Database Info

root on 6.0 and a known exploit... quadroot

Ok so theres this security exploit or 4 actually that mainly involve sideloading a specially designed apk called quadroot, i assume that you already have an idea what this is if you're reading this if not then google it. I read that alot of the time root access exploits are found by finding apps that have root access and exploiting them to install su to the system partition. In this case you could potentially create your own. So my question is why isn't this being persued as a viable option? Pleas let the people who know what their talking about speak and if you have no legitimate knowledge of your own (im talking google cut paste) then just syfm please.

that-squirrel said:
Ok so theres this security exploit or 4 actually that mainly involve sideloading a specially designed apk called quadroot, i assume that you already have an idea what this is if you're reading this if not then google it. I read that alot of the time root access exploits are found by finding apps that have root access and exploiting them to install su to the system partition. In this case you could potentially create your own. So my question is why isn't this being persued as a viable option? Pleas let the people who know what their talking about speak and if you have no legitimate knowledge of your own (im talking google cut paste) then just syfm please.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. Will look into it. Will update if I find anything.
*UPDATE*
Checked it out. Useless because we still have locked bootloader. We need SYSTEMLESS root. Anything besides that is useless.

I was under the impression that the bootloader being locked only pertains to trying to install unsigned images, the method used for rooting mm in the same manner as lp would require a modified boot.img and no one has a working system image dump for mm being the reason no one can modify the boot.img. if a app was designed to escalate root access to install super su to the system partition and gain root access that way even temporary we could copy the entire system and make a permanent solution.

A few questions about root

1. I have a Samsung galaxy s7 SMG930F with the chainfire root method. When I want to update to android 7, can i then still use the same root method for the phone, but which was written for android 6?
2. When I just take the stock firmware , which was not written for any specific phone, can i then use my real home button from Samsung and so on?
3. My phone has very strong security, so that xmodgames and cydia substrate can not work on my phone. Is there anyway to make the security of the phone more weak?
4. Is there any method to hide root without cydia? (because hide my root and rootcloak both use cydia)

Pls don't say thats the basic stuff and everyone knows it. Pls just answer, because I don't know much about root!

for my galaxy s7 SM-G930FD
i followed the following trails and got root
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s7/development/recovery-official-twrp-herolte-t3333770
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlj76YvxGYo
http://www.stechguide.com/install-twrp-recovery-and-root-galaxy-s7-edge/

Pls real answers to my questions, not just how to root the phone, because i have already rooted it!

i'd think it wouldn't be easy to tell if a future update (e..g. version 7) would be able to work with the current version of root apps. / method i.e. there is not enough info (perhaps a true version 7 rom does not even exist). i'd guess what would be likely though is that when version 7 is released, different version of root apps (and even method) etc may be necessary.
i went with the TWRP approach as TWRP is based on 'recovery', i.e. install su and super su through the recovery via a zip file.
this procedure provides more 'control' over how root is obtained and i'd guess it may allow one to troubleshoot the steps say in a situation a new rom or update is provided. a side benefit is that u could update the super su via TWRP recovery with and updated zip version rather than to await a next cfautoroot package for instance

"Noob" security question

Hi all,
According to you, is rooting your device or unlock its bootloader a way for making it less secure, more vulnerable to attacks ?
Is it a false idea or a real subject ?

iwanttoknow said:
Hi all,
According to you, is rooting your device or unlock its bootloader a way for making it less secure, more vulnerable to attacks ?
Is it a false idea or a real subject ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it definitely is less seure

IronRoo said:
Yes it definitely is less seure
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply.
Coud you please give us more details ?
Do you mean that it can be hacked ?
What device's components are less secure when the it's rooted ?

