Smartphones has become one of the must have needs after food, cloths and house. So it is quite obvious that we gets frustrated if this little device starts slowing downs and exhibiting operational hiccups. Sadly that is the case with many Android handsets now a days. And the only cure to this ailment is to root your device..
But what exactly is this root? How does one root their device? So many questions come to the mind of the frustrated user who after hours of searching and reading long technical guides often give up. If you’re one of them and have never rooted an Android device before, then you’ve come to the right place. Today we show you how to root almost any Android phone with the help of 5 awesome software that make it painless and risk free.(well almost!).
But before we begin a few words about what we are going to do. We are going to root our devices using mostly very simple to use software that is aimed primarily at the first time root user. However simple as it may sound, rooting is actually exploiting a bug (in technical terms a flaw in the code is called a bug) in the Android OS to gain full control of your phone.
So as such in most phones, gaining root will mean relinquishing warranty. However there are always exceptions, Xiaomi phones, developer edition phones and also more recently the Yu line of smartphones offer full warranty even for a rooted device. Now with that out of the way, let’s get down to the crux of the matter.
There are two main ways or procedures to rooting an Android device. We will first touch upon both and then look at the best offerings for both the processes.
Rooting via an apk
This is the most preferred process and for good reason too. WIth this we can root a device with just an active internet connection and nothing else. But the supported device list is not as wide as it is with most PC based programmes for rooting so that is a major con.
Rooting via a PC
This requires a compatible PC (generally windows 7 or higher PC) and s USB cable. Often it is also required that the user running the programme has administrator privileges on the PC. While generally a more cumbersome and time consuming process, most PC programmes also provide a way to unroot the phones so that you can go back and claim warranty.
Now we will have a look at the best both these methods have to offer
Framaroot
Framaroot is our first choice in the list of apps that can easily root your phone.
Installation: This is very easy to install. Just download the apk from this link and install it on to your phone or tablet. Since this is an app from outside the play store, you will need to have Unknown sources ticked in the settings of your Android device.
Procedure: Now this is where things get a little tricky. Depending on the processor that your phone runs on, framaroot will show you the list of exploits available to root your phone. Click on one and let the magic happen!. Below we list the processor make and the related exploits.
- Qualcomm devices : Gandalf exploit
- Mediatek devices : Boromir, Faramir and Barahir exploits
- Huawei K3V2 devices : Pippin exploit
- Samsung devices : Legolas and Aragorn exploits
- Exynos devices : Sam, Frodo, Legolas and Aragorn exploits
- Omap36XX devices : Gimli exploit
Towelroot
So it might happen that for some reason, framaroot fails to root your phone. Well, then, we move onto the next application in line and that is Towelroot.
Installation: Again this one is pretty much similar to Framaroot. Just make sure Unknown sources is ticked and you should be able to proceed with the installation without any hiccups. To download towelroot, click on this link.
Procedure: Things are easy this time round with Towelroot having only one option! However the limitation is that it only works on Kitkat (android 4.4+ ) devices.
Also Motorola and HTC phones are not supported by this app.If however you find that when you enter the app, it lists your device as incompatible, then use this Code 133701040 by tapping 3 times on the welcome to Towelroot v3 sign.
If that still doesn’t work and you have one of the newer Samsung devices then repeat the procedure with this code 133701738040. If all else fails, try this code 1337 0 1 0 4 1, but do remember although this works on all modern devices, this is temporary root and you will loose root permissions as soon as you reboot
Kingo root
Now we come down to the segment in our article, where we deal with software that requires an USB connection to root your phone. First up is Kingo Root and if you have a slightly older device, Kingo Root is pretty reliable and chances are they will support it.
Installation: Download the Windows .exe file from this link. Install it on your computer and you’re done! It’s that simple!
Procedure: Now before you connect your phone to the PC for Kingo Root to work, you need to enable USB Debugging on your Android device. This is a very important feature that you must enable as you will not be able to start the root procedure without this.
You can find USB debugging options in Settings> Developer Options> USB debugging
If you cannot find Developer Options on your phone, then navigate to
Settings> About Phone>Build Number(tap 8 times)
Developer Options should now become visible. Connect the phone with the PC and run Kingo Root. Click on the ROOT button and let the good times roll!
For a detailed but not all inclusive list of devices supported by Kingo root, check out this link here.
iRoot (formerly VRoot)
Fourth on our list of rooting software for Android is iRoot. It has recently got a makeover and name change and claims to support over 150,000 devices!
Installation: It has an identical installation procedure with Kingo root. You can download the Windows programme file from here.
Procedure: This is also the same as Kingo root. However do keep in mind that this procedure supports devices from 2.2 to 4.4 So Lollipop devices will not work with this method! They also have an apk method of installation. If you’re interested in that, you can check it out here!
CF auto root
The last one in our list is CF Autoroot made by the legendary XDA developer, Chainfire.
Installation: This is a slightly more advanced rooting solution hence installation can be a little bit critical! Before you install or run CF auto root, you must unlock your bootloaders. Once that is done, there are two methods of proceeding depending on the make of the device. You can download the file corresponding to your device from here.
Procedure: If it is a Samsung device you will need to download Odin and install that on your system. You will also need the drivers of your device installed on the computer. After you’ve done that, download the files from here. They are all Odin flashable tar files. You will have to put your device into Odin mode (power off your device, then hold VolDown+Home+Power). Once you’ve done that, connect phone to PC, fire up Odin and click the PDA button to select the tar file for your device. The device should then reboot to recovery and install the Superuser file. If it does not, please manually boot into recovery after the Odin flash has completed for the rooting procedure to be complete.
If the device has fastboot, them we will flash the device through the fastboot mode. Before connecting to the PC we need to first put the device into fastboot mode (hold volume up+volume down+power at the same time) and then run the script for the OS concerned. As far as Linux and Mac users are concerned they may have to precede the script with
chmod +x root-linux/mac.sh
For more help with individual devices please search on here or here.
Well that about wraps it up for this article. If you’re a root noob then these five programmes are your best bet at getting root access on your Android device. Have a quick dip at the world of Android rooting and come out relatively unscathed with our guide! And your reward? With root, you can unleash the full power of your device and get rid of all the stutters and lags. Best of luck on your efforts and have fun with your rooted device!!
