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Why root a Nexus 5?

Hi guys,
Just got a Nexus 5, had previously had a Samsung Galaxy S3.
My S3 was rooted, mainly to get rid of carrier bloatware and later because I wanted the Android 4.2 camera with Photosphere (my carrier was stuck on 4.1 until a few months ago).
As time wore on my device had numerous problems ultimately I felt related to rooting, I could never find ROM's with at least one major glitch. I ended up on a stock ROM for most the time with the only root change was flashing the 4.2 camera for Photosphere. Rooting in general I found caused more headaches than it was worth.
Anyways, I just got the Nexus 5 and have no real intention to root it. Since it's devoid of carrier bloatware and it runs super fast and responsive, just wondering what the real credible benefits to rooting it are? (and voiding warranty in the process)??
I don't see a lot of bloatware on the device, it's going to get constant updates from Google (as opposed to devices depandant on a carrier), I don't really need to overclock or mess with kernals on an already fast device.
Am I missing something here?

Sianspheric said:
Hi guys,
Just got a Nexus 5, had previously had a Samsung Galaxy S3.
My S3 was rooted, mainly to get rid of carrier bloatware and later because I wanted the Android 4.2 camera with Photosphere (my carrier was stuck on 4.1 until a few months ago).
As time wore on my device had numerous problems ultimately I felt related to rooting, I could never find ROM's with at least one major glitch. I ended up on a stock ROM for most the time with the only root change was flashing the 4.2 camera for Photosphere. Rooting in general I found caused more headaches than it was worth.
Anyways, I just got the Nexus 5 and have no real intention to root it. Since it's devoid of carrier bloatware and it runs super fast and responsive, just wondering what the real credible benefits to rooting it are? (and voiding warranty in the process)??
I don't see a lot of bloatware on the device, it's going to get constant updates from Google (as opposed to devices depandant on a carrier), I don't really need to overclock or mess with kernals on an already fast device.
Am I missing something here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some people prefer different launchers or ROMs or to have access to certain functions (e.g. full backup) that require root. I've had my N5 for a month and haven't felt the need for it, so I'm still stock, locked, unrooted.

Xposed for me.
Most of the mods from Custom ROMs with the OTA updates from Google
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium HD app

Xposed framework, Adaway, Lmt launcher, AppOps, AutomateIt Pro... Basicly everything to take control over your device.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

So.....ad blocking apps, minor tweaks, custom ROM's.
eh, not really compelling reasons for me I guess.

Sianspheric said:
So.....ad blocking apps, minor tweaks, custom ROM's.
eh, not really compelling reasons for me I guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't call them minor tweaks at all. There is an extremely wide variety of things that require your phone to be rooted. Often times an app will have limited functionality without root.
Please note that rooting your phone has nothing to do with using a custom rom. (You can in fact have a custom rom that is not rooted) Your problems with your prior phone were not in any way as a result of rooting the phone. If you had problems with the rom (sometimes custom roms have broken components) that has nothing to do with having root access.
At this point, I'd be willing to bet the most common usage of the phone at this point (amongst users of this site) are those who are rooted, but still using the stock rom. More and more users are migrating to the custom roms, but this is because rom development takes a bit of time with major releases.

AdAway is the main reason for me - I HATE adverts with a passion!
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

Sianspheric said:
So.....ad blocking apps, minor tweaks, custom ROM's.
eh, not really compelling reasons for me I guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what you consider "minor tweaks", might be a big deal for someone else. Tastes differ.
i root because of 1 main reason, i paid for the device and i believe i should be able to have full control over it.
Another thing is, whatever i do with my phone, i always know what i'm doing and why i'm doing it, so the odds of screwing something up are very little. In case i do need to claim warranty, i know how to set everything back.

Sianspheric said:
So.....ad blocking apps, minor tweaks, custom ROM's.
eh, not really compelling reasons for me I guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ehm...why did you buy a nexus? Actually i don't even know what you are doing on xda. No offense but... Sound more like an iPhone kind a guy...
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

It's up to you whether to root or not. Whatever problems you had with your previous device, it wasn't due to rooting persay, but rather what you did with root access. Rooting doesn't change anything, it just gives you administrative access to the operating system. Running un-rooted is analogous to accessing your desktop PC through a guest account. Rooting your Android device gives you full access like you have on your desktop as as an administrator.