iwanttoknow said:
Thanks for your reply.
Coud you please give us more details ?
Do you mean that it can be hacked ?
What device's components are less secure when the it's rooted ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, basically everything is less secure. Eg
quote "By gaining root access, you get total control over the entire system. With the right skills and tools, you can read and modify almost any parameter on your device. This is the reason why some apps, as as SuperSU, require root access in order to work properly. However, this type of access is a double edged sword as with root access nothing is there to prevent malicious applications from wreaking havoc on your system: system files can be corrupted or deleted, personal information can be skimmed, and you could even soft brick your device."
https://www.androidpit.com/5-reasons-not-to-root-your-device
And possible even just having su binary installed is an issue, though it's not clear to me whether this has been confirmed, it seems precautionary to me, if it's just a LinageOS issue or more devices are vulnerable, however this weeks update to Linage OS is trying to address this. Anyhow the fix seems to have some extra benefits
https://lineageos.org/Changelog-9/
Also, just to be clear, you are still able to be hacked even if you are not rooted, but it's a whole lot more difficult.

iwanttoknow said:
Thanks for your reply.
Coud you please give us more details ?
Do you mean that it can be hacked ?
What device's components are less secure when the it's rooted ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also just to be a tad bit more correct in nature,
Rooting or unlocking your bootloader do NOT necessarily mean your device is any less secure than it is when you first turn it on after purchase.
Many people tend to misunderstand what rooting a phone is intended for, and most of the popular "One-Click" methods are simple apps you download install and run on your phone to acquire root access through a process called "Privlidge Escalation" which gains permission as root by simply climbing a chain that eventually lets it give you access to all your phones internals,
Thus in theory, any given app could be injected with that same code & then used to MALICIOUSLY root your device (without your knowledge or control) which would obviously be a MAJOR security flaw *Cough Cough* on Google's end *Cough Cough* but since it is generally only used by geeks who want to use a phone properly they don't look too much deeper past that. However rooting your device by yourself, unlocking your bootloader by yourself, controlling root permissions via SuperSU or like application ensures if anything TRIES to gain root access YOU being the owner of YOUR device can deny the possible threat instead of never being aware of it........

Thanks for your reply.
What is *Cough Cough* ?
BTW I understand that a malicious application can take control of my device without I know it, if it's not rooted, by using the same code as applications rooting your device.
Do I have well understood what you wrote ?
But how can I have the insurance that I always will be warned by an application like SuperSU or others ?
I have necessarily to TRUST this type of application which could be also a malicious application...
It's a veritable vicious circle.
?

The question you should be asking yourself is this. Why do I want to root my device?
Though, any device may have vulnerabilities which can be exploited to gain root like mentioned. If you want to keep your device secure, do not install or use anything from an unknown source.

samehb said:
The question you should be asking yourself is this. Why do I want to root my device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My main raison to root my device (if I did), would be to have a finest control on it.
But it's seems to be a difficult goal... like security in general.
?

iwanttoknow said:
My main raison to root my device (if I did), would be to have a finest control on it.
But it's seems to be a difficult goal... like security in general.
?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SuperSU will automatically deny anything asking it to provide root access by default . When you have an app for rooted phones installed and you run it for the first time you will get a pop-up from the SuperSU app to say "Yes, go ahead" or "No!" to anything before it even runs. So for me I always try to get devices with a way to root available because its the only way I know if stuff is trying to gain root access without my permission & watch it's actions.

@LilAnt530
Thanks for your reply.
My previous device was rooted and I used SuperSU.
But as I wrote before, "how can I have the insurance that I always will be warned by an application like SuperSU or others ?
I have necessarily to TRUST this type of application which could be also a malicious application..."

iwanttoknow said:
@LilAnt530
Thanks for your reply.
My previous device was rooted and I used SuperSU.
But as I wrote before, "how can I have the insurance that I always will be warned by an application like SuperSU or others ?
I have necessarily to TRUST this type of application which could be also a malicious application..."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh okay dude apologies the Open Source alternative to SuperSU is Phh's SuperUser & you can find it in the magisk related forum. SuperUser is only questioned as "Malicious" because ChainFire keeps the source closed from what I understand, so I believe it was Phusssion who came to light abt showing us systemless root methods with his open source root management app . You may need to root your phone with an unsafe method, & install Magisk Manager & deploy a magisk install to get the open source variant to work though, not 100% sure

It seems that it will be more and more difficult to root a mobile with new Android's versions.

iwanttoknow said:
It seems that it will be more and more difficult to root a mobile with new Android's versions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree! And it also feels like its becoming a very heavy marketing plot aspect instead of another thing that made Android great. Like are we just supposed to pay ridiculously for the Pixel to obtain root? & for the record, that "Essential" phone, is still sorta essentially too expensive......

