Rooting seems to have some benefits like bypassing API integrity, so I want to know if rooting my phone is a good idea? And is it safe? (By that I mean will I break my device?) I don’t use Google Play Services nor any banking apps (I use the website) and there’s no supported custom ROM for my phone (Xiaomi redmi note 12 S) so I think it might be a solution
Try Magisk. It’s the safest thing that exists out there.
If you want a full Linux chroot, yeah. Proot still feels slow. If you are not interested in any of the command line uses of rooting I reccomend you checkout shizuku.
Nowadays, it seems like you don’t have to root in order to be able to remove system apps, so don’t root for that reason at least. The methods include using Shizuku and Canta, I think.
I root my Samsung phone because I like the device (S23) and my threat model doesn’t require me to run GSM sandboxed on a Pixel in Graphene OS.
Rooting my phone made it possible to have a firewall and a hosts file to block a lot of telemetry while also running a VPN - unrooted, the firewall or DNS based blocking would take up the OS’s VPN slot.
These are the apps that on my system benefit from - if not completely reliant on - rooting:
This!
I also use it for SwiftBackup and some custom crons for scripts I run on the phone. It’s also very useful with pcapdroid when I want to analyze the traffic that apps are attempting to generate.
I use root for being able to customize my phone greatly and with extra security benefits (like akunohana shared) while also bring able to degoogle. But if degoogling is the only thing you care about then there are other options, especially if you’re not fully adept to understanding the file system and/or Linux already.
1+ for PCAPdroid. Added some domain names and IP addresses to my hosts file by analyzing idle traffic. 😁
Which, ironically, in an ideal world, should be NONE except for perhaps some keepalive packets, if one’s running a VPN or such… Boi, if normies knew the traffic going in and out of Google Play Services when “idling”… 😑
There is very little benefit to rooting these days. It is safer and easier yo just use a custom ROM.
Granted I don’t run modern Android but being on a custom ROM vs OEM stock has nothing to do with whether or not one should root. Being on a custom ROM doesn’t mean you have more control over your device. Where possible I have always been rooted (since Jellybean). Only on rare occasions (device cannot be unlocked) am I not on a custom ROM. I need / want full control over my devices.
I am, however, one of those persons who does not tell someone they should root nor am I one to tell someone they don’t need root. That’s up to the individual and their needs. The old adage that if one has to ask whether or not one should root then the answer is probably no.
It does mean you have more control over your device in most circumstances, especially given the imminent closing of side loading from stock Android. There is certainly more privacy on most popular ROMs which is control over my personal information, and more security from not being rooted does also imply more control. Everyone’s threat model is different, but personally I am more worried about viruses or the rise of fascism leading to brown shirts confiscating my phone and accessing private information than I am concerned about maybe not being able to automate something in Tasker that would be fun to mess with. Again, as you say, it is a personal choice, but it has just been a LONG time since I’ve even bumped into anything that can only be done rooted. And last time I did, I think it was something that would have made it a single use device for that purpose, in which case rooting is a lot less dangerous. Android has come a long way with having sand boxing both work and having workarounds for functionality. Linux is learning a lot from it, but immutable distros are not quite in the same level yet. In fact some of the stuff I used to do on a rooted phone you can just do with built in Android 16 terminal or Termux.
Is there EVEN MORE control when rooted? Sure. But the use cases for that keep diminishing, and for most people wanting to get off stock Android on the degoogle sub, the things they are trying to accomplish will be done better with a custom ROM, as well as prevent them from potential exposure that they may not even be aware is a tradeoff
Projects like GrapheneOS and LineageOS strongly discourage rooting your device.
From my understanding rooting strongly reduces the security of the OS as it allows for exploits and privilege execution which would otherwise not have been possibly.
Rooting is also detectable by some apps, which will therefore block you from using them.
Strict Google Play Integrity can AFAIK not be spoofed with root on your device from my understanding.
You can hide root from apps tho, including from apps that block root.
Do you have any info on how said security exploits related to rooting work? I have been searching them for some time to look weather to root my device but they just list it as sort of “common sense” instead of listing mitigations and such.
how are we hiding root nowadays in a way that works?
AFAIK through LSPosed modules like PlayIntegrityFix, looks like a lenghty process tho.
