Google was closely cornered until it is almost useless, but there was a time when the root It was parallel to the Android path. Present since the start of the system, there were many advantages for the user who brought with him, like the personalized ROMs. Today, I continue to make fun.
While in computers, it is easy to obtain the administrator authorization to (almost) do what comes to us, in mobile phones, it is not so simple. This is what the Root or access to the rootA type of user who has permission to modify the full phone. This authorization is an essential element in the history of Android, just as Jailbreak is for iOS. As in Apple mobiles, Android is already quite mature so that advanced access has more advantages than disadvantages.
If the iPhone had the jailbreak, Android needed the root
Apple has achieved a step with the iPhone. Although this is not the first smartphone, Steve Jobs and it changed the course of smartphones so that They turn to the multipagable screen and the generous dimensions. This change in the trend of use also affected Android, even with the system still in the oven. Andy Rubin himself, the co-creator of Android, admitted that he had no sense to launch the system while they were developing.
If the iPhone has opened the way to smartphones at the ground level, it also marked a trend in opening its system Take advantage of the mistakes known in the code. The original iPhone, released in 2007, had a first version of completely closed iOS. In fact, I didn't even have the App Store: the owner of the phone bought it with the idea of using what Apple included standard, nothing more. Then the jailbreak emerged.
The iOS opening tool opened the prohibition on the installation of applications on the phone, which Apple has not authorized at the start. Just at that time, I bought my first iPhone: it was in 2008, I acquired the imported phone after soaking the parallel development posed by the jailbreak and I created the first store of Apple Mobile: the installer. It was not the officer, the App Store arrived a year later, taking advantage of the launch of the iPhone 3G.
Installation of a personalized recovery ROM
If I highlight the field open by Apple parallel developers, it is because something similar has happened on Android. Of course, with a much longer idea: Google raised an operating system from the start from the start Open to what everyone would like to install. Not only via the official store (in 2009, the HTC G1 / Dream already had the Android market), also in the form of APK files. Although this did not mean that the owner of an Android could do everything.
The iPhone Jailbreak allowed the installation of parallel applications and advanced telephone administration. In Android, the first thing came standard because the second needed root
With the popularization of Jailbreak on the iPhone, Android expert developers have found a way to bring to the system something equivalent: the root, a gap in the android allows access to user administration. This occurred in 2008 and with the first Android in history. The XDA developer community has become the parallel development referent.
HTC Dream / G1
November 2008 marked the start of alternative development on Android: it was discovered that the execution of certain orders in the HTC dream via Telnet was possible Obtain administrative access on a system console. Google did not provide for this access route and did not correct it with successive system updates. But the developers quickly found solutions, especially thanks to the XDA developer forum.
I did not arrive in Android with the first phone, I did it with the second: that HTC Magic of Vodafone was the first of the system in Europe. And I think I remember that The root was one of the first things I didSo it would surely be to change the ROM on the phone. It was the golden age of the “pot”, where you could only take an Android if you modify it from the inside.
Thus, the root has evolved since the start of Android
- 2008-2009: start of the root in Android. The first vulnerabilities of HTC Dream / G1 are discovered. Thanks to them, it was possible to access as a administrator at the root of the system.
- 2010-2011: the root is simplified. They make the rooting process the mobile can be done from the phone itself, without a computer. The Supersu was born by Chainfire, the application which monitors access to the root to avoid scams to the owner of the phone.
- 2012-2015: Golden Age of Root and Start of Google countermeasures. While Android popularizes as the most accessible mobile operating system, the root also extends into the community. And Google begins to consider it as a threat: it strengthens the Se-Linux, the beginning of the system and introduces the Safetynet API, one of the nightmares of the root. The controversy of NSA surveillance was also a reason to strengthen Android.
- 2016-2018: Magisk arrives. Talking about Root today involves referring to Magisk, the famous set of tools created by Topjohnwu. The first V6 was launched in 2016 and has been active since then. Rise de Magisk withdrew one of the veterans: Chainfire said goodbye in 2017.
- From 2019 to the present day: the root is an anecdote in Android. The system is mature enough for access to administration to be essential to get the game on the phone. In addition, the disadvantages of rooting are greater than its advantages: Google has managed to discourage use with functions such as Google Play Protect, which alerts the user or block sensitive applications if they detect the modified system. Magisk is the root reference.
Essential in the first years, anecdote today
Magisk 26 in my Xiaomi Mi A3 with root
The root