking unnecessary system services, etc. I personally believe it's worth the risk to have a rooted phone. Obviously you should not use it for your 1st choice hot/cold wallet.

[Mastery]

Mostly around 2012 to 2015 you will see a lot of android phones being rooted to further customize or improve their phones by adding their own personalized theme, removing bloatwares that comes installed in a phone, and also overclocking and undercloking, all of these things I have said can be done now by a unrooted phone.

I just want to add a little bit. Besides customizing or improving, people root their phones in order to install a proper ROM for use. Back in the days, many good phones are made for domestic markets only or not distributed largely (Japanese and Chinese manufaturers are pretty well known for this). Nearby countries' users could buy their phones however they didn't support their local languages. Hence, rooting was the solution.

Nowadays, every manufaturer produces both domestic and international versions of their phones. Rooting for ease of seems becomes unnecessary.

Generally, I think rooting brings more harm than goodness, even with pro users: viruses and malwares can be featured in any app on CH Play, while mobile anti-virus apps have never been effective.

[UserU]

Many years ago before Android was fully matured, rooting was essential to keep things fresh. Many phones were pre-installed with bloatware, causing unnecessary slowdowns and being fed up with them, I learned some rooting despite the brick risks.

I'd say it's fun but exhausting because it comes to comparing different ROMs and their features and also reformatting several times. But then there are caveats. No ROMs I've used have been stable; there are pronounced bugs and patches would always introduce new ones. The last time I flashed a stock AOSP ROM on a Redmi phone, it had a GPS issue.

Thankfully some manufacturers such as OnePlus have released their near-stock Androids so I've put rooting behind me. Unless I buy some previous-gen phones and they come with loads of crap, that is.

Back to the topic, it's not bad if you know what to tinker with. After all, even non-rooted phones are vulnerable to unpatched exploits when their manufacturers (e.g. Samsung) abandon their update cycle.

[nc50lc]

I still have my old rooted android KitKat phone (local brand) with custom rom and as far as I know,
it has never been hacked due to the advanced permission management the "superuser" feature  have added.

But that's already covered by today's latest android version, like my current phone that i don't even bothered rooting.
Like the seemingly consensus here, latest phones doesn't need root access to be more secured, you'll likely get the opposite if you try.

For beginners, better off not tinkering with the things that they don't understand.

[Wexnident]

It depends on the user, the purpose, and the phone I suppose? I'm not particularly sure but the latest phones should be able to somehow replicate what rooted phone does without the need to do so, but still lacking in some aspects.
Purpose, if you wanted to have full access to your phone, then go. If not, and you just want to root for the sake of it, why even bother? Waste of time and effort.
As for user, well, as long as the user is an experienced one, a rooted phone isn't all that bad. On the contrary, if you're a newbie regarding it, I'd suggest to completely avoid rooting your phone. You might lose it after a single week or so.

[nakamura12]

I still have my old rooted android KitKat phone (local brand) with custom rom and as far as I know,
it has never been hacked due to the advanced permission management the "superuser" feature  have added.

But that's already covered by today's latest android version, like my current phone that i don't even bothered rooting.
Like the seemingly consensus here, latest phones doesn't need root access to be more secured, you'll likely get the opposite if you try.

For beginners, better off not tinkering with the things that they don't understand.

I agree, it's like diving in a sea water that you didn't know if it's dangerous to people who wants to dive. I don't want to tinker my phone since I am not expert at that. Thank you for sharing such information about your old phone that is rooted and never get hacked. I have a question, Is it really high risk in introducing your phone to viruses and malware?.

It depends on the user, the purpose, and the phone I suppose? I'm not particularly sure but the latest phones should be able to somehow replicate what rooted phone does without the need to do so, but still lacking in some aspects.
Purpose, if you wanted to have full access to your phone, then go. If not, and you just want to root for the sake of it, why even bother? Waste of time and effort.
As for user, well, as long as the user is an experienced one, a rooted phone isn't all that bad. On the contrary, if you're a newbie regarding it, I'd suggest to completely avoid rooting your phone. You might lose it after a single week or so.

It really does depends on the user if what he/she wants to do with his/her phone. Anyway, I am not creating this thread for looking some answers because I am gathering information whether if rooting is good or bad. In that way, when there is a newbie who wants to root their phone then they can open this thread then read and learn. You suggest that I avoid rooting my phone?. It's been two years and until now my phone is not rooted at all. This thread's purpose is to notify and educational for any person who wants to root their phone.

[terizla]

When i have my first Android phone, i searching in internet and found Rooted Phone and i think this is good and i can full customize my phone. So, i try it and it work.
Before my phone is rooted i can't remove app in my phone.
After rooted, i can remove that app.
Then i try install another app in Playstore and open it. The app send message Your phone is Rooted.
So, i unroot my phone to access this app and never root phone again. 