He just wants to know the benefits. No need to harp on him for not wanting to root. If anything Nexus 5 has less reasons to be rooted then OEM phones.

bblzd said:
He just wants to know the benefits. No need to harp on him for not wanting to root. If anything Nexus 5 has less reasons to be rooted then OEM phones.
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Click to collapse
Maybe someday he'll want to tether.

AT LEAST UNLOCK THE BOOTLOADER
Fastboot OEM Unlock
That easy, it'll erase EVERYTHING. So if you do it now you won't lose much. Do it later when you want to root (like my mother and myself) you'll have to unlock and lose everything.
If you ever need you return it just lock it again it's easy. And you won't lose ANYTHING for relocking it.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Two words....
Franco kernel
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Titanium back up because I'm too lazy to reinstall all of my apps on my previous device.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Not much reason to if your main use is as a "daily driver".
Mine is rooted mainly due to needing to use it for development work related to my job, but ad blocking and several xposed modules would require root anyways. That and I just can't help but mess with stuff like CPU frequency/voltage settings, etc.

Ben36 said:
Two words....
Franco kernel
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second this.

I was previously on Galaxy S2 rooted. I'd tested some custom roms like chamaleon, cm, but at last, what i realized that I needed wasn't a lot of new features i only wanted a good battery performance and a fc and random reboots free phone.
So I returned to stock roms with the more stock-like rooted kernel with Xposed and some additions. At last I got a good battery performance to keep the phone full day without charging.
Now that my N5 is with me for about 6 or 7 weeks I don't need rooting, modding ... nothing. The performance for my daily use is about 30 hours between charges with almost 3 hours with screen on.
That is all I need!
And for backups (i've payed for titanium backup app for my S2) now I use ADB from command line and it's enought for me
Also, the Nexus in this conditions hasn't hanged yet.
It spent more than 350 hours until I decided to change to Dart and I had to restart the phone. this is much better than my old S2 that needed two or three weekly reboots even with stock rom.
So, i'm very happy with my non-rooted N5 but if I need to root it in the near future it will be not a problem to me doing it.

I use it for Titanium Backup myself, whose backups I periodically have uploaded to Box.com. Obviously it's there for when I want to change phone and want to restore app data, especially for game saves, but you also never know if your phone is going to malfunction and you have to wipe or get lost/stolen. I think it's pretty useful to have an app that automatically takes care of backing up your data for you.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

http://lifehacker.com/top-10-reasons-to-root-your-android-phone-1079161983
Sent from my Nexus 5

Root vs non-root

Hey XDA, I'm facing a bit of an issue....
I want to root my S6 because right now as it stands, the S6's volume quality is pretty average and unsatisfying. Also I want to install a debloated ROM (I understand debloating doesn't give back unused space) since the S6's bloat seems to be really slowing it down.
But on the other hand I'd like to keep the benefits that Samsung offers to users that haven't voided their Warranty (i.e. free battery replacement, OTA updates, software fixes,Samsung Pay - not in Australia yet - etc.).
I've rooted all my Android devices in the past; I rooted my Galaxy Note & S4 and never needed Samsung repair services besides that one time I nulled my IMEI on the S4....
So should I root my Galaxy S6?
NOTE: I've had the device for almost a week now.

The s6 is pretty good without root. I am hoping an exploit will be found like pingpong root until that happen I'll stick to stock and just use a browser with adblocker

I agree with "godutch " opinion. Same here I used to root all my previous Galaxies, however the s6 does a good job without root especially for the fact that you can uninstall most of the added apps and disable most others (Package disabler pro). Also with the latest 5.1.1 updates you got a better battery management.

