Android Root Week: What is rooting?

Will you root your Android? Before you can begin to answer that question, you need to know a few things. This week we plan to examine some of the finer aspects of rooting your Android and what it means for your device. We’ll keep this as simple as possible, which means as little geeks-speak as possible. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to understand. Today’s topic: What is rooting? After purchasing an Android device, many, if not most, users will take to the internet and seek out the best available apps. When browsing around, the term “root” is sure to cross his or her path. It might sound like a mystery at first, but the idea behind rooting is rather simple. The first thing to understand is that you are not in full control of your phone. You have plenty of permissions, but ultimately you’re blocked out of many of them. This is the case with every smartphone in existence. In order to protect your phone against your own curiosities, you typically can’t access functions that can render it inoperable, or otherwise cause others harm via the network. Rooting gives you access to these functions by making you what is termed a “superuser.” Once you go through the rooting process, which in many cases involves unlocking your phone and thereby voiding the warranty, you will have access to applications and processes not available to other Android users. This also includes custom operating systems, called ROMs. In this way, rooting is akin to gaining full control over your Android device. Once you have unlocked the phone and gained root access, you are free from the restrictions imposed by the stock Android operating system. This means the ability to install applications not available to locked users, and as well as the ability to perform certain functions. Those we will go over later this week. But first we had to make sure that you understand exactly what rooting is. Here’s our schedule for the week: Monday: What is rooting?
Tuesday: Pros and cons to rooting your Android
Wednesday: The things you can do with a rooted Android
Thursday: (Off day in which we’ll play catch-up elsewhere)
Friday: How to root your Android device

About the Author

Joe Pawlikowski is the Senior Editor at MobileMoo.com and has been covering the mobile industry full time since 2007. When he's not writing about the tech scene, he can be found discussing his personal love - baseball (and more specifically the New York Yankees) as well as writing on his personal blog.