Why should I not root my Android?

Hi again! This post is a continuation of the previous one where we found some pretty solid reasons to root your Android smartphone. Like everything in this world, and beyond, everything has two sides. A positive, and a negative. Same goes for root. Sure, there’re some amazing benefits that come with it, but rooting your phone would also mean having to make some compromises. In this post, we shall try to find some reasons why you might want to reconsider your decision of rooting your smartphone.

1. Warranty is void

This might be the best reason why people just decide to stay away from rooting. Unless you have a phone from OnePlus, YU or Xiaomi, you will have to sacrifice the phone’s warranty for root. But again, you can always unroot the phone and get back your warranty; and also, this reason is non-existent if your phone is already out of the manufacturer’s warranty period.

2. Goodbye, updates

If you unlock the phone’s bootloader and root the phone, there’s close to zero chances of getting (or installing) official OTA updates from the manufacturer. There are workarounds, but it won’t be as simple as tapping an option. Again, this reason becomes invalid if you plan on installing and using a custom ROM, as mostly all major ROMs have their own integrated OTA support these days.

3. SafetyNet breach

SafetyNet is a feature Google built into Android to detect if the device’s software has been tampered with in any way, including rooting. This means rooting will breach SafetyNet. What does this mean for you? Well, a lot of apps rely on SafetyNet to function. From apps that contain sensitive information, like your banking app, or even Android Pay, to many games; they’ll just decline to start once SafetyNet breaks. The goodnews though is that you can get SafetyNet to not trip even after you’ve rooted in most cases. Find out how.

4. Be exxxtra careful

Like you probably know by now, rooting gives the user and apps access to system files and settings; files and settings, that are really important in the normal functioning of your smartphone. If by mistake, you, or a notorious app messes with a system file, and something goes wrong, your phone might get bricked, and you might lose all your data. So, you’ll need to be very careful while operating your rooted phone, and take note of all the apps installed on the phone. You’ll need to ensure that you know exactly what you’re trying to do with the phone, or, your phone goes unstable, and starts acting crazy.

5. Security issues

Yes, we know that we mentioned this point as a positive point in the previous post, but mind you, this will probably be the biggest trade-off you’ll have to make when you proceed with rooting. A phone with root can shell out a lot of sensitive data, in comparison to a non-rooted one. Hackers and notorious people can extract the most private of things stored on the phone, and even perform actions on the phone remotely. This, of course, can be kept in check, if you install apps from trusted sources and avoid visiting malicious sites. Nothing is a hundred percent secure in the world of technology. It’s just that, a rooted phone is a bit more prone to easier access than others.

That’s it, people. Now that you’ve gone through all the pros and cons, it’s on you to decide whether or not you want to proceed with rooting. In case you still want to, we have device-specific guides to root, and also a lot of content on making use of your rooted phone, which we highly encourage you to check out. See you in some other post! Happy rooting!