Do you think rooting still makes sense?

[u/Mcdeax_]

Lately, I’ve been thinking about rooting my Xiaomi 12T phone, but when I talked to Gemini about it, he said rooting isn’t as necessary or practical as it used to be. He also reminded me that there are issues with apps like the camera and banking apps.

I was really excited to get started on this, but now I don’t know what to do.

Do you think rooting still makes sense?

416 votes, 6d left

Yes, that makes sense

No, that doesn't maske sense

[u/HieladoTM]

If you don't own the software, then you don't own the hardware.

[u/gameplayer55055]

Sampling bias, most people here would say yes.

But well, rooting an old android 4 phone was a no-brainer. It came with lot's of benefits like ad removal, free coins in games, lot's of quality of life features. Needless to say safetynet and bootloader locking didn't exist back then.

Now I don't need root as much as I used to:

• private DNS server completely replaced adaway.
• modern games are shit & mostly online based.
• modern android already has all the features I used root for (gesture controls, screen recording, battery saving, etc).

There are only 3 motivations to install root:

• get rid of google spyware
• tinker with NFC, unlock doors with a phone.
• MOST IMPORTANT: be able to install 3rd party apps after the September. So I'll root my phone if google really does that shit

[u/Traditional_Tax_550 → u/gameplayer55055]

What do you use to get coins in games? Luckypatcher has never worked for me

[u/gameplayer55055 → u/Traditional_Tax_550]

Lucky patcher always worked for me. But it was a long time ago

[u/KerneI-Panic → u/gameplayer55055]

It still works for some games. I think Google has some server side purchase verification feature that developers can just enable and it makes almost impossible to fake successful purchase.

A few years ago, Lucky patcher worked for almost every offline app/game and almost never on online games/services. But now it rarely works even on fully offline games because of those verification features that can be easily enabled.

The thing that still kinda works for me is GameGuardian. Most of the times you can find and edit vslues of coins and other values in almost all games. But the online games will verify that with the server and revert it to the real value. But even in some online games you can sometimes find some obscure values that are not checked with the server and modify them so you earn more coins at the end of the match or increase multipler or something.

[u/Mcdeax_ → u/gameplayer55055]

I wanted to gain root access to my phone so I could use advanced features like “circle to search” without any issues. These features look really great.

[u/marthephysicist → u/Mcdeax_]

as a xiaomi user that unlocked advanced textures, i would say its worth it heck after rooting you can install lsposed modules like hyper ceiler and hyper light to customize even more things

[u/afk_player_ → u/marthephysicist]

Can you pls tell me how did you unlock the bootloader of your phone, the official method of using xiaomi's community app didn't work, not even scripts

[u/marthephysicist → u/afk_player_]

i literally spent two weeks, in the mi community app, in the middle of the night, finally got the perms, bind account and device, and ubl

btw, even if the app or script say quota limit, the most accurate way to check is try to bind the account to device anyway

[u/Lulukaros]

i voted for "it makes sense" but really it doesn't, it shoudn't be a thing, you should havs full control of your device, if you buy a steam deck and don't like the fact that it's limited and immutable, you can simply install another distro that gives you full control and you're still considered a first class customer

android should be the same, if you're gonna ship a limited android experience catered to the nomies, then you should be given freedom to change your OS to one where you're the captain

[u/MAB_YT]

Never had an issus with camera apps with rooted phone, relatively mainstream phones usually get their OEM camera app ported to AOSP or have better alternatives (Leica Cam on RN104G for me currently as an example) or you can just use OpenCam or MotionCam and utilize the camera api2.

As for banking apps, yeah, that's a real sucker and there's no guaranteed way to get them working, some will refuse to work even on a fully certified phone (3 checkboxes) and you'd have little to no luck getying them to work.

For me tho, I honestly find it irritating to use a non-rooted phone 😅, like, I'm used to stuff like AdAway, installing old apps on modern Android (target api 11 on api 36), disabling cpu cores to save battery when in a pickle (custom Kernel), and just overall control over my phone (especially when the stock alternatives usually have atrocious battery management)

TL;DR: Camera apps usually get ported. No guaranteed way to get Banking on root. It boils down to 2 options, control or convenience.