iwanttoknow said:
@LilAnt530
Thanks for your reply.
My previous device was rooted and I used SuperSU.
But as I wrote before, "how can I have the insurance that I always will be warned by an application like SuperSU or others ?
I have necessarily to TRUST this type of application which could be also a malicious application..."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Phh superuser with Magisk is a 100% open source method for managing root access on your device

Also discussed there: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2687933

Primokorn said:
Also discussed there: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2687933
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I was trying to find one of those lol. As ive seen this question asked hundreds of times within recent months across forums

iwanttoknow said:
Hi all,
According to you, is rooting your device or unlock its bootloader a way for making it less secure, more vulnerable to attacks ?
Is it a false idea or a real subject ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting is a way to access the root-user on Android. It is the exact same as logging in as the root user in UNIX based operating systems. The windows equivalent of 'root' user, is an administrator account. Only difference is, within other UNIX based operating systems, the root user account is easily accessible. In android, it is blocked, so you need to do some process to gain access to the root user account. This process is known as "rooting".
Now, with administrative privileges, you gain the ability to modify the system, which is very useful, if kept in the right hands. But GOD FORBID, you get some nasty malware, such as a trojan or virus on your rooted device, that piece of malware now has access to administrative privileges, and can virtually do ANYTHING it wants to your system.
If you get some malware while the device does not have root access, the scenario is a lot less serious, as the malware cannot access system files, UNLESS there is an exploit designed SPECIFICALLY for that device or software version.
Now, unlocking bootloader in theory is a security flaw.... but then again, freedom is always inversely proportional to security... you have to sacrifice a bit of one to acquire the other. Theoretically, if all the custom operating systems you install are from trusted sources, and there is no embedded backdoors or spyware, or rootkits, or trojans, it is perfectly alright, software vulnerabilities, it is alright. But you simply cannot trust what these developers of custom roms actually embed into their roms, without actually examining the code itself.
I would recommend if you root and unlock the bootloader, install a custom recovery software such as TWRP. That way, in case your device gets compromised by hackers/malware, you can completely reformat the drive, and flash the stock firmware, thereby removing the malware.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
---------- Post added at 09:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:28 AM ----------
iwanttoknow said:
It seems that it will be more and more difficult to root a mobile with new Android's versions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but the difficulty isn't because of the operating system necessarily. It is mostly because the phone manufacturers lock the bootloader, which makes the process of getting root very difficult. In addition to that, certain exploits that we use to gain root access are also being patched in the newer Android versions.

BIG_BADASS said:
Rooting is a way to access the root-user on Android. It is the exact same as logging in as the root user in UNIX based operating systems. The windows equivalent of 'root' user, is an administrator account. Only difference is, within other UNIX based operating systems, the root user account is easily accessible. In android, it is blocked, so you need to do some process to gain access to the root user account. This process is known as "rooting".
Now, with administrative privileges, you gain the ability to modify the system, which is very useful, if kept in the right hands. But GOD FORBID, you get some nasty malware, such as a trojan or virus on your rooted device, that piece of malware now has access to administrative privileges, and can virtually do ANYTHING it wants to your system.
If you get some malware while the device does not have root access, the scenario is a lot less serious, as the malware cannot access system files, UNLESS there is an exploit designed SPECIFICALLY for that device or software version.
Now, unlocking bootloader in theory is a security flaw.... but then again, freedom is always inversely proportional to security... you have to sacrifice a bit of one to acquire the other. Theoretically, if all the custom operating systems you install are from trusted sources, and there is no embedded backdoors or spyware, or rootkits, or trojans, it is perfectly alright, software vulnerabilities, it is alright. But you simply cannot trust what these developers of custom roms actually embed into their roms, without actually examining the code itself.
I would recommend if you root and unlock the bootloader, install a custom recovery software such as TWRP. That way, in case your device gets compromised by hackers/malware, you can completely reformat the drive, and flash the stock firmware, thereby removing the malware.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
---------- Post added at 09:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:28 AM ----------
Yes, but the difficulty isn't because of the operating system necessarily. It is mostly because the phone manufacturers lock the bootloader, which makes the process of getting root very difficult. In addition to that, certain exploits that we use to gain root access are also being patched in the newer Android versions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for your detailed answer.

