Almost all Android device users sooner or later wonder how to get Root rights to Android. But, most users believe that rooting is too difficult or that rooting may damage their data. Therefore, most quickly abandon this idea. In fact, now you can get root rights just by making a few clicks of the mouse. The times when in order to obtain root rights you had to study long and tedious instructions are long gone. Nowadays most of the work is done special programs. In this material we will talk about what root rights are, why they are needed, and also how to get root rights on Android.

Root rights is a term from UNIX-like operating systems. It means a user with an identifier (UID, User IDentifier) ​​of zero. This user is also called a superuser and has full access to the operating system. In other words, if you root your Android smartphone, you will have full control over the Android operating system that is installed on your device.

This control provides many benefits. Firstly, having received ROOT, you can delete standard applications, preinstalled by the manufacturer of your smartphone. You can also change program shortcuts, install themes, launch specialized applications, change files operating system, install applications on a memory card, etc.

On the other hand, obtaining ROOT rights carries some risks. Firstly, devices with ROOT access lose the manufacturer's warranty. So in the event of a breakdown, you will have to repair the device at your own expense. Also on devices with ROOT rights The ability to update over the air disappears (you will no longer be able to install OTA updates).

It should be noted that there are several types: Full Root (full access without any restrictions), Shell Root (without access to the system folder), Temporary Root (temporary Root, works only until the first reboot of the device). But enough theory, it’s time to move on to practice.

How to get Root rights to Android using the Kingo Android ROOT program

Kingo program Android ROOT This free utility, which allows you to quickly and without any hassle get ROOT rights. This program supports most popular Android devices, so it can be considered a universal solution.

Step #1: Download Kingo Android ROOT. Go to and download the program onto your Windows computer.

Step No. 2. Install the downloaded program on your computer. We will not consider the entire installation process; there is nothing complicated there. Everything is exactly the same as when installing any other program.

Step #3: Enable USB Debugging mode on your smartphone. To do this, we will first need to enable “Developer Mode”. To do this, open the settings and go to the “Device Information” section. Here you need to click on the “Build number” item several times in a row. After this, a message will appear indicating that developer mode is enabled.

After we enabled "Developer Mode". We return to Settings and go to the “Developer Options” section (this section may be called differently, for example “For Developers”).

In the Developer Options section, we need to find the USB Debugging feature and enable it.

Step #4: Enable installation of applications from unknown sources. To do this, open the Android settings and go to the “Security” section. Here you need to find the “Unknown Sources” function and enable it.

Step No. 5. Launch the Kingo Android ROOT program on the computer and after that connect our Android device to it with via USB cable. After connecting the Android device, the program will find and install the necessary drivers.

Step No. 4. Get Root rights to Android. The tricky step of getting root rights. After the Kingo Android ROOT program installs the drivers, you will see a big red “ROOT” button. Click it and wait for the Kingo Android ROOT program to finish.

Step No. 5. Reboot your Android device. After successfully obtaining Root rights, the program will display a corresponding message and ask you to reboot your Android device

That's it, now you have Rooted your Android gadget. If necessary, you can remove root rights. To do this, just connect the device again, launch the Kingo Android ROOT program, and click on the “Remove Root” button.

How to check that you have received Root rights on Android

If you wish, you can check that obtaining root rights was completed correctly. This can be done in several ways:

• If you have Root, then in the terminal emulator after entering the su command you should see a prompt in the form of a pound sign (#).
• If you have Root, then in the terminal emulator you should receive the response “uid=0(root) gid=0(root)” to the command “/system/bin/id”. But, this method checks do not always work.

You can also check if you have Ruth rights simply by launching an application that requires them. If the program works normally and all its functions are available, then you have Ruth rights. If you see warnings and errors, it means you are not authorized. Also, in some cases, after obtaining root rights, the Superuser or SuperSU application will appear in the list of applications.

First, a little materiel. Just a little, don't worry. The word root in a Linux environment is an account that has certain privileges in accessing files. It is also called the superuser. The closest comparison is the administrator profile in Windows, but a password is usually not needed. However, this depends on the device, and now we will not talk about full-fledged Linux, but about its offspring mobile format named Android.

