this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2023
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Love the first answer as, I have to get on my Linux soapbox here.
I remember first using Linux (Ubuntu 9.10 for those curious). One of the big ideas behind it was 'its your computer, do what you want'. That's why you can have access to Root or the Super User. Since its open source, root can do what it wants.
Android was initially built on Linux, but they have taken Root and turned it into a way to restrict users not just from sensitive things (like necessary system apps), but also from bloatware (looking at you Samsung). Years ago I had a phone that came with the NFL Network which I didn't want. Could I remove it? Of course not, I would have to be Root to do that!.
Sorry for the rant, but really, I should have access to anything on my phone if I want it. Give me a warning, make it so people can't get to it 'accidentally', but then let it be on me.
You want to⦠own the phone you bought???
You can still buy Android phones that have manufacturer support for unlocking the bootloader. Once that's done obtaining root is trivial. Pixel phones notably support this. Personally, I only buy phones I can unlock the bootloader on to show the demand for this feature. It doesn't matter to me how great a phone is otherwise. Can't unlock the bootloader? Not buying it.
That said, I completely agree with you. We all pay for and own the hardware, but let the manufacturer dictate what software it can run. That's like buying a car and letting the car company tell you what roads you're allowed to drive your car on. I don't really blame the average use for not giving a crap because end users will never care about this stuff as long as their basic needs are met. It's a failure of the people in the software industry to stand up for the open systems that built everything we have today. Without that constant fight for openness companies are going to be more than happy to take advantage of a locked down system to create a competitive advantage. Hell, look at what Google is currently doing with WEI in Chrome. If they have their way, the web will become just as locked down as smartphones are now.
For the record, it still is.
Only problem is all the apps that won't run in a rooted environment. I'm not sure why they should even know that information....
there's some projects that exist that try their best to hide root from specified apps to make them seem as if they aren't running in a rooted environment of course, they can't completely hide all traces but most of the time they're usually actively updated to make most apps seem as if they really aren't running in a rooted environment
Shits me off that rooting the phone immediately blocks most banking apps.
After a few years of playing cat and mouse with the workarounds for safety net I finally said fuck it.
If theyβre going to force me to live with an unrooted phone, I might as well have shit that works with the rest of my families eco-system and go iPhone.
To be fair, there still is quite a bit that can be done using ADB and no root, much more than you'll ever get with iPhone.
But yeah, I agree my banking app is 100% of the reason I stopped rooting my phones.
Yeah, but I mostly did it for ad blocking.
I was able to strip ads out of games too, super effective.
iOS does everything else, and I still have an android tablet
Lucky Patcher strips ads without root.
Yeah, but that needs to patch each app.
Root level ad blocking was apply once
Spot on, my daily driver is a PinePhone Pro with keyboard case. It ticks all the boxes. It also covers the "physical keyboard" feature which is a few comments down.
It has its downsides, but it's a full fledged Linux computer in my pocket. What's not to love?
This isn't an Android thing. First-party Google phones can do this. This is on other Android OEMs.