If you need security, just root and install supersu or magisk.
If you have xposed framework, then try a nice fire wall like Xprivacy

As far as I can tell both SuperSU and Magisk are trusted and reliable, people wouldn't be using them, if they were untrustworthy. And I agree with Big's comments, freedom and ability to manipulate what you want in the device comes with a significant security issue. You are going to have to be careful about this either way.

Samsung Galaxy M21 2021 Edition (SM-M215G/DS)

I own some old samsung Galaxy models like J7 Prime and had tried good Custom ROMs on them but up recent I purchased this Samsung Galaxy M21 2021 Edition (SM-M215G/DS) a few days ago thinking that it's going to be same as Galaxy M21 2019 (SM-M215F) model, to my horor its bootloader & recovery seems to work differently from J7 prime (with bar codes in download mode) . So it's a differrent model. The bootloader unlock process on this Galaxy M21 2021 Edition is same as mentioned in Galaxy M21 2019 thread ( https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/rom-full-oneui-10-totsukaos-q-for-galaxy-m21.4219975/ ) but none of the unofficial TWRP recoveries work nor does Magisk boot.img patch method work for rooting this model. Samsung does not support Fastboot as I understand & everything ends with Error : Signature verification failed. The only option left to me is sell off this phone but its so new.
If any developer can help me with some Custom Recovery that could install itself for rooting and perhaps custom ROM (I know I'm asking for too much ) for this device (SM-M215/DS), I will gladly donate $20.00/month for a year (Pls consider the bad times of pandemic we all are in). As right now I've put up this device (SM-M215G/DS) for sale. I've attached a few screenshots of the device maybe it could help any Dev who's interested (Hopefully ).

To root Android a Custom Recovery isn't required at all.

jwoegerbauer said:
To root Android a Custom Recovery isn't required at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jwoegerbauer said:
Firstly, I THANK YOU for replying to my desperate post. I'm delighted that Dev (jwoegerbauer) wanted to help.
Coming to the topic, Yes I was aware that rooting didnt require Custom Recovery.
1> I had tried to install Magisk_V23.zip via command [adb sideload magisk.zip] but the
response I had got was [Error: Signature verification failed, Error: Aborted.] on this device
(SM-M215G/DS).
2> When I flashed couple of TWRPs (one official for Galaxy M20 from www.twrp.me & few
unofficial TWRP builds from the net) via latest ODINv14.3 , ODIN displayed PASS! and
rebooted as I had kept Auto Reboot & F.Reset Time ON. But Native Android revovery came
on with Custom Binary Error. Again, I did the same with F.Reset Time & Auto Reboot OFF this
time and when I manually rebooted to recovery (Vol UP + Power) it was back to native
android recovery. I had to factrory reset to get the samsung logo then booted into welcome
screen.
3> I have checked the link ( https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...al-adb-fastboot-
drivers.4185535/post-83851013 ) you provided. Awesome work! My questions are will it
enable FASTBOOT on SAMSUNG? Because when I select Reboot to Bootloader option in Anroid Recovery the phone does go into Fastboot Mode but apparently Fastboot seems
disabled by Samsung because from the PC it does not recognise the Fastboot Devices. So,
as a noob if I've understood whats mentioned in the link you provided is that Samsung didnt
provide the Native Samsung Fastboot Drivers for the Galaxy M21 2021 DELIBERATELY? So,
the link you provided will help me install the required Fastboot Drivers? & then I can flash
TWRP.img or Magisk.img?
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

