I've been on a Sprint Galaxy S5 for a few years now, Stock Marshmallow only rooted. I'm making the jump to the new Xfinity Mobile service, basically Verizon.
I have a Galaxy S7 (SM-G930V) that is shipping this week.
Doing some reading, from what I'm finding, when you root the S7 you run the risk of losing some things, Google/Samsung Pay, maybe some of the Fingerprint scanner functionality, and also have read a decent number of users reporting that after rooting the device just doesn't run as good.
The S7 on the way will have Nougat.
So, this puts me at a bit of a fork in the road. The last 3-4 Android phones I've had have all been rooted, so whenever I upgraded, I used a combo of Titanium and MyBackupPro to make the transition pretty seamless. Reading about all the potential negatives to rooting the S7, I'm trying to look for options to migrate all my apps and app data without ROOT. I've already looked at and tried backing up my S5 with Helium Backup,....but unfortunately it looks like it can only do about 30-35% of my apps. I'm not really finding any better non-root backup/migration options out there.
What about Samsung Smart Switch or Kies?
Another thought is how easy is it to un-ROOT after rooting on the S7? Maybe I just root the phone, use Titanium & MyBackupPro to migrate, then un-root? Any side effects to this approach? Anything that isn't reversible once you've rooted or that doesn't go back to normal?
Apologies of any of this is a bit noobie'ish.....I've been out of the custom Android game for several years since rooting my S5 right after getting it.
Thanks in advance for any information, advice, or pointers.
Looking at the Kies & Smart Switch options a bit more. Doesn't look like Kies is really supported on the more recent Galaxy phones, and Smart Switch really won't do anything more than Helium backup is going to do for me. :/
Related
Hi,
Hopefully getting my s6 tomorrow, but have a few questions:
1 I'm moving from the galaxy nexus, so I've become accustomed to the stock format. How is touch wiz? Ie is it a significant difference from the stock android experience?
2 I'd normally root the phone asap for backing up and flashing custom ROMs. Though I've heard rooting will trip KNOX, and currently there no way to restore KNOX status. As I'm concerned the phone may have issues with the screen (heard about discolouration etc), are Samsung likely to reject a phone when KNOX has been tripped?
3 as I haven't upgraded in quite some time, will the s6 automatically download my app and personal data when I log into google? If not, what's the easiest way to transfer the data without rooting?
Thanks!
Just install Google Launcher and you will feel right at home. Another thing is you will be extremely happy with the battery life compared to the gnexus. And yes google will automatically install all your apps once you setup your phone.
I came from a Nexus 5 so we are on the same boat.
1. The first thing I did after getting my s6 is to install Nova launcher because I feel touchwiz a little bit slow. Or if you prefer, you can download Google launcher if you prefer a stock feelling like @kojaraty said.
2. For the screen issue, I have no problem in this department.
3.Normally, your contacts, apps and pictures(if you did a sync with your gmail) should transfer automatically in your phone
3.
I'm also thinking of upgrading to the s6. Thank you mavers for creating this topic.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA Free mobile app
mavers1985 said:
Hi,
Hopefully getting my s6 tomorrow, but have a few questions:
1 I'm moving from the galaxy nexus, so I've become accustomed to the stock format. How is touch wiz? Ie is it a significant difference from the stock android experience?
2 I'd normally root the phone asap for backing up and flashing custom ROMs. Though I've heard rooting will trip KNOX, and currently there no way to restore KNOX status. As I'm concerned the phone may have issues with the screen (heard about discolouration etc), are Samsung likely to reject a phone when KNOX has been tripped?
3 as I haven't upgraded in quite some time, will the s6 automatically download my app and personal data when I log into google? If not, what's the easiest way to transfer the data without rooting?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am coming from N6 and earlier had a S3, I am a pure android lover and I hated touchwiz. I flashed my s3 the very day I got it.. Never used touchwiz.. The touchwiz on s6 is a different deal.. It is bad ass. Its minimal and isn't laggy.. Install apex launcher.. Customize icons and you are good to go. Rooting isnt a big deal.. Knox can be removed with custom stock roms.. I am not even feeling the need to root right now.. Its that awesome.