So, imagine that your computer is accessible through an administrator profile. You can edit system files, mess with the registry, mess with the cache and do other operations that, at a certain level of hand curvature, can lead to the PC turning into a photo frame with a permanent BSOD on the screen. So, it’s even harder for a superuser in Android, because more mistakes can be made, and simply reinstalling the OS on it is not an easy task. To summarize: superuser rights allow the owner of a smartphone to access system files, and, more importantly, change them and save these changes.

It would not be amiss to inform you that there are three types of root rights. Full Root provides the user with permanent access to superuser capabilities, Shell Root is a trimmed version of Full, that is, changing the /system folder is not available, and Temporary Root gives full access only until the smartphone is rebooted. And now:

Flaws

The warranty period for most types of electronics ranges from six months to two years. During this time, it is possible to identify post-sale defects, the responsibility for which lies with the manufacturer. If he is really at fault (which is easy to check), repairs and replacement of components will be carried out free of charge at special service centers. But if the so-called warranty conditions are violated, you will have to do everything at your own expense. So, getting a superuser account violates the terms of the guarantee in 99% of cases. This is the same as opening the security seals on a TV in order to try to fix it yourself, but having failed in this, sending the device to a service center. The warranty conditions have been violated; the manufacturer does not know why the breakdown occurred - its fault, or yours. And no one will take words on faith.

Therefore, I formulate the first and main disadvantage for the average user: Gaining root access will almost certainly void your smartphone's warranty! True, there is an option that can hide such actions with a certain chance - rolling back to the factory firmware, but only those who have already dealt with access to the system at a low level are able to do this. Although the probability of an error for such users is close to zero, the “counter” of roots, if the manufacturer has inserted it, may not be reset to zero. Well, if the warranty for the device has already expired, then there is no point in being afraid of this particular drawback.

In my article about mobile viruses, I mentioned that with the opening of superuser rights, the smartphone receives an additional set of vulnerabilities. But this concerns not only the fact that even a simple virus can easily crap into the holy of holies - right into the heart of a pocket friend. People are naturally curious. Having received unprecedented freedom in working with a smartphone, they try to do things, studiously avoiding studying the hardware. Their self-confidence is amusing, but the result is not very good. With a careless movement of the hand, a multifunctional phone turns into a so-called. "brick" that doesn't even turn on. This means that a man-made grain of sand got into the perfectly debugged mechanism and stopped the work of the gears. For the average user, the matter is resolved exclusively service center, flashing and loss of all data (!) that was on the phone, with the exception of those on the memory card and SIM card. And the SC, in turn, will demand money from you for this service, because the warranty has expired (see paragraph above).

This leads to the second drawback: if there is an error in working with superuser rights, you can disrupt the operation of the OS, up to irretrievable loss of data. You can avoid this by doing the following: before doing anything, you need to know the consequences - there is probably at least one person on the Internet who has already taken a risk and posted their thoughts in an accessible form. Next - always have it on hand backup copy, and not just one. I'm not talking about gallery files or contacts, but about a full backup of the entire system - the so-called recovery. We will discuss how to do it later.

Also, for a user who has tasted the delights of root for the first time, the following news will be sad: interference with system files will take away the smartphone’s ability to automatic update, that is, to receive new firmware versions. Yes, yes, you won’t see KitKat if you are on older versions of Android and decided to play around with the superuser. However, there is no question of reliability here - the update may arrive, and even install, and even work! But if this happens to you, consider yourself to have won three lotteries in a row, because this is a colossus with feet of clay, and your OS runs on files that are not designed for this. Therefore, disadvantage number three: after receiving root access, you can forget about auto-updating the smartphone OS, unless you are a very lucky person. If you really want a new version of Android, you will have to do everything manually. It's not easy, but once you have received root access, if you please, live up to this title!

A serious disadvantage of root rights is the variability in obtaining them from device to device. Let's start with the fact that not every smartphone provides such an opportunity. If your device has a feature (although I would call it a “crutch”) called NAND lock, you don’t have to dream about rooting. About Full Root, to be precise. The remaining two options are available in most cases. Yes, there are ways around this software gimmick, but be prepared to spend extra hours poring over instructions.