jwoegerbauer said:
To root Android a Custom Recovery isn't required at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Followup 1:
Hi, I tried your ADB-FASTBOOT-Installer but it doesnt seem to go beyond "Waiting for devices" screen.
1> I tried installing magisk v.19.3.zip (renamed to just "OTA") using command (adb sideload OTA)
first error i got was (adb: failed to read command: No error)
2> second time i tried installing from another folder belonging to 15-seconds-adb and it showed [ (0.01x) success ] something like that
3> I installed magisk manager 2021.4.9 Magisk v22.1 by Package Installer method not sideload method. When i rebooted & checked magisk manager it wasnt rooted so I tried boot.img patch method and got error: unable to unpack boot.img
I have attched some screenshots of the errors but what I understand from this is that the new Samsung devices might have img files written in some new format i guess because why else would magisk manager fail to unpack and patch a boot.img file, ususally it does fine.
I have also attached a copy of the device stock boot image file (hope i'm not breaking some xda rules here about posting img files , i just joined yesterday so )
Maybe its of some help to some Dev who might need these to find a workable solution.
The stock firmware I downloaded is flashing well on the device (SM-M215G/DS), the link is here- https://samfrew.com/download/Galaxy__M21__2021__Edition__/lOg2/INS/M215GDDU1AUG2/M215GODM1AUF3/

Also Magisk isn't needed to root a phone's Android: that's a widespread misconception,1000 times reported on the Internet and also here on XDA .

jwoegerbauer said:
Also Magisk isn't needed to root a phone's Android: that's a widespread misconception,1000 times reported on the Internet and also here on XDA .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well what necessarily needed for rooting an android phone is just modifying some files in /system? I have seen the phrase 'toybox 0.8.5' a multiple times in your posts, not sure what is that.

LR7875 said:
Well what necessarily needed for rooting an android phone is just modifying some files in /system? I have seen the phrase 'toybox 0.8.5' a multiple times in your posts, not sure what is that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Toybox is a replacement for many Linux command-line utilities that is targeted at embedded systems - similar to BusyBox. It was created by Rob Landley, who is also a former BusyBox maintainer. Toybox is merged into any Android starting with version 6.

jwoegerbauer said:
Toybox is a replacement for many Linux command-line utilities that is targeted at embedded systems - similar to BusyBox. It was created by Rob Landley, who is also a former BusyBox maintainer. Toybox is merged into any Android starting with version 6.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh learned something more.
Well what is the definition of root then?

LR7875 said:
Oh learned something more.
Well what is the definition of root then?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to barge in LR7875, to my knowledge (I have rooted & installed Roms on some older Samsung/Redmi/Laptops etc.) rooting is the process through which we gain Admin Rights / Super User on Linux devices. Correct me if I'm wrong. Im not a programmer by any means so.

jwoegerbauer said:
Also Magisk isn't needed to root a phone's Android: that's a widespread misconception,1000 times reported on the Internet and also here on XDA .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there jwoegerbauer, thanks for responding. If im not being bothersome , I'll need to stalk you on XDA for some help on this issue of rooting this device, if it s okay with you . Pray tell me what else other than magisk could root this stubborn Samsung model ? Im getting some good offers for this device on the local online market but i really didnt want to sell it off just wanted to root & install roms like before.. Other than magisk I just know of SuperSU by chainfire which I think stopped working well post android 8 oreo but will it work for Android 11? No way any changes to /system/Priv-app and the phones factory reset themselves. One-Click Root only takes calls & they charge $50 for rooting, but whats the guarantee if we pay up that theyll root it properly & taht too it would be just root not Recovery or ROMs. I'm lost.

Installing Magisk DOESN'T ROOT Android. Installing SuperSU DOESN'T ROOT Android. POV.
To have said it:
Magisk is successor to XPosed, means a software framework what once get added to Android allows you to systemless apply modules, means some functionalities modders are missing on standard Android. The crux with Magisk is it patches device's bootloader.
SuperSU simply is a per-app root-access management tool, nothing else: it requires Android got rooted.

OldNoobOne said:
...
The stock firmware I downloaded is flashing well on the device (SM-M215G/DS), the link is here- https://samfrew.com/download/Galaxy__M21__2021__Edition__/lOg2/INS/M215GDDU1AUG2/M215GODM1AUF3/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How are you "flashing"?
Why do you say it "is flashing well"?
As far as I know, you need to use Odin (on a PC) to "flash" a Samsung device. Samsung does not support fastboot -- no amount of updating drivers on your PC will make a Samsung device start supporting fastboot.
Magisk is much more than just a way to root, but a side effect of installing Magisk is that you will be rooted.
If you have installed the Magisk Manager app and tried to patch the AP.tar of the stock firmware, and you are getting an error, you should look through the main Magisk thread, and maybe ask there.

