If you’re considering rooting your Android phone or device, there’s no better time than the present. While Android started as an operating system that prided itself on its free and open nature, manufacturers have essentially come along and stripped most devices of the freedom the platform intended to provide. But fear not, you have options, and rooting your device opens you up to possibilities that simply wouldn’t be possible otherwise.
What is Rooting?
Rooting is essentially hacking the operating system on your phone in order to elevate your user permissions. By doing this, you have access to features and options that are locked by default when the manufacturers ship the phones. You see, as opposed to a PC, you aren’t the administrator of your device by default – the manufacturer is. You can, however, change this by rooting your device, and today we’re going to show you how.
Disclaimer:With simple programs and instructions, the risk of anything bad happening are decidedly minimal, but you’re dealing with an electronic device, and as such we can’t be held responsible if you were to mess something up.
While there are several programs you can use to root your Android device, the one that has the fewest problems, and highest rate of success is a program called Kingo Android Root, so that’s what we’ll be using today. To get started, you’ll first need to see if your device is supported by the program. If it’s not, there are others out there, but Kingo does support most popular Android devices, so it’s a great choice for the simplicity and reliability it offers.
How to Root Your Android Device
Before we begin, it’s important to make a backup of your device in case something were to go wrong. Chances are minimal, of course, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry; right? For the backup itself, there are dozens of apps in the Android app marketplace that will do the job for you. Helium Premium ($4.99) and G Cloud Backup (Free) are great options that will make backups of all your data at user-defined intervals and store it in the cloud.
Ready to get started?
- Using your PC, download Kingo Android Root.
- Install and run the program (on your PC).
- Plug your phone into your PC and enable USB debugging mode (varies by phone model, but it is usually an option that pops up on its own once you plug the phone in via USB).
- The program should detect your device and as if you’d like to root.
- Select “root” and then wait as the program goes to work. Your phone may power on and off several times during this process. Warning: Don’t remove your device while the program is running!
- Once the program completes, you’ll be notified via a pop-up on your computer screen. After that occurs, you can remove the USB cord.
- Download Root Checker (Free) from the Google Play store to ensure that you have the correct permissions and that your device is indeed rooted.
- Enjoy your rooted Android device!
If the process didn’t work, try the steps above again. If, for some reason, it doesn’t work a second time, you may need to ask for some additional help at one of many popular rooting forums.
Good luck, and happy rooting!
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