There's no complete list of devices with NAND lock, but even if your smartphone doesn't prevent root access, don't expect it to be easy. There is no single recipe for obtaining superuser rights. Each new product will be studied by Internet experts for the first few days before a sequence of actions appears on Western forums. You shouldn’t even think that it will be simple - there can be more than 20 steps, and each of them involves a desktop computer, the Internet, third-party programs, stubs and God knows what else. Conclusion: due to NAND lock, not all smartphones have the opportunity to get Full Root, and for most devices where this option is available, there are separate instructions that you need to search for a long time and strictly follow. And if something didn’t work out on the way to your goal, there is a high probability of getting a technological “brick” at a reasonable price.

And the last, but very important fact. Any experiments with obtaining root rights, changing the firmware, creating a backup on a PC or creating a recovery must be carried out ONLY through the NATIVE USB cable, which must be plugged DIRECTLY into the computer case, bypassing any hubs. The fact is that various Chinese crafts of any price and value, with the exception of branded peripherals, fail at the most important moment, or simply cannot cope with such tasks. This is not a recent phenomenon - even Siemens phones were only flashed via native USB, which, by the way, cost a lot of money and was quite rare. As a result, you can make a smartphone an expensive brick in the process of obtaining, say, recovery, which should protect the user from such situations. Be careful!

Advantages

The freedom of action. Having received Root rights, you, as a smartphone user, will acquire full control over the device. Don't like standard applications? Remove them completely! Tired of standard shortcuts/icons? For God's sake, change them to whatever you like! You can remove the screensaver when starting up and shutting down the device, you can make the native flash dance during a call, you can put artificial restrictions on Internet traffic, remove advertising from applications, hide the notification panel or navigation menu, and much, much more. Of course, such changes require appropriate programs.

You don’t want to tinker with individual elements, but are you frankly bored with the standard shell view? There is a solution! With root rights, no one will bother you install the real custom firmware. The leader in this field can be considered the CyanogenMod project, within which software builds are released daily for dozens of popular devices... But there are also MIUI, Illusion, ParanoidAndroid and many others. After getting acquainted with them, you may want to go back to such a native and understandable factory firmware, but not everything is so simple, and the specifics of a particular device will not be slow to affect. Down with doubts! The possibilities of individual ROMs are simply breathtaking.

For example, the main advantages of CyanogenMod are its original purity (no unnecessary pre installed programs), ease of use, minimal settings, ability to quickly switch profiles, and excellent optimization. Among the shortcomings, it is worth highlighting a small set of settings, as for custom firmware, as well as general instability in operation. A MIUI firmware is positioned as a hybrid of Android, iOS, and, in fact, is a hodgepodge of the best elements of both platforms. It does not have most of the pre-installed applications, but it does have a large number of themes and widgets, and most of the standard Android applications have either been removed or replaced with “lighter” analogues.

Illusion stands out for its completely transparent interface, auto-hiding status bar, and excellent notification functionality, which can be configured separately. ParanoidAndroid is generally a kind of sandbox with customization that will be respected by some Linux distributions. This includes scaling EVERY individual program, the status bar can also be customized as desired, as can notifications, and the overall interface layout can be swapped from smartphone to tablet, and PIE Control combines all the major shortcuts into one handy diagram.

But there is even more customizable firmware - AOKP. Personally, it reminds me of the times when Siemens phones ruled the roost, as you could do incredible things with them. With AOKP, your vibrating alert will start singing along to your favorite song, instead of loading there will be a photo of your favorite girl, and the Ribbon interface will eliminate the need for launchers. And that's just short review what universal ROMs are capable of. But there are also firmwares for individual devices that correct the most unpleasant errors without turning the design upside down. Often they are almost in no way inferior to stock ones. But also nice little things, like a built-in boot menu, the ability to record screencasts or change the screen density in dpi through general scaling. ATTENTION! The last function is extremely dangerous and can lead to the smartphone becoming bricked.

Android was originally built as an open operating system with extensive capabilities. At the same time, the developers also took care of security by introducing restrictions on the functionality of the programs. However, the opportunity to completely feel like the owner of the gadget remains: to do this, it is enough to obtain superuser rights. Not everyone decides to do this: there is always a risk of “bricking” the device, and even after receiving root access the question arises: is it safe to use such a smartphone? There are different points of view on this matter, and in this article we will try to answer this question.