J.Michael said:
Magisk is much more than just a way to root, but a side effect of installing Magisk is that you will be rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMO you're WRONG: Magisk DOESN'T ROOT Android, but you additionally can install MagiskSU app what grants elevated rights ( AKA SU ) to Magisk.

jwoegerbauer said:
Magisk is successor to XPosed, means a software framework what once get added to Android allows you to systemless apply modules, means some functionalities modders are missing on standard Android. The crux with Magisk is it patches device's bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I need to hop on and correct a few details here...
Magisk is not a successor to Xposed. That's like comparing apples and oranges. If you want to know how Magisk came to be John has written about that in a couple of places, here for example:
Spoiler
https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/7oem7o
And Magisk does not patch the bootloader, but the ramdisk which can be found in either the boot or recovery image depending on your device. Details about that here:
https://topjohnwu.github.io/Magisk/boot.html

OldNoobOne said:
Sorry to barge in LR7875, to my knowledge (I have rooted & installed Roms on some older Samsung/Redmi/Laptops etc.) rooting is the process through which we gain Admin Rights / Super User on Linux devices. Correct me if I'm wrong. Im not a programmer by any means so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh I see, it is used to do something that are restricted originally, e.g. access system files, delete system apps, etc.

Didgeridoohan said:
I need to hop on and correct a few details here...
And Magisk does not patch the bootloader, but the ramdisk which can be found in either the boot or recovery image depending on your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct: it should also have been called boot.img instead of bootloader. Sorry for this.

LR7875 said:
Oh I see, it is used to do something that are restricted originally, e.g. access system files, delete system apps, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True . Don't quote me, (In a nut shell ) up from Andoid 9 (Pie) modification to /system /app etc. is difficult per my knowledge, thats why probably magisk sits in the boot partition, no one dare touches the system partition anymore while the gadget is ON. Only Gugle stays in the system partition im sure. The Custom Recoveries do wipe the device but are unable to erase the core andoid OS inside . Even 'Fastboot Erase' command cant get andoid out completely (exception Linux-phones i think). So practically Andoid devices are just gadgets that are 'leased' to the so-called 'owner' of the device (without explicitly mentioning the term 'leased' by gugle). The cost of the smart-gadget is practically the 'Down Payment' we pay to Gugle & OEMs then the rest of the revenue they make from Ads etc. which goes as 'Rent/lease payment' to them ultimaately & we never get to own the devices we purchase EVER! .
My sixth-sense says The chinese OEMs allowing Fastboot Mode only for now but only to make inroads into the smart-gadget market, once they have made everyones profile Gugle & pentgon might just make the softwares on these smart-gadgets wholly tamper-proof & focus more on 'managing' or keeping an eye on their 'subjects' [given that the whole gugle business,- 'search-engine', 'smart-device' etc. started officially in 2004 which was POST the 9.11 ATTACK].
So they're probably maintaining the Big-Data on everyone who uses their devices & 2014 is when data-warehousing became the need if i remember correctly; so, it was all about compressing the Big-data gathered & then Analytecs took the spotlight by 2016-17 coz they needed to analyize all the data collected & remove the junk from it then home in on pentgons targets. It's Obvious . No wonder they're pushing PX-Xperience ROMs through the ROM channels to cover the gap created by chinese OEMs eating into their market share. Why else do they charge other OEMs $2 for OTG-support while Shamshung (and now MYUI) already had native OTG-support on their devices shipped? so that's what Sekure-folder all about, YOUR DATA LOADED & LOCKED real-time then SHIPPED back to Gugle-Analytecs. Obvious.

Well so root is basically... Removing those ads and trackware up to the bare bones of the phone, to ensure all your data isn't used to make the spammy advertisements?

