9 reasons to root your Android smartphone

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Increase operating time, free up additional memory space and hide ads.

1. Complete disposal of ads

Advertising in mobile apps is very annoying. And on web pages in browsers, it also eats up traffic. To get rid of it, you can go to various tricks. Or install special banner cutters like DNS66 or AdGuard, which don't need root rights.

But DNS66 on some firmware leaves ugly empty white blocks in place of advertising, and AdGuard wants money.

On smartphones with root, there is no advertising problem. AdAway, a free and open source application, works far more efficiently than any no-root alternative. It completely cuts out any banners from both applications and browsers, leaving no trace of them.

After installing AdAway, it is enough to open the application, answer yes to the system's question about granting root and click the Enable Ad-Blocking button. And annoying ads won't bother you anymore. Simple, convenient, effective.

Download AdAway →

2. Efficient creation of backups

Of course, you can create backups without root-rights, since there are enough applications for this. But they all have a limitation: you have the ability to make copies of files, images, notes, music - but not system settings.

Therefore, in the event of a hardware reset of the smartphone, you will not be able to restore the application from the backup with the settings set. You will have to re-enter your credentials and put down the necessary jackdaws. In short, engage in boring and tedious activities.

Titanium Backup, a popular backup application, can easily restore application and system settings if you give it root privileges without creating unnecessary hassle.

3. Removing unnecessary applications

Smartphone manufacturers sin by installing non-removable applications - the so-called Bloatware. Sometimes they are useful, sometimes they just infuriate. Why do you need a built-in browser if you install Chrome or Firefox right after purchasing a smartphone? What is Facebook firmware for if you are not registered there?

You can get rid of such goodness by removing annoying icons from the home screen or tucking them deeper into the bowels of the menu. But the preinstalled programs will still take up space in the smartphone's memory or even launch independently upon reboot.

If you get root-rights, you can remove any application from the firmware. The same Titanium Backup, for example, in addition to creating backups, allows you to completely remove or deactivate built-in programs.

Or, you can manually erase unnecessary APKs via Root Explorer. And on Android, in the end, there will be only those applications that you installed yourself.

4. Total automation

There are many applications on Google Play that aim to automate routine actions, such as Tasker or Automate. Basically, they work without root as well. But in order to perform some actions, for example, turn on 3G and GPS or control the screen, they still need root-rights.

Once you get superuser rights and install Tasker with Automate, you can, for example, automatically switch the screen brightness depending on the time of day, turn on the GPS when you go on the road, turn off the screen lock when your smartphone is at home … tons of possibilities.

5. Increase smartphone autonomy

Android smartphones are known for being power hungry. This is often due to a large number of background processes and programs that consume battery power.

However, there are ways to extend the battery life of your smartphone, one of which is to install Greenify. This application is able to automatically turn off unnecessary processes when the smartphone screen goes out, saving memory and battery.

On some devices, Greenify works without root, but the program will most effectively cope with its duties if you give it superuser rights.

6. Transferring applications to a memory card

Most more or less modern smartphones have no problems with insufficient memory for applications. But on older gadgets, the built-in storage is sometimes not enough to satisfy the growing appetites of Android programs.

The solution is to create a separate partition on the memory card and install applications there. To do this, you need root rights and special programs, for example, Link2SD or AppMgr III.

7. Expanding the capabilities of the system

Magisk and Xposed are two very popular tools that can upgrade your smartphone and add many new features to it - if you have root rights, of course. By installing third-party modules or extensions of these programs, you can do a lot of interesting things with your firmware.

For example, you can customize the interface by changing the colors of the notification panel, move the system clock to the left or right side of the panel (or even to the middle, like on the iPhone), make the YouTube application play videos in the background or in a floating window on top of other programs, add new gestures controls or skins for the keyboard … You can't list everything. The list of available modules is impressive.

Download Magisk →

Download Xposed →

8. Recovery of lost photos

Have you inadvertently deleted important photos from the memory of your smartphone, but no copies have been preserved on other media? DiskDigger will recover lost snapshots.

This application scans the smartphone's memory, finds traces of deleted files and uploads them to the cloud service Dropbox or Google Drive, or to local storage. And for the utility to work correctly, you need root rights.

DiskDigger photo recovery Defiant Technologies, LLC

9. Installing third-party firmware

Often, third-party firmware is much better than the one offered by smartphone manufacturers. Options like LineageOS or AOSP, for example, have better autonomy, ads with unnecessary applications have already been cut out, and there are much more settings, and telemetry is disabled. Add to that the fact that community-developed firmware takes longer to receive updates than Android from manufacturers.

Strictly speaking, you don't need root access to install third-party firmware. But you still have to unlock the bootloader - as well as to obtain superuser rights.

Download LineageOS →

Download AOSP →