Myth: Having root rights does not affect security

Modern Android smartphones, especially gadgets from large manufacturers, are almost impossible to hack from the inside. Each custom Android app works in an isolated sandbox and does not have access to other processes, and the user must confirm any more or less important actions independently. Of course, ways to gain root access “from within” are sometimes discovered, but judging by rare media reports, they do not have a serious impact on the security of the operating system. This is why the vast majority of malware relies not on vulnerabilities, but on user inattention, trying to deceive them into obtaining rights to use paid services, putting the gadget into kiosk mode (from which you can’t exit and can’t launch anything) or even device administrator status. But there are devices that are sold with an already unlocked bootloader, or offer to get root access with a couple of clicks in the gadget settings. Many Chinese manufacturers offer such generosity, and you should be especially careful with such devices.

If you decide to expand your system privileges, problems may begin already at the stage of obtaining superuser rights. The variety of methods for obtaining root access can be divided into two categories. The first is the use of Android vulnerabilities that have not yet been closed. Programs such as KingRoot or Kingo Root While working, they access servers that store huge collections of exploits and look for those that are suitable for a specific device. Needless to say, the work of such programs often leads to dire consequences? Sometimes it happens that the exploit does not work correctly and instead of superuser rights you get a “brick”, which, at best, can be revived by a complete flashing.

In addition, such applications are closed source, which means you have no way of knowing what exactly they do with your device. And they can do anything, from sending data from internal memory devices on Chinese servers and ending with installation of Adware on the gadget, which can only be removed with specialized tools. This is exactly how the above-mentioned KingRoot behaves, not only placing ads on the home screen against your will, but also sending information about the device to an unknown person.

The second category is “semi-official”, since it involves the use of official instructions from the manufacturer or specialized software to unlock the bootloader. Once this is done, the user has the opportunity to install it on the system root access manager, intercepting corresponding calls from other programs.

However, this method is not without drawbacks. Chainfire, the author of SuperSU, the most popular root access manager to date, sold his development to a little-known company, Coding Code Mobile Technology LLC, at the end of 2015. This company uses the American state of Delaware as an offshore, but its roots go back to China. Source SuperSU was closed before, but the name of the developer all this time acted as a kind of guarantee of the absence of unwanted code in the program. Now no one can give such a guarantee, and many are rightfully afraid to install SuperSU 2.80+ versions released after the deal on their gadgets.

But, even if you are absolutely sure of the method for obtaining superuser rights and the root access manager, there is no guarantee that one of the seemingly harmless programs will not exploit a vulnerability that allows you to gain system privileges by bypassing the manager. There are plenty of examples of malware that work this way: Tordow secretly stole passwords from browsers, Guerrilla and Ztorg bought applications in Google Play without the user's knowledge, and Triada replaced addresses in the browser, implementing almost perfect undetectable phishing.

According to Kaspersky Lab, one of the most advanced Trojans, Triada, has gained root access on 247 devices

Another rubbish in the garden of root access is the limitation of the functionality of some applications or their complete inoperability after unlocking the bootloader or obtaining superuser rights. First of all, this applies to financial programs, for example, Android Pay, Samsung Pay And Sberbank Online.

Safe use of a rooted smartphone

Having read this far, you might think that we consider root access in smartphones to be an unambiguous evil. This, of course, is not true: superuser rights open up a huge number of opportunities for amateurs third party firmware, experiments, and just those who want to get full control over their gadget. And if this is your first time deciding to get root rights, we will not dissuade you from it. But you must be prepared for possible consequences, including the failure of some programs and increased system vulnerability. It sounds alarming, but if you follow a number of simple rules, you are unlikely to run into trouble.

Use proven methods for obtaining root rights. Do not fall for the admonitions of the developers of Chinese universal programs about the possibility of obtaining superuser rights in two clicks. It would be much better to find it on forum a topic dedicated to the firmware of your device and follow simple instructions.

Use reliable root access managers. When choosing, give preference to programs that do not raise any doubts about their reliability. It could be SuperSU version no older than 2.80, or the new open source Magisk project.