Coming from a GNEX, every other cell phone screen is an improvement. That phone had the worst screen of any phone I've owned in the past 10 years!
Anyway the S6 has a beautiful screen.
Just like the topic says, I'm interested in what functionality is lost after rooting the Note 5. Like for example, I've heard that the ability to use Samsung Pay is essentially lost forever, even after reflashing a completely stock ROM. And after having a rooted S5 I noticed that the Private Mode feature was glitchy and stopped working sometimes after rooting. Is this the same for the Note 5? I'm interested in everyone's experiences with their Note5s and its features after rooting.
Samsung pay cuz of knox but being rooted i am on the moar rom. No sprint radio or sprint anything installed or running in back ground, i have a faster kernal?, also a longer lasting battery, and i installed other tweaks like make the phone ring louder...basically the option to install all these features like voice recording to any rom ur on. Being unrooted ur stuck with bloatware. With ur fingerprints and cc stored on phone, what you gonna do whrn its lost or stolen
Basically you will no longer be able to use Samsung Pay and Android Pay. There might be a few other things but that's the most of it.
There are a few other apps that check for root (like Netflix I think) but I think there are workarounds. Imo, rooting is worth it than nit rooting. I like my adblock and xposed modules.
This is probably a dumb question but, is there anyway to get some of the benefits of a rooted phone without rooting. I have a Galaxy S7 SM-G930T with T-Mobile as my carrier and I haven't been able to find what seems like a trustworthy guide for rooting it. I've never rooted before which is why I'm hesitant. Is there any way to get some of the perks of a rooted phone without rooting it? Better yet, does anyone have a trustworthy guide for rooting this phone they could share?
I used to root my phone the moment I got it. The S7 is the first one I didn't root, because you really can get (almost) all the nice things without actually rooting the device.
The important ones for me are:
Good Lock - changes the apparence more to the stock android look. But that might not be for everyone. You can find it in the Galaxy App Store.
EZ Disabler - you can disable apps you don't want. I disabled the Gear VR App and some other ones. But be careful with what you disable.
Disconnect Pro - this one was free for a while, you can find it in the Galaxy Apps Store. It disables ads on your phone, very very helpful. I rooted my other phones to get AdAway running, but Disconnect Pro does the same job without rooting. A free alternative would be "Adhell", but I didn't try it myself.
What kind of perks are you looking for? Would help us so we can make suggestions.
For ad blocking, DNS66, AdGuard (my personal choice) or AdHell work well.
Hi all i own a Tab s 8.4 LTE for a good year or so i did not trip Knox due to warranty and stuff.. But a month or so ago i found out about Viper4Audio so me flashing Twrp to install viper4audio tripped knox, yeah i know i could have not tripped knox.. if i installed viper4audio apk but the dam thing wouldnt work until i flashed it. Anyway once i heard viper audio wow im blown away now when ever i listen to the S8+ the audio does not sound as good as the tab s. So im wondering is it worth rooting ? the ones who have rooted do you regret rooting ? or shall i wait will root ever come for the S8+ EXYNOS With out tripping knox or am i dreaming for that ?
There will never be a way to root without tripping Knox I'm afraid.
You just have to decide if it's worth it for YOU.
You will lose warranty. You will lose things like Samsung Pay, Samsung Health, other banking apps, though sometimes this can be worked around.
I owned the S7E before owning the S8+, and it was the first time I have ever owned a phone that I didn't root it. It's a hard choice, but warranty is more important for me, along with Samsung Pay, Samsung health etc.
Just root. Life is bet with root.
Sent from my S7 Edge+Rooted+Xposed
I chose to not root my S7 edge, and the only thing that bothers me is video ads on youtube. otherwise I can live just fine without it. Custom roms tend to be too unstable for me, anyway. I won't root my S8+, assuming it ever comes out for the SD variant (bought it for dolphin, and I got it from Samsung for $524).
No. Not until we find a way to not trip knox.
