Do less people jailbreak or root?

[jhansman]

Won't root my T-Mobile S5 until the warranty expires (another 5 mos.); I'll own it by then and since most phones now cannot be opened (to replace the battery or upgrade an SD card), I may never upgrade it.

 

[lopri]

Some of the benefits of root access I rely on a daily basis are:

• Firewall
• Ad block
• Reigning on apps that do stuff behind my back
• ..
• Doing things that I am not supposed to do (without breaking the law, of course)
• Overclocking (including underclocking, undervolting, etc.)

I think it is a matter of personal preference. But it is almost axiomatic that your own customization is going to suit you better than whatever the OEM thinks is best for the masses. I like to have my hardware behave just the way I want it to. Trade-offs are 1) Voiding warranty, 2) Breaching features that rely on the lock, and 3) Having to apply updates manually. I do not fiddle with custom ROMs, so for the most part it is a set-it-and-forget-it part of my usage pattern. I would not advise it to others willy-nilly, however. ("With great powers comes great responsibility" and all that.. :biggrin: )

 

[jhu]

Root is the primary criteria for any phone I get. Not having control of my computer is offensive.

Agreed. Can't rely on the manufacturer to provide timely updates to my phone. Ergo, 3rd party ROM FTW! I'm partial to Cyanogenmod.

 

[Chocu1a]

Rooted my Note 4 & Note 3 to allow for tethering on Cricket. Also to delete all the carrier bloat from ATT. Also like having Titanium Backup for switching between phones.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Agreed. Can't rely on the manufacturer to provide timely updates to my phone. Ergo, 3rd party ROM FTW! I'm partial to Cyanogenmod.

I am completely jaded by roming because playing with my Nexus tablet and GPe roms showed me how buggy and crappy so many of those CM kangs are. It used to be my favorite part about Android, but now I feel I was foolish to buy these flagship devices and gimp the camera or GPS or something (almost every CM rom has a buglist) just to get a fast and stock os. I should have just lived with the limitations of Nexuses from the start rather than try to hack my way around it post-Nook color. Technically my current phone is hacked up (an ATT M8 that thinks it is a unrooted GPE version) but going forward it's Nexus or bust. I don't even want root because that messes up updates, I just want clean stock Android from the people who make the phone.

My iPad will always be jailbroken until there is something like f.lux built in, it helps with me sleep too much. Also I refuse to overpay for some device like a Leef to move over non approved files (or jump through Dropbox hoops) when SSH works so well.

 

[boomhower]

My iPad will always be jailbroken until there is something like f.lux built in, it helps with me sleep too much.

Just wanted to say thanks for that. Never heard of it but downloaded it for my MBP and absolutely love it. Now looking into a jailbreak for my iPad, it's that good.

 

[jhu]

I am completely jaded by roming because playing with my Nexus tablet and GPe roms showed me how buggy and crappy so many of those CM kangs are. It used to be my favorite part about Android, but now I feel I was foolish to buy these flagship devices and gimp the camera or GPS or something (almost every CM rom has a buglist) just to get a fast and stock os. I should have just lived with the limitations of Nexuses from the start rather than try to hack my way around it post-Nook color. Technically my current phone is hacked up (an ATT M8 that thinks it is a unrooted GPE version) but going forward it's Nexus or bust. I don't even want root because that messes up updates, I just want clean stock Android from the people who make the phone.

My iPad will always be jailbroken until there is something like f.lux built in, it helps with me sleep too much. Also I refuse to overpay for some device like a Leef to move over non approved files (or jump through Dropbox hoops) when SSH works so well.

I also have an M8, but with CM instead. I haven't had any major issues with it. Although it's unfortunate that other phones have to choose between security and usability.

 

[gorcorps]

I am completely jaded by roming because playing with my Nexus tablet and GPe roms showed me how buggy and crappy so many of those CM kangs are. It used to be my favorite part about Android, but now I feel I was foolish to buy these flagship devices and gimp the camera or GPS or something (almost every CM rom has a buglist) just to get a fast and stock os. I should have just lived with the limitations of Nexuses from the start rather than try to hack my way around it post-Nook color. Technically my current phone is hacked up (an ATT M8 that thinks it is a unrooted GPE version) but going forward it's Nexus or bust. I don't even want root because that messes up updates, I just want clean stock Android from the people who make the phone.

My iPad will always be jailbroken until there is something like f.lux built in, it helps with me sleep too much. Also I refuse to overpay for some device like a Leef to move over non approved files (or jump through Dropbox hoops) when SSH works so well.

That's part of my issue too. Specifically the IR blaster that Samsung had for a couple gens. There was never a 3rd party rom that kept IR functionality, but I used it a lot at the time. There were other small things too but I was having to sacrifice some feature on my phone to have a different rom, and it just wasn't worth it.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Ya its strange when you can buy a $300 laptop and put any os on it but if you spend 6-700 on a phone they lock it down not allowing you to do anything to it.

Well, you have to look at the history first. Remember, most folks don't actually buy the phone. They have it subsidized, and as historically that means the carriers own the device until you met the contractual obligations then its not your phone.

Secondly, anyone being naive to think all of the carriers are not making money through ad revenue on the phones is just ignorance--so be blissful.

While I am not going to defend the smuck carriers I am a hell of a lot more concern with my personal information being granted by whatever iOS/Android store feels like handing out. Most of the ignorant cows of the land--cellular junkies all of them--don't read what they are giving up/out for an app that actually has nothing to do with what they give up.

And that's just the free apps. I cannot imagine paying for an app on a phone or tablet and then having some blind store policy say, sure here is all of the photos, songs, contacts, yadda, yadda, yadda for that Notepad app.