But you can't enjoy root app and xposed pal
I've 7 months of warranty remaining but I've rooted my S6.

itzik_man said:
I agree with "godutch " opinion. Same here I used to root all my previous Galaxies, however the s6 does a good job without root especially for the fact that you can uninstall most of the added apps and disable most others (Package disabler pro). Also with the latest 5.1.1 updates you got a better battery management.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
Unless you need to use a specific root app, S6 doesn't need to be rooted like previous galaxies S models did.
Enviado desde mi SM-T520 usando Tapatalk 2

+1 for no root needed
Fully agree with the opinions above. I've never run Sammy roms before, always custom roms and rooted. The S6 however has enough available tweaks to remove annoying items like theme's, apps etc even though one or two will remain. Keeping ota updates and hdr camera does it for me.
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

nf999 said:
+1 for no root needed
Fully agree with the opinions above. I've never run Sammy roms before, always custom roms and rooted. The S6 however has enough available tweaks to remove annoying items like theme's, apps etc even though one or two will remain. Keeping ota updates and hdr camera does it for me.
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
One doesn't lose the HDR Camara function by rooting. I'm rooted and mine works.

TheCuriousOne said:
One doesn't lose the HDR Camara function by rooting. I'm rooted and mine works.
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Click to collapse
Agreed. I used to run aosp / cyanogen roms, then you loose hdr. I mainly used aosp/cm because I don't like the sammy theme (on top of the bloatware). So a trimmed down sammy rom didn't do it for me. Sammy fixed this with their theme engine. So for the first time ever I'm happy with a stock sammy rom with material dark added and lots of stuff disabled.
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

This is a really really useful and essential thread. I have my phone for 10 days and I'm not sure if I must root it or not. Mind that I've been using Chinese phones for years and of course they were all rooted. But I was too tired of searching for the best ROM so I think I'll stay stock until an exceptional ROM appears. I'd like to try stock OTA Marshmallow too

How to download ota/firmware upgrade

So im using the moar rom and i saw there are like 5 new verisions of the latest firmware. After some reading i found if you download the ota update you can then install it with the flashfire app. But ota doesnt let me even look for an update. So i tried removing root from supersu opition and phone got stuck in bootloop. Then i tried to find the firmware bootloader from the moar list and didnt find it also. So only way i know how to upgrade firmware is download from sammobile, odin, then reroot reflash.

anyways no surprise no 1 can answear, but i understand the majority had the note 4...and would of gotten the note 7 when it was time to upgrade. So there isn't support for note 5, espically how a whole year went by and theres only really 1 rom, that is also outdated now. No offense to moar but i loved using it for so long, but i just realized moar is 5 firmware upgrades behind and its just moar. So what i decided to do is go back to being offcial, untill note 8 comes and support ends for note 5. Thats what ive read on google, if there are firmware upgrades its better to be on stock, once support ends then its better to be on custom rom. So when i do have my new note 8 in hand i can revert to w.e verision moar ends up

Ya i would of never probly got this phone if i new there was such a lack of support for it. When i was doing a little research b4 i got this phone i found alot of different development for the note 5. Didnt realize most of it was for the other versions besides sprint. O well. As for getting ota updates i believe u have to flash back to stock. So odin back to official stock firmware.

It's Samsung in-house processor to blame for not having cm or aosp ROMs to play with and only tw ROMs. there is only so much you can do different on tw to make it your own. Phones everywhere is getting locked down and developers are leaving or getting older a lot of stuff plays into why there not a lot of options but be grateful at least we have something. Try the note 7 ports which are nice or try creating our own ROM to share.
Sent from my SM-N9300 using XDA-Developers Legacy app

bonebeatz1234 said:
It's Samsung in-house processor to blame for not having cm or aosp ROMs to play with and only tw ROMs. there is only so much you can do different on tw to make it your own. Phones everywhere is getting locked down and developers are leaving or getting older a lot of stuff plays into why there not a lot of options but be grateful at least we have something. Try the note 7 ports which are nice or try creating our own ROM to share.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right Bonez, or they should buy a phone that works on their provider the way they think it should to begin with instead of whining about stuff like this. Like you said, this is probably going to be the last unlocked touchwiz device for u.s. Carriers...