I don't recommend you to root your phone you will loose Samsung pay feature for good plus your warranty. I can tell you yes it's a bit boring without having the ability to modify your phone but you can live without it. I think the stock rom is quite good and satisfies my needs . So again don't do it
Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk
No root for me. Root is history for me since two years ago.
Don't see the needs of it already. Maybe they is still one or two nice apps that need root. For the sack of that one or two apps really not worth to root and trip Knox.
I root for years any single device I have but yesterday I bought also a S8+ and I think this will be the first time not to root. So no root - vote from me
Same rooted my s7 edge just to play and get more out of it. I will leave my new s8+ Alone. Battery is great would love the customizations with root but its good enough as it is. Only thing i really miss is viperaudio. Anyone know of a way this can be installed without tripping knox??
I have the same question...
I always rooted my phone since Froyo.
I basically need it to: browse on internet "safe" and to use titanium backup.
I guess I can use some adblocked browser (any suggestion?), but I do not how to backup and restore the apps.. Any idea how to resolve it?
THank you!
e753 said:
I have the same question...
I always rooted my phone since Froyo.
I basically need it to: browse on internet "safe" and to use titanium backup.
I guess I can use some adblocked browser (any suggestion?), but I do not how to backup and restore the apps.. Any idea how to resolve it?
THank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First phone since the T-Mobile G1 I haven't rooted and I've had 12 smartphones since. There's nothing as good as Adblock but I'm not rooting the S8+ and am using Blokada from XDA.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/an...da-fire-forget-root-ad-blocker-t3503374/page2
I'm joining the growing choir of new S8 Plus users who have decided to leave rooting behind them. It was fun and extremely useful for me up until this S8 Plus. My Note 5 will be the last device I root. It's just not worth the hassle any longer. Lately rooting has become too much of a chore on this platform for me, personally. I've kept Samsung as my daily driver for years because one of the reasons was that traditionally it was much easier to root compared to other devices. This was especially true when I was with Sprint as they never locked down their phones like Verizon and AT&T did.
At this moment, as far as rooting is concerned, I have the same feeling I did when I finally said, "Enough!" when I was jailbreaking my iPhones. Eventually I grew tired of the cat and mouse game between devs and the OEM. This feels the same and I think it's time to say goodbye to rooting flagships for me.
Now I feel that the combined hardware and software development on this phone has matured enough that I'm okay rolling clean and stock from now on.
ggrant3876 said:
First phone since the T-Mobile G1 I haven't rooted and I've had 12 smartphones since. There's nothing as good as Adblock but I'm not rooting the S8+ and am using Blokada from XDA.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/an...da-fire-forget-root-ad-blocker-t3503374/page2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey does blokada block YouTube ads ? YouTube ads are so annoying ?
100% definitely do NOT ROOT.
Matt
N1NJATH3ORY said:
Hey does blokada block YouTube ads ? YouTube ads are so annoying ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have youtube red, no ads anyway, so I'm not sure.
I have been rooting since the beginning of Android, every phone I've had. I stopped using Samsung in 2013 and went to LG, then to Google (Nexus 6P, then Pixel XL), and now back to Samsung. I was honestly a little disappointed with the Pixel and how difficult it was to flash because of the dual partitions. I am in the US, and the US S8 was a no go, as I don't appreciate a phone that I buy outright being locked down. I ended up getting the SM-G955F, and rooted it the first day I had it. It was so simple, and so worth it. I feel like its 2013 again with how easy this thing is to modify. I have Viper installed, and customized to my liking, and my ROM is bloat free.
I have a Canadian S8 Plus and I've rooted all my Androids since the first Motorola. Like others I don't think at this moment rooting would bring me anything really exciting. I've installed Adhell 2 and got rid of the ads and backed up everything with the pc smart switch. I'm missing the volume warning disable mod because I found it annoying but even that one is not that bad if I don't restart the phone. Starting with S6 the best ROMs were always stock based and that became more and more evident lately so until something really new is coming up I'm going to stay unrooted. I'm with Bell and there are only 2 apps which I would not want them so basically no bloat. My 2c.
e753 said:
I have the same question...
