You might have seen the word “Rooting an Android“ on the internet but you are not aware of what rooting is and how it works? In this post I have shared What is rooting?, Advantages and disadvantages of rooting an android device. This post is not intended to teach you how you can root your android devices, I’ll just share the concept of rooting and it’s advantages/disadvantages.

What is Rooting (Android Operating System)?

Rooting an Android device means to get root access on your Android device. The Android operating system is based on Linux and on every Linux there is a user with root access (with all privileges). Root user on Linux have rights to all files and programs, he can do anything. Similarly, you can also get root access on your Android device. If you have an android device and you think that you can do everything on it, then you’re wrong! You’re just a guest user on your device. I’ll give you a simple example so it will make sure that you are just a guest user. You can install and uninstall applications on your android device but you can’t uninstall a default application. Default applications include the Web browser, Calendar, Clock etc. There are many more default apps available on your device. When you’ll go to Settings>Apps> and open any default application’s settings, you’ll see Disable button instead of Uninstall. In case of any game or application that you have installed on Google Play, you’ll see an Uninstall button to remove that application from your device.

Many people say that rooting is a good option and it allows them to own their devices fully but many say that it is not a good option because it can be harmful. Take a look at some common advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages of Rooting Android Device

• Running special applications – If you have a rooted android device then you can install special applications on it. Special applications mean the applications which require root access. You can search on Google about which apps to download on the rooted device.

• Using custom ROM’s – This is one of the most powerful features in the rooted android device. There are many ROM’s available, we can use them on our android device for a variety of tasks from speeding up to changing the entire look of the device. The below advantages can be merged into this advantage but I’ve separated all the points so that you will understand it better.

• Uninstalling default applications – You can’t remove default applications like Browser, calendar etc on your Android device. When you’ll go to the app’s settings you will see a Disable button instead of Uninstall. Rooting gives you the power to uninstall any application you like including the default ones.

• Installing Linux distros – You can install different types of Linux Distros like Ubuntu, BackTrack etc, on your rooted android device.

• Boosting battery life – A rooted android device allows you to stop applications which you don’t need. You can stop them so they’ll not run on background and consume your device’s battery.

• Freeing phone storage – Another advantage of a rooted android device is that you can transfer applications from your phone’s internal storage to SD card. When you download and install an application from Google Play, It is installed on your phone’s memory. Moving these applications into SD card will help to free space for new applications on phone memory.

Disadvantages of Rooting Android Device

• Risks of bricking – While trying to root your android device, you can put yourself in the problem and come up with a bricked phone. The bricked phone is just like carrying a brick in your pocket. It can happen if you missed out any step of the rooting tutorial which you are following or you flashed a corrupt zip file.

• Voiding device’s warranty – Once your device is rooted then it only belongs to you. If you have many months of warranty available, then rooting your device will help you end your warranty. If you had done anything wrong and you wanted to get it fixed by the company then the company will charge you more for fixing it. There is an option to un-root in some devices, but in most of the devices, there is no way to go back.

• Viruses – It is not a very big disadvantage but still It has some potential. When you install custom ROM’s, you’re not aware that what it contained. A bad ROM developer can put malicious files in it which can harm your device.

• Battery issues – You can stop default applications to save battery life, It was an advantage but there is also a disadvantage, which is some ROM’s consume more battery than usual. So It can cause issues related to the battery.

Conclusion

In short, the choice is really yours. Only you can decide that whether you should root your android device or not. If rooting gives you freedom then it also voids your warranty, Similarly, if you can install custom ROM’s then you can also end up with a bricked device which is not very much fun. Different people have different choices, Our job was to share advantages and disadvantages with you so you can decide what to do.