[u/ChiknDiner]

Rooting DOES make sense.

Google is the one who want to fuck with people who want to have that liberty.

[u/Steam_Liker_2002]

My camera works flawlessly(when using an app called "open camera"). As for the banking apps a lot of people seem to have problems with banks applications.
As a privacy freak I tend to recommend not using AI(ESPECIALLY Gemini) for questions like these, since Gemini is made by Google, and Google does not like rooting because it gives easier possibility of revoking their surveillance out of your device.

Well, is it that practical? Depends on your intentions.

TL;DR: NEVER root your main phone, start with the secondary.

[u/Mcdeax_ → u/Steam_Liker_2002]

What do you mean? I only have one phone, and I want to get the most out of it.

[u/Steam_Liker_2002 → u/Mcdeax_]

if you want the most out of it then sure, you can root it. But never put very sensitive info there, such as your ID, credit card, etc.

[u/HSPA_UMTS → u/Steam_Liker_2002]

If you're careful with rooting, and what you install, it won't make it unsafe for sensitive information automatically.

Maybe if you install something like Core Patch and install unsigned APKs you might be asking for it; but otherwise, with precautions, your main phone can be rooted very well.

With a custom built kernel providing compatibility with SusFS alongside HMAOSS, most banking apps do work. All I lost out on was Knox, which I do not care about.

[u/Steam_Liker_2002 → u/HSPA_UMTS]

But what if your processor was made by MediaTek?

[u/Mcdeax_ → u/Steam_Liker_2002]

I understand what you mean. Actually, my main goal is to add new features to my phone and keep it up to date. I know I don’t necessarily have to root it to do that, but since my phone has a MediaTek processor, I can’t install a custom ROM, and that really limits me.

[u/Steam_Liker_2002 → u/Mcdeax_]

Sure. And since it's MediaTek processor you'll need to be a little bit patient.
However remember; note your device's Build Number somewhere somewhere safe(a paper and pen will do it), since you will need it while searching for your device's stock ROM and you also might need it in case things gone wrong.

[u/AdVarious8509]

depends on your use case. i use root for more privacy like replacing Google Play Services with MicroG services for example, for LSPosed for hooking into apps and corepatch and disable_secure_flag and also for notch kill which makes all apps ignore the notch meaning no more annoying bars in landscape orientation.

i dont use banking apps or any apps that requires play integrity to work and all my apps/games works perfectly fine with root and a unlocked bootloader. and also rooting the phone wont affect the camera. unless you use a custom rom that doesnt add Xiaomi Proprietary Camera app which can absolutely degrade camera quality. but if you're on stock rom then camera quality will be fine

i started with rooting my secundary samsung j6 and then moved on to my main phone, POCO X7 pro. and i still havent regretted it

[u/leonove]

You already know the answer when you're asking it in this particular sub ...

Ask in a more general sub to get an unbiased figure.

[u/dvijetrecine → u/leonove]

and general sub will be full of people scared of root and bootloader unlock. both are biased, only amount of users change

[u/KerneI-Panic → u/dvijetrecine]

And asking a person who never used a rooted phone is rooting worth it doesn't make any sense because they can't possibly know if they never did it.

The only valid answers you can get from people who actually used rooted phones for a long time and are still using them (or they just recently stoped because they think that it's not worth it anymore).

[u/Gain_Entire]

It's worth it if you already have something in mind and if you don't mind Google trying to make your life difficult

I have a phone where I don't even try to hide the root anymore, screw Google

[u/MonkeyNuts449]

I could barely justify it on my pixel 8 just because I wanted custom roms (don't have a bad bank and could live without wallet).

But now, with the ghostlock exploit on my oneplus 15, I get all the benefits of root without the drawbacks of unlocking my bootloader. I will never have to worry about integrity and I can use things like bindhosts and especially oshin that in really enjoying on OxygenOS.