Who cares about the Metadata collection by the Feds we most (certainly the majority) freely and ignorant give it away like a cheap and easy girl at prom.

 

[mnewsham]

Well, you have to look at the history first. Remember, most folks don't actually buy the phone. They have it subsidized, and as historically that means the carriers own the device until you met the contractual obligations then its not your phone.

Secondly, anyone being naive to think all of the carriers are not making money through ad revenue on the phones is just ignorance--so be blissful.

While I am not going to defend the smuck carriers I am a hell of a lot more concern with my personal information being granted by whatever iOS/Android store feels like handing out. Most of the ignorant cows of the land--cellular junkies all of them--don't read what they are giving up/out for an app that actually has nothing to do with what they give up.

And that's just the free apps. I cannot imagine paying for an app on a phone or tablet and then having some blind store policy say, sure here is all of the photos, songs, contacts, yadda, yadda, yadda for that Notepad app.

Who cares about the Metadata collection by the Feds we most (certainly the majority) freely and ignorant give it away like a cheap and easy girl at prom.

thankfully android 6.0 allows per app permissions.

 

[sweenish]

I've stopped ROMing and rooting, although I see myself doing it (ROMing) next year to keep my N7 2013 on the latest Android. Honestly, I don't even think that ROM, whatever it will be, needs to even have root.

 

[dainthomas]

Thought about rooting but there's nothing I'd really use it for other than maybe underclocking. Won't install cyanogen on my phone because it'll break T-Mobile's wifi calling which I use (among other things).

Just way too much work and inconvenience for minimal benefit.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I don't. It was such a pain to update back when I was Rooting/Roming.

 

[clamum]

I've rooted the last several of my phones, and like to be able to put Cyanogenmod on them to get all the default crap off the phone.

But if I didn't have this option, I probably would still purchase a phone. My ASUS Zenfone 2 has some bloat to it, but the stock OS is pretty decent and there's ways to get rid of, or disable, the bloat anyway.

I'm just kind of a tinkerer, but being able to do that isn't absolutely necessary for me in a phone I guess.

 

[secretanchitman]

I definitely jailbreak my iPhone because there are some specific tweaks that make the phone much better, like NoSlowAnimations (current animation speed on iOS is slow for me) and SwipeSelection to start.

 

[Oyeve]

I haven't jail broken an iphone since the 3gs. That's when I realized iphones sucked for what I wanted a phone to do. I only rooted my tab pro to get rid of the bloat to free up the 16gb storage.

 

[Dulanic]

I stopped when android pay didn't work with rooting. However, I am finding it works better without.

 

[BW86]

I stopped when android pay didn't work with rooting. However, I am finding it works better without.

Systemless root works with android pay

 

[mnewsham]

Systemless root works with android pay

Except Chainfire thinks google will close the loophole and doesn't think it will be a long term solution.

 

[trmiv]

Haven't rooted my last two phones (Note 4 and Note 5, not that I could if I wanted to anyway), and I haven't missed it that much. Only thing I'd want root for is to remove some of the annoying bar icons (NFC, persistent AT&T logo, bluetooth, etc).

 

[openwheel]

Root is required for me. Must bypass Verizon's tether provision.

 

[kstu]

Root is required for me. Must bypass Verizon's tether provision.

Been a while since I've been in the market for a new phone, but what can even be rooted on verizon these days (new or used)? I know a few like note4/5, gs4/5 are all out of the picture if they took some OTA update some time ago, is that right?

 

[RockinZ28]

Been a while since I've been in the market for a new phone, but what can even be rooted on verizon these days (new or used)? I know a few like note4/5, gs4/5 are all out of the picture if they took some OTA update some time ago, is that right?

Think S6 and S6 Edge are the most recent Samsung ones that root is possible, but yea depending if it has been updated or not.

Note 4 has never achieved root, besides some temporary crap that's not even worth the hassle. Note 5 hasn't either, and both likely never will during their usable life. LG phones are locked down last I read too. And I'd expect the same going forward unless something changes.

If all you want is free tether, FoxFi app works on all of them as far as I know.

Otherwise the best bet are Nexus phones.

 

[stockwiz]

I wouldn't have rooted if android had provided a way to get rid of the navigation bar in stock android but as it stood, I didn't want that ugly black box taking up screen real estate so first I just rooted. After I rooted I figured I'd just take it a step further and try out Chroma, a custom ROM.

A few hours of researching later new ROM is installed... I should probably update it though.. I haven't touched it since I installed in October... just for the added features they might have with android 6. Having even less apps stuck on my phone via a nice slim GAPPS package is icing on the cake. Also adblock and screen color calibration for the nexus 6 have come in handy.

After using swipe navigation for a while it's become second nature to me and the navigation bar is not missed.

 

[ControlD]

I wouldn't have rooted if android had provided a way to get rid of the navigation bar in stock android but as it stood, I didn't want that ugly black box taking up screen real estate so first I just rooted. After I rooted I figured I'd just take it a step further and try out Chroma, a custom ROM.

A few hours of researching later new ROM is installed... I should probably update it though.. I haven't touched it since I installed in October... just for the added features they might have with android 6. Having even less apps stuck on my phone via a nice slim GAPPS package is icing on the cake. Also adblock and screen color calibration for the nexus 6 have come in handy.

After using swipe navigation for a while it's become second nature to me and the navigation bar is not missed.

Hmm ... this makes me want to try Chroma out. I have been running stock everything since moving to 6.0, but I am starting to get the itch to customize a few things.