I always rooted my phone since Froyo.
I basically need it to: browse on internet "safe" and to use titanium backup.
I guess I can use some adblocked browser (any suggestion?), but I do not how to backup and restore the apps.. Any idea how to resolve it?
THank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can get rid of ads with AdGuard.
I am hesitating to root also.
I used Titanium backup until now and if someone has an alternative I would be glad to hear it too.
Did you try Helium? The paid version has many features but it will only backup some apps vs Titanium. Because of missing root it will not be able to backup apps that have "backup disallowed" enabled.
EMJI79 said:
You can get rid of ads with AdGuard.
I am hesitating to root also.
I used Titanium backup until now and if someone has an alternative I would be glad to hear it too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But idf you root arent there supposed to be issue with it when it comes to the bootloader?
I've just gotten myself onto a Galaxy S7 for my carrier with Nougat installed. I happen to like the looks of this version and have no consideration to update to Android Oreo (8.0). But this looks to be a forced update. I have merely avoided this by just not connecting to wifi, however this makes me unable to use the samsung cloud without using mobile data to backup pictures and content. The only way I could perform disabling the update was through rooting the device, which I did not like having to do at all. It only brought complications to the devices run patterns etc.
As well I have also searched everywhere to find a way to disable the update service without rooting, even as far as Package Disabler Pro however it seems the developer was forced by samsung to disable this capability during the Note 7 Era. Even trying to use an Older Version of PDP failed because of the License Verification.
So I have come here to ask, Has anyone at all ever found a way to stop the update service from forcibly downloading the update when connected to wifi and forcing the device to update whatsoever, without Rooting the Device. Your knowledge and advice would be highly appreciated
ben70190 said:
I've just gotten myself onto a Galaxy S7 for my carrier with Nougat installed. I happen to like the looks of this version and have no consideration to update to Android Oreo (8.0). But this looks to be a forced update. I have merely avoided this by just not connecting to wifi, however this makes me unable to use the samsung cloud without using mobile data to backup pictures and content. The only way I could perform disabling the update was through rooting the device, which I did not like having to do at all. It only brought complications to the devices run patterns etc.
As well I have also searched everywhere to find a way to disable the update service without rooting, even as far as Package Disabler Pro however it seems the developer was forced by samsung to disable this capability during the Note 7 Era. Even trying to use an Older Version of PDP failed because of the License Verification.
So I have come here to ask, Has anyone at all ever found a way to stop the update service from forcibly downloading the update when connected to wifi and forcing the device to update whatsoever, without Rooting the Device. Your knowledge and advice would be highly appreciated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow this is disappointing. I'm in the same position. I unintentionally tapped update vs, wait and now it asks me several times a day.
I didn't have any of these issues with my S5. Since when does samsung force their customers to update? Seems to me samsung still owns my phone after I paid for it. If I wanted this crap, I would have bought an apple. i can't believe everyone is ok with this? Not even a data toggle switch anymore. I had to use ADB to put this back. My S5 was able to multi-task and my S7 can't. Further my 5 can get on wifi faster. None of this should be possible.
Forced to Root
ADB my S7 said:
Wow this is disappointing. I'm in the same position. I unintentionally tapped update vs, wait and now it asks me several times a day.
I didn't have any of these issues with my S5. Since when does samsung force their customers to update? Seems to me samsung still owns my phone after I paid for it. If I wanted this crap, I would have bought an apple. i can't believe everyone is ok with this? Not even a data toggle switch anymore. I had to use ADB to put this back. My S5 was able to multi-task and my S7 can't. Further my 5 can get on wifi faster. None of this should be possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess theres no solution to this then other than rooting the device sadly. I was forced to root it and I used the root method that requires no having to tweak the kernel so its been going pretty good for now. But yes indeed even my Galaxy S4 is faster than my s7 now in some cases. But the only thing I can see the issue with is now I hate having to restart my S7 when im using it because it takes like a minute or two to fully load up everything. Feels like im using a PC and not a phone
any luck ?