How to Root an Android Smartphone or Tablet

Have you ever thought of rooting your Android smartphone? This is the point where we will show you how to root your device safely and easily.

New Android devices are always securely locked down when bought new, so that pre-installed important (default) settings will not be changed or tamper with by system software. This is best for most users, as it reduces the chances of a malicious app (or a misguided user) screwing up the system. See also: Important Android Apps for your device

Geeks, however, may want more control of their android smartphone. For example, you might wish to run an app that tweaks the frequency of your phone’s CPU. Or, you might want to increase the internal memory of your device. Or, you might want to remove an unwanted piece of preinstalled “bloatware”.

Recommended: Should Your Android Device be Rooted or Not?

The word “rooting” originated from UNIX and Linux, where the all-powerful administrator account is called “root”.

Rooting is not the same as installing a custom ROM (such as CyanogenMod or Paranoid Android). After you have successfully rooted your phone, the same system software and the same features will still be running on the device but the only difference is that you will now be able to download apps that use more space and that take advantage of root permissions to do things that is defaultly impossible.

How to Root Android: health warning

Rooting is not legal and does not have the approval of Google or the device manufacturers, so little hacking is needed to achieve this aim. Mind you, you do not need the services technical expert: below we will put you through some various processes in order to root your device with free tools and with few clicks. However, you should note that if anything goes wrong, it is theoretically possible that your phone or tablet could end up “bricked”. If you’re worried about that possibility, you can do some digging and read up on other people’s experiences before experimenting the task.

Let’s assume the process goes smoothly, it’s also vital to note that rooting may affect your privilege to the warranty support.

How to Root Android: software

There are different techniques for rooting different phones and tablets. However, this does not mean you have to search the entire web looking for a particular application or software that works with your hardware. There are lots of free tools that have the capability to uniquely root various smartphones and tablets with variety of root methods root at wide range.

We will emphasis on two of our popular choices. This method has been chosen because it’s so easy to use “Kingo Root” (www.kingoapp.com). Its website enlisted over 220 supported mobile phones and tablets, so there is a great chance that your smartphone or tablet will be covered. If you are not satisfied or comfortable with this method, you may prefer to check out “SRS One Click Root” (www.srsroot.com), although the interface is less user friendly. The website enlisted thousands of hardware and software combinations which have been successfully rooted.

How to Root Android: Kingo Root App

Kingo Root App can be downloaded and installed directly from the Kingoapp official website. When you launch the software, it will automatically detect your phone (let say it’s connected with USB) and start to download the necessary drivers needed for your phone. You will need to turn on USB debuggingon your device but if it’s already enabled on your phone, you’ll be prompted on how to activate it: this may involve the secret seven-tap procedure to enable the Developer Options menu, check Google’s documentation for more information.

A notification to disconnect and then reconnect your device to get the Operating system (Windows) to recognize it in the correct mode may come up and you will also need to accept a request to tell the phone to trust your PC. In the long run, you should see a simple request like this:

Click “ROOT” and the process will begin. You may observe some unfamiliar processes on your phone like loop and if your phone appears to restart, this is normal. Don’t be bothered if “Waiting for device…” message appears and stays on screen for a long time. This program took over ten minutes to root our Galaxy S4, including some long waits, but in the end a warning was shown:

If you intend to root your phone you must acknowledge these risks, but if you have your phone listed as supported on the Kingoapp official website then there’s no particular reason to experience any kind of trouble. Finally, we hope you will see this message:

Congratulations, your device has now been rooted finally. Kingo automatically installs the SuperSU app, this app will ask you to grant or deny root privileges to individual apps as needed. If you later change your mind by deciding to unroot your device for any reason (for example, if you want to sell your phone), simply relaunch the program and you will now see a “Remove Root” button that will restore your phone to normal operation ( Factory Settings).

Also, will you like to find out how to root Android using SRS One Click Root? Check How to root Android Using SRS One Click Root.