tdunham said:
Right Bonez, or they should buy a phone that works on their provider the way they think it should to begin with instead of whining about stuff like this. Like you said, this is probably going to be the last unlocked touchwiz device for u.s. Carriers...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly, because of Android Pay, and Samsung Pay, there are valid reasons why you don't want back doors into a device. I think the age of custom roms is coming to a close, I'm sure someone will be able to develop something, but the time investment to do that goes up exponentially the harder they make it to unlock a device.
In all honesty, other than bloat and battery life I have seen no reason to root my current Note 5. I had done it to a previous Note 5 that broke, but didn't see much of a difference in battery life.

socos25 said:
Exactly, because of Android Pay, and Samsung Pay, there are valid reasons why you don't want back doors into a device. I think the age of custom roms is coming to a close, I'm sure someone will be able to develop something, but the time investment to do that goes up exponentially the harder they make it to unlock a device.
In all honesty, other than bloat and battery life I have seen no reason to root my current Note 5. I had done it to a previous Note 5 that broke, but didn't see much of a difference in battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There will always be custom roms, just not for U.S. based carriers that have the ability to lock the phones down. However, many of the true android phones are still available in unlocked models...
I know that the LG v20 and the Google Pixel are a couple models that will work in the U.S. Getting international unlocked models is tricky because they may not work well with our bands.
Custom roms are about having extra features like free hotspot and lots of other stuff that doesn't come stock. Truthfully, I don't use but a small percentage of features I offer in ours.

Is the Pixel 2 right for me? Opinions appreciated.

Hi all,
I am enamored by the Pixel 2 for the camera, general size and clean android experience. I am coming from a Moto X (2013) DE, which I have been using for almost three years with no complaints. I am on Verizon GFUDP, am unlocked, rooted and using Xposed framework. I use the phone for tethering quite often. I don't generally use custom ROMs,; once I am setup and got everything running nice, I stop playing around with the phone and just use it.
That said, I am ready to upgrade and still want an unlockable, rootable device, which has a really good camera and will allow me to tether at will. My thought is to purchase the Pixel 2 through Google. I see that there has been some bumpiness in the road to root success, and I am wondering if this device will eventually (if it's already not) become stable enough to do what I want without a lot of fooling with it, or fear of accidentally "bricking", or other issues down the road.
So in the big picture, do you feel that the Pixel 2 can be set up, forgotten about, and just used, as I describe above, or do you think that the device will need to be tweaked on a regular basis? If so, do you have any recommendations of devices which better fit the parameters listed above?
Thanks in advance!

amajamar said:
Hi all,
I am enamored by the Pixel 2 for the camera, general size and clean android experience. I am coming from a Moto X (2013) DE, which I have been using for almost three years with no complaints. I am on Verizon GFUDP, am unlocked, rooted and using Xposed framework. I use the phone for tethering quite often. I don't generally use custom ROMs,; once I am setup and got everything running nice, I stop playing around with the phone and just use it.
That said, I am ready to upgrade and still want an unlockable, rootable device, which has a really good camera and will allow me to tether at will. My thought is to purchase the Pixel 2 through Google. I see that there has been some bumpiness in the road to root success, and I am wondering if this device will eventually (if it's already not) become stable enough to do what I want without a lot of fooling with it, or fear of accidentally "bricking", or other issues down the road.
So in the big picture, do you feel that the Pixel 2 can be set up, forgotten about, and just used, as I describe above, or do you think that the device will need to be tweaked on a regular basis? If so, do you have any recommendations of devices which better fit the parameters listed above?
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It should be good in the long run. In my personal experience after using a lot of ROM's/kernels/mods since 2011 I would say the max your needs would come to is getting a custom kernel. With no disrespect to the developers who have worked on providing great roms throughout the years, google has really developed 8.0/8.1 into a completely viable solution that till now has not got me to even consider rooting the device to get some custom features on it.

flunk03 said:
It should be good in the long run. In my personal experience after using a lot of ROM's/kernels/mods since 2011 I would say the max your needs would come to is getting a custom kernel. With no disrespect to the developers who have worked on providing great roms throughout the years, google has really developed 8.0/8.1 into a completely viable solution that till now has not got me to even consider rooting the device to get some custom features on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said, as long as I can get the tethering function, I am pretty much good to go. Do I need a custom kernel for that?

amajamar said:
As I said, as long as I can get the tethering function, I am pretty much good to go. Do I need a custom kernel for that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Afaik just rooting and getting an app designed for that should be fine I guess. It's not something I know since we don't have that issue with carriers on that front

amajamar said:
As I said, as long as I can get the tethering function, I am pretty much good to go. Do I need a custom kernel for that?
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Click to collapse
As far as I'm aware you can achieve this with Magisk root and a Magisk module.