Install applications from reliable sources. Try to install programs only from Google Play, but remember that you can also come across malware in the official Google store. If the desired program is not on Google Play, download it from the official website of the developer or our SITE - this way the chances of encountering malware are reduced to zero.

Use an antivirus. If you use a limited set of programs and install them from the same sources, you probably don’t need an antivirus. But if you like to install dozens of different programs or click on advertisements with offers to “update your battery”, then additional protection In the form of a proven antivirus from a major developer, it won’t be superfluous.

Conclusion

Root access is an extremely powerful tool that requires responsible use. If you do not pay due attention to each step, from unlocking the bootloader to using superuser rights, you risk encountering various problems, be it viruses or malicious code in the root access manager itself. But by following our advice, you will minimize all risks and be able to use applications with root rights without any problems. direct purpose and make the gadget completely your own.

ROOT rights allow you to expand functionality and gain additional control over the Android operating system. They are also called superuser rights. Initially blocked by the manufacturer in order to protect the operating system and the device as a whole from making unsafe changes inexperienced users. If desired, they can be easily activated using special programs.

What are superuser rights?

Obtaining such rights will allow the user to restore and freeze the firmware on the gadget, remove advertising from installed programs, delete files originally built by the manufacturer (especially important for Samsung, since they have the largest number of unnecessary applications who eat RAM and thereby slow down your gadget), configure sound alerts at your discretion, change appearance operating system, make changes to all kinds of files, increase performance and time battery life, change the speed of the processor, create your own firmware, automate various everyday tasks, etc.

The manufacturer categorically does not recommend activating ROOT rights without a clear understanding of why this is needed. If the device fails due to changes to system files, the user may lose the right to free guaranteed service. Everything is done solely at your own responsibility.

Obtaining superuser rights using Framaroot as an example

Activation of ROOT rights is performed in the following order. First you download APK file application, launch it and install the program.

After the application is installed, select the appropriate mode. Superuser mode is sufficient to perform most user tasks with the system. SuperSU mode should be chosen by those who plan to make changes to system files and know how and why to do it.

Choose any of the proposed characters. The program will notify you of successful activation of rights as follows.

If you want to dig into the Android system, you may find that many applications require root rights. Recently, there is practically no need to obtain superuser rights, but still some applications require root rights. This article describes how to root Android and why you might need them.

Why do you need root rights on Android?

Android is based on Linux. On Linux and other Unix-like operating systems, the root user is equivalent to the administrator on Windows. The root user has access to the entire operating system and can do anything. By default, you are not rooted on your Android device, and some apps will not work without root privileges. Like other modern mobile operating systems, Android runs applications in a sandbox for security purposes.

A root user always exists in Android, there's just no built-in way to access it. Getting root rights means that you gain access to account with superuser rights. This process is often compared to jailbreaking an iPhone or iPad, but getting root rights and jailbreaking are different actions.

Root rights allow you to do many useful things. With superuser rights, you can uninstall or freeze pre-installed applications, run a firewall, enable tethering even if your carrier blocks it, create a system backup, and use many other settings that require low-level system access.

Applications that require root access are not difficult to find in the Google Play Store, but they will not work unless you have root access. Some apps have features that work on rooted devices. Therefore, you need to learn how to root Android to take advantage of these features.

Warnings

On Android devices Root rights cannot be obtained for various reasons. In fact, device manufacturers are trying their best to prevent you from obtaining rights to an Android gadget. And that's why:

• Safety: On rooted devices, applications run outside the sandbox. Applications can abuse the superuser rights you have granted and break into other applications, which is usually not possible. That's why Google doesn't approve using Android Pay on rooted devices.
• Guarantee: Some manufacturers claim that after receiving root rights, the warranty disappears. However, obtaining superuser rights will not violate Hardware. In many cases, you can perform the non-root procedure and the manufacturer will not be able to know whether the root rights have been obtained or not.
• Breaking: As always, you do this at your own risk. Obtaining root rights is usually a safe process, but you do it yourself. If you mess something up, you won't be able to count on free warranty service to fix this. If you are worried whether everything will go smoothly, we recommend that you first look for information about successfully obtaining superuser rights on your device to be sure that there will be no pitfalls in the process.