Android is nothing else then a derivated Linux. In the world of Linux the Root User is the user that has all rights esp. accessing / modifying system files, it's comparable to the Administrator in the world of Windows.
In the world of Linux this Root User typically is called superuser ( commonly abbreviated: SU ). In the world of Android such a superuser isn't in general implemented by default: it must get added to Android by modding it, means adding a SU ( read: Switch User ) binary - in whatever form - to Android what is systemwide accessible. In the world of Android an user root exists what is the user with user ID 0.

[ deleted ]

Options other than Titanium Backup for backing up/restoring all Android apps?

Currently running a OnePlus 8T + 5G with unlocked/TWRP bootloader which is not rooted, since neither of the two methods want to work on my specific version (KB2007; unlocked former T-Mobile).
Anyway, I'm trying to switch to another ROM but I'm wondering how best to backup/restore all of my apps. Loved using Titanium Backup way back in the day, but am I still correct in assuming that it doesn't work correctly without root access? If so, are there any non-root methods of backing up all or most of my apps along with their current configurations/etc to restore into the new ROM once it's installed? Obviously, most ROMs will support doing it through Google Play, but then it takes forever to log back in to each app, set it all back up, etc. If I've been missing some basic way of restoring all the apps with their configurations intact, please feel free to smack me upside the head with the answer =)
And my apologies in advance if I'm misusing any of the terminology. Before this phone, it has been at least five years since I even tried rooting/unlocking/etc, so I'm a bit rusty.

In the world of computers an app belongs to person who installed it, app's data are owned by the app itself.
Hence it should be obvious that only an user with elevated rights ( AKA Superuser or Root ) can perform a backup and/or restore.
Take note that a temporary root is enough to do the jobs.

Got it. So, in other words, figure out how to root the phone despite the troubles I've been having trying to do so. Unless there's some sort of temporary root privs available that I've never heard of?

To get a temporary root all you have to do is to add to Android OS the binary called SU
Example
Code:
adb push <LOCATION-OF-SU-BINARY-ON-COMPUTER> /data/local/tmp/
adb shell "chmod +x /data/local/tmp/su"
what then allows you to run Android shell commands when elevated rights are needed
Example
Code:
adb devices
adb shell "/data/local/tmp/su -c '<SHELL-COMMAND-HERE>'"

Am I correct in assuming that SU is the same as "switch/substitute user" in *nix? Does that mean I can run TB from the ADB shell, assuming I include the correct command line arguments? Something along the lines of doing a SUDO in *nix before running something that requires admin access or whatever.

I know this might be quite different from what you're looking for maybe?
In the future if you get a rooted rom, I use something called Migrate from the play store, it requires root and just copies all your data into a bunch of twrp flashable zip files.
Play Store

silentrawr said:
Am I correct in assuming that SU is the same as "switch/substitute user" in *nix? Does that mean I can run TB from the ADB shell, assuming I include the correct command line arguments? Something along the lines of doing a SUDO in *nix before running something that requires admin access or whatever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SU in root context usually means super user, as a user with all privileges, but it's the same thing as super user, so yes.

Hello Everyone,
I too am interested in a backup solution for my Android smartphone.
I would happily root or temporarily root, but despite having a computer background that dates back to Unix, I am an Android novice and do not know how to perform these operations which to most people here seem elementary.
Could someone please point me to an easy to understand primer on either temporary root or permanent root.
I would be very appreciative and I am sure that there are other readers of this post who would benefit as well.
Thank you.

AndroidNewbie9000 said:
Could someone please point me to an easy to understand primer on either temporary root or permanent root.
I would be very appreciative and I am sure that there are other readers of this post who would benefit as well.
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The thing is, that the "official" way to root a device nowadays usually includes a wipe of all user data. You basically have to decide that you want to do full backups before you use an app. This is a security measure so that an attacker cannot use the official way to e.g. access app-internal data on a stolen phone, like secret tokens of 2FA-apps. In order to backup existing app-internal data you either need to use the per-app-backup that the creators of that app did hopefully include or hope that the allowed to do adb backup. That can be used without root, but depending on your Android, apps either need to allow this explicitly or at least not explicitly disallow that in their manifest file.
In principle you can use exploits for non-official rooting to backup existing data that is blocked from adb backup - but this is only an option if you do not have the latest security updates in place and an exploit is publicly available.