Update to official S5 ROMs without unrooting and losing settings?

[fuzzybabybunny]

I've got a few general questions about swapping ROMs.

I root because I want to uninstall bloatware on my T-Mobile S5.

When I rooted for the first time, I used Odin to install a custom recovery and then used the custom recovery to install SuperSU.zip

So now my phone is rooted, but I also can no longer get regular OTA updates of official ROMs. OTA updates are great because settings and home screen are preserved across updates.

1. I can download an image of the most recent official ROM and install with Odin. But then my settings all get wiped.

2. I can unroot, but that would wipe all my settings and home screen as well, right? Unrooting isn't as simple as removing SuperSU?

Should I be using Titanium Backup to backup all my apps and homescreen before any kind of ROM swap or wipe? Is that the standard procedure that everyone uses?

 

[poofyhairguy]

Should I be using Titanium Backup to backup all my apps and homescreen before any kind of ROM swap or wipe?

That works great if the update can also be rooted. Otherwise Ti can't restore the apps and settings.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

That works great if the update can also be rooted. Otherwise Ti can't restore the apps and settings.

Guhhh... good point.

So how do people manage to mess around with so many different roms? Do they actually manually re-download and restore their homescreens each time? It's a total PITA.

 

[WelshBloke]

If youre rooting just to debloat then you're probably better off staying stock and using this...

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ospolice.packagedisablerpro&hl=en_GB

No root needed.

 

[blackangst1]

Also, check the thread in the ROM section of XDA for your device. ~Usually~ when a new version of android comes out, someone deodexes the stock ROM that you can flash.

 

[QueBert]

Guhhh... good point.

So how do people manage to mess around with so many different roms? Do they actually manually re-download and restore their homescreens each time? It's a total PITA.

I used Nova Launcher which has an option to export your homescreen layouts. I would switch roms all the times. Some days I might try 3 different ones. It's a PITA no matter how I did it. TI, at least for me was never 100%. Without fail it would get hung up while restoring something.

Outside of Nova Launcher, I don't remember how I dealt with keeping my home screens intact. But, even with NL I'd still have to manually restore my widgets, which wasn't a big deal because I only used 2. But if you have lots of widgets it would be a big PITA

YMMV here, I haven't had an Android phone for a year so TI + what you're trying to do could have changed for the better.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

I used Nova Launcher which has an option to export your homescreen layouts. I would switch roms all the times. Some days I might try 3 different ones. It's a PITA no matter how I did it. TI, at least for me was never 100%. Without fail it would get hung up while restoring something.

Outside of Nova Launcher, I don't remember how I dealt with keeping my home screens intact. But, even with NL I'd still have to manually restore my widgets, which wasn't a big deal because I only used 2. But if you have lots of widgets it would be a big PITA

YMMV here, I haven't had an Android phone for a year so TI + what you're trying to do could have changed for the better.

OK, I guess it's a PITA any way. I also did the Ti Backup route in the past and had issues as well. I just wasn't sure if there was a better way that some of these prolific ROM-swapper guys were using to make the process easier.

Sometimes it's just easier to stay non-rooted and stock since that way all your updates continue to preserve everything.

 

[QueBert]

OK, I guess it's a PITA any way. I also did the Ti Backup route in the past and had issues as well. I just wasn't sure if there was a better way that some of these prolific ROM-swapper guys were using to make the process easier.

Sometimes it's just easier to stay non-rooted and stock since that way all your updates continue to preserve everything.

If there was a better method I never read about it. There were days I spent 3 hours "restoring" my phone to how it was after putting a new ROM on it. Ironically tomorrow I'm probably getting an LG G Flex 2, which looks like the bootloader will never be cracked, so I won't spent hours upon hours installing ROMS. Nowhere near as fun, but a lot less work then trying out 50 different roms to see which you like best lol.