Buy Pixel 2, unlock bootloader before you set up the phone (get the factory reset out of the way), then just use it as-is indefinitely until you find you need something that only root can provide. If that's the case, then install Magisk, and keep on rolling.

Question Where are all the nice ROMs for S22 Ultra?

Hi guys,
I know currently most users (myself included) use stock ROM + debloat for samsung flagships, since stock roms are way better than they were a few years ago, but nevertheless, where are the rom chefs and all the typical custom ROMs and Kernels for S22?
The phone is 5 months old now, is the kernel source available?
Cheers

Phk said:
Hi guys,
I know currently most users (myself included) use stock ROM + debloat for samsung flagships, since stock roms are way better than they were a few years ago, but nevertheless, where are the rom chefs and all the typical custom ROMs and Kernels for S22?
The phone is 5 months old now, is the kernel source available?
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes the kernel source is aviable. Its sad that development is as good as dead... But wait a bit the s21u has a bit more development but this happened a good year after Release...

No boot unlock yet for Snapdragon U versions...sooo we out of luck

for now there are some stock-based custom ROMs for s22 Ultra Exynos:
- beyondROM
- VN-ROM
- alexega © Project
- Dr.Ketan ROM

Buy a pixel if you want ROMs, basically phones caught up to the point you don't really need to root/flash anymore for performance and customization.

phatmanxxl said:
Buy a pixel if you want ROMs, basically phones caught up to the point you don't really need to root/flash anymore for performance and customization.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't change to a Pixel because i like the hardware build way much on samsung's S-line phones. Camera, weight, screen, etc.. So for Galaxy phones rooting is still necessary if you need something like AFwall or what to really debloat oneui.
However I fully understand your point; a few years ago changing from stock to custom would be a must, and nowadays its almost an hobbie. But indeed there are not extremely optimized roms out there like there used to be.

Phk said:
I wouldn't change to a Pixel because i like the hardware build way much on samsung's S-line phones. Camera, weight, screen, etc.. So for Galaxy phones rooting is still necessary if you need something like AFwall or what to really debloat oneui.
However I fully understand your point; a few years ago changing from stock to custom would be a must, and nowadays its almost an hobbie. But indeed there are not extremely optimized roms out there like there used to be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
root not needed to debloat a rom anymore, just a simple adb command and done, here you cant find a lot of apps to debloat a rom without root, and others tools

tutibreaker said:
root not needed to debloat a rom anymore, just a simple adb command and done, here you cant find a lot of apps to debloat a rom without root, and others tools
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know about adb disable\uninstall, but still there are things which need root like adaway, afwall+, magisk modules... Even for tweaking CSC stuff like automatic call recorder, you still need root perms

i just did Debloat and NextDNS for firewall stuff=happy

Phk said:
I wouldn't change to a Pixel because i like the hardware build way much on samsung's S-line phones. Camera, weight, screen, etc.. So for Galaxy phones rooting is still necessary if you need something like AFwall or what to really debloat oneui.
However I fully understand your point; a few years ago changing from stock to custom would be a must, and nowadays its almost an hobbie. But indeed there are not extremely optimized roms out there like there used to be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea I miss the days when we could root and ROM samsung phones. The Note 2 running stock Android but still had S-pen support was the greatest thing at the time.

Phk said:
I know about adb disable\uninstall, but still there are things which need root like adaway, afwall+, magisk modules... Even for tweaking CSC stuff like automatic call recorder, you still need root perms
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Adguard works pretty well for ad removal, although it does have a yearly subscription for premium (sometimes you can get a one time/lifetime payment), it keeps the annoying ads out of apps and the browser.