[nc50lc]

Is it really high risk in introducing your phone to viruses and malware?.

Hmm, not as most users described.
Even non-rooted device is as susceptible as rooted. As long as you've installed a malware, it will infect your system.

I'm sure that you've stumbled upon an App that can root your phone with a simple click;
So, a malware with that capability can easily flash, install something or alter some system level applications.

The added risk to a rooted phone is flashing custom ROMs that may have a more vulnerabilities than the stock Android.
And of course, more variety of risky "underground" applications.If you're installing a wallet, just make sure not to browse to shady sites and never install unnecessary app to your phone, like Facebook App

[LbtalkL]

Rooted devices feels like you have admin control just like in a desktop you can do anything on your device you can install everything, change OS etc. That's what rooted devices can offer and gives you added privilege, Some applications require rooted device to install, that is why some people try to root their device but rooting sometimes can destroy your phone, make sure you know what you are doing to avoid destroying your phone.

[UserU]

Rooted android device is good if you have good reasons to do it (e.g. backup application along with it's data) and you know what you do.
With proper configuration/tools (such as XPrivacyLua), rooted device is more secure and could improve your privacy.

Fortunately that app doesn't work on most devices these days

On the flipside, some mobile banking apps prohibit themselves being installed on rooted phones. What a bummer.

[CoolGuyo]

Am glade to have come across this thread, i have a Samsung Galaxy S9+ given to me by my big brother, i notice the phone is rooted, and i really do not like rooted phones since am not techy guy just a normal user,

first i thought to just continue using it even though it is rooted, but recently i have been trying to watch some movies from my Netflix account and i discover i couldn't, the videos always given error messages anytime i click on watch, so now am thinking may be because the phone is rooted is the problem,

i really want the phone to be unrooted but i have no clue how to go about it, and my brother not around to help out ,

in my opinion, not good to root phones, because there will always be something that will not work fine.

[GazetaBitcoin]

Rooting means to get SuperUser access over your device, as Android is, at origins, derived from Linux.

To root or not to root your device is - more or less - similar with to mod or not to mod your PC. Modders think "why wouldn't I mod it, if I can do it?", while conservative ones think "why change it, if it works like that?".

Coming back to phones, enthusiasts, generally, tend to root their devices, as they are looking for full control. And indeed, having SU access gives you more powers compared to an user of a non-rooted phone, including, but not limited to, installing custom ROMs, uninstalling apps specific to the operating system or specific to the phone vendor (apps which can not be uninstalled otherwise), spoofing your MAC address or your IMEI etc.

On another hand, as in normal life, freedom of choice comes with a cost - losing your warranty (maybe the most important aspect: rooted phones don't have warranty anymore), chance of bricking the phone during the rooting process, installing various types of malware programs and so on.

Basically, you should not root your phone, unless (1) you really need it; (2) you are a phone expert; (3) although not an expert, you really know what you're doing.

[sujonali1819]

Now I am using a unrooted phone but previously I used a rooted phone And I rooted the phone with the help Kingroot android application.

There are some problem I faced that time. The acute problem was my phone's play store trashed. And I became unable to update application through play store. Tried several time but unable to solved the issue. Secondly I faced some problem  while installing crypto related application. That was very rear. Most of successfully installed. But some application showed error for rooted device.

After manually installing custom rom these problems was solved. But I took some advantage from rooted device. Some access was really amazing.

My suggestion :
1. First suggestion don't root your device.    
2. If you really need then try to root your old phone which is used  more and you will not care if phone will crash.
3. If you root your phone then you should not use any crypto wallet for holding big amount.
4. You must be a well known person about mobile and it’s usage.

Good luck buddy.

[akirasendo17]

its either of the two, you see whats the point of rooting your phone? you want to have full controll? I suggest not to root those phone, what if you brick it? but you don't have enough skills to fix in the end you will need to pay technicians to fix your phone, ending to expenses, 

[nakamura12]

its either of the two, you see whats the point of rooting your phone? you want to have full controll? I suggest not to root those phone, what if you brick it? but you don't have enough skills to fix in the end you will need to pay technicians to fix your phone, ending to expenses, 

Thank you for the suggestion but as I said I am not going to root my phone and the reason is I am not expert at tinkering mobile software. Anyway, you have a point, what's the purpose of rooting your phone? And that's the question. According to a site (https://www.xda-developers.com/reasons-for-root-android/) about reasons why to root your phone but my opinion to some reasons are not that good to consider if you ask me and it's not that helpful. The information you guys shared will be helpful to those who are planning to root their phones even if they don't know the consequences of rooting mobile phones if gone wrong.

[bugsbuds]

If keep important data and the root is not safe then is bad thing, if root is not ok and the phone is only used for ussual stuff and not bank apps or others then is ok not safe.