Additionally, rooting may void your warranty, at least for some repairs.

Several ways on how to open root rights on Android

There are many ways to root Android, and which one you should use depends on your phone. In general, rooting will involve one of these processes:

• Unlocking the bootloader: Google and device manufacturers do not officially support rooting, but they do provide an official way for low-level access to some devices, which allows you to later gain root rights. For example, Nexus devices are designed for developers and you can easily unlock the bootloader with a single command. And then get root rights to download the .zip archive containing the file to obtain rights through the recovery screen. The Nexus Root Toolkit for Nexus devices automates this process. Other manufacturers also offer bootloader unlocking methods, but only for certain devices.
• Exploiting a Security Vulnerability: Other devices are blocked. Their manufacturers do not provide an official way to unlock their bootloader and tamper with them software. These devices can only be rooted by exploiting a security vulnerability that allows the necessary file to be installed on the system partition.
• Installing CyanogenMod or other custom firmware on Android: Technically, this is an extension of one of the above methods. Unlocking the operating system's bootloader and exploiting a security vulnerability allows you to install custom ROMs, such as CyanogenMod, which are often already rooted. CyanogenMod has a simple toggle in the settings that allows you to enable or disable root access. Upgrade to new version CyanogenMod or other custom ROM will not disable root rights if the ROM is already rooted.

In this article we will primarily use the first method, which involves an unlocked bootloader. If your phone requires exploitation of a vulnerability, then we will not be able to help you as this process is different for each phone. You can search for information on how to root Android on the XDA Developers forum. You can use the Kingo Root and Towelroot applications, which allow you to gain superuser rights in one click.

Before you can root your android, you will need to unlock the bootloader using the official method and then install the TWRP recovery environment using these instructions. We will use TWRP to root your phone.

How to download SuperSU on your phone and get root access

So, your bootloader is unlocked and you have installed TWRP. Great! You've done almost everything. To root we are going to use the SuperSU program. This best app, which can grant root access to other applications. SuperSU is also available in the Google Play Store, but this version will not give you superuser rights, it can only be used if you already have root rights. Luckily SuperSU is also available as. zip file, which we can download from TWRP. This will allow you to gain superuser rights and install the SuperSU application.

So, to get started, follow this link to download the latest version of SuperSU. Download the .zip file to your computer, connect your phone via USB cable to your PC and download SuperSU to your phone.

Next, boot your phone into TWRP mode. This is done differently on different phones, but usually you need to turn off the phone and press and hold the power button + volume up key for 10 seconds, then use the volume keys to go to “Recovery Mode” and press the power button to select it .

Once you do this you will be taken to main screen TWRP. Click on the "Install" button.

NOTE: You must backup twrp before continuing.

The following screen will appear. Scroll down and navigate to the zip file you downloaded earlier.

Click on the zip file and you will see this screen. Swipe the slider to confirm installation.

When the process is complete, click on the “Wipe cache/Dalvik” button that appears and swipe the slider to confirm.

When the process is complete, click on the “Reboot System” button to reboot the Android system.

If TWRP asks whether to install SuperSU, click “Do Not Install”. Sometimes, TWRP cannot detect that you already have SuperSU installed.

Managing root rights with the SuperSU application

Now that you have learned how to open root rights on Android, you need to learn how to manage these rights.

After rebooting your phone, you should see a new SuperSU icon in the application menu. SuperSU distributes rights to applications that require them. Whenever an application wants to ask for superuser rights, it must ask your application SuperSU, which will show this request. To make sure that root rights are working, you can download the Root Checker application to check superuser rights.

For example, let's open and add the Clean Master application, which allows you to clean your device of accumulated garbage. It requires root rights for more effective cleansing. After launch, you will see a message stating that you need to provide superuser rights. Click Submit.

To manage root rights, open the application menu and click on the SuperSU icon. You will see a list of applications that have been granted or denied superuser rights. You can click on an application to change its permissions.

To remove root rights, open the SuperSU application, go to settings and select the option " Complete removal Root". If this is applicable for your device, then root rights will be removed.

Now you know how to open root rights on Android and how to remove them. Good luck!