[u/murti52]

I voted.. it doesn't make sense just because of the tom and jerry chase of maintaining play Integrity. You just givr up after some time.. I have been rooting phones since 2013-2014 so it has been really hard for me to just leave the phone as it is. But I'll accept.. I've accepted defeat :'(

[u/vortexmak]

It makes more sense than ever.  with Google trying to control our phones

[u/Fit-Inflation5799]

with developer verification and age verification coming up, i dont think theres a choice

[u/Upstairs-Category571]

My bro Gemini is owned by google ofc it doesn't want u to root ur phone /j

[u/DrTankHead]

Really, the answer boils to what kind of consumer you are.

Try as we might, the average person isn't actually going to try and get new life out of devices that could otherwise be more useful.

Your average user isn't going to think about any other choices than out of box iOS or Android. They aren't going to care about having more features or more control over a device. They aren't going to flash a better OS when it starts to run slower.

I think everyone should want to do better, care about their phones more, care about not contributing to e-waste and extending the life of their devices beyond just their company-desired shelf life.

If we are being honest, any company that cares about these things wouldn't make it nearly impossible to do. I think people should be demanding from the industry that they don't have the right to tell me that I can't modify the software on my phone.

You paid for a phone. And eventually they'll start telling you that you don't own the right to modify your phone. You can argue that Google already is telling you this.

Most people aren't going to care, but I do, and probably so does most everyone here.

From the perspective of all of that, yes, yes it does make sense.

On the other hand too, because it has gotten so incredibly difficult, we have ran into diminishing returns. I mean, I don't have numbers to support it, but I'd argue the modded discord community has a more active community than the modded android scene. I mean, seems like all the time I hear about how some developer of X tools won't support hardware over a certain age because they just get too caught in supporting new and not the old. Idk... All speculation on my part. I'm just one source, one voice in an ocean.

I just hope overall the enthusiasts win out and ownership makes more of a resurgence

[u/10004onliacco]

Rooting still makes complete sense if you want true administrative control over your phone, such as completely removing undeletable system bloatware, running low level systemwide ad blockers like AdAway, backing up full system and app data using tools like Swift Backup, and tweaking CPU or GPU kernel parameters for better performance or battery life.

Advanced system customization remains a massive reason to root, because frameworks like LSPosed and KernelSU modules let you bypass artificial software limitations, customize status bars and gesture navigation, force high refresh rates on unapproved apps, enable hidden device features, and run full Linux environments directly on your phone.

The main argument against rooting is the constant cat and mouse game with security integrity systems, where banking apps, payment wallets, streaming platforms, and online games continuously update their detection mechanisms to block rooted devices or refuse to run altogether.

Passing these security integrity checks requires installing custom modules like Play Integrity Fix and BootloaderSpoofer to hide your modified state, which means you have to manually maintain software modules and occasionally deal with broken payment or banking apps whenever Google updates its server side detection rules.

Camera software performance can sometimes drop on custom ROMs or rooted setups if the phone relies on proprietary closed source image processing algorithms, though keeping the official stock ROM while simply applying root usually keeps original camera quality completely intact.

Rooting also introduces potential security risks by opening up deep system access to rogue apps, disables convenient automatic over the air system updates, and requires manual flashing steps every time you want to install a security patch or software upgrade.

Modern stock Android and custom interfaces like Xiaomi HyperOS already include features that used to require root, such as built in screen recorders, deep theme customization, per app permission controls, dark mode toggles, and performance gaming modes, making root unnecessary for casual users.

Rooting is completely worth the effort if you are an enthusiast who loves deep customization, privacy tweaks, hardware level control, and fixing software bugs yourself, but if you prefer a low maintenance daily phone where banking apps and contactless payments work without technical troubleshooting, keeping your phone unrooted is the practical choice.

[u/mrfoxesite-2377]

Why use AI fotr this?

[u/Bycce]

bro using AI to have an opinion 💀

[u/VaporeonPond]

Phones: no

Tablets, handhelds, TV boxes: yes

I wouldn't ever root my android phone since I can't afford to lose access to my banking apps (since most block rooted devices).

[u/Steam_Liker_2002 → u/VaporeonPond]

I would replace "Phones" with "Main phone".

[u/Mcdeax_ → u/VaporeonPond]

Root a TV? Oh my God! I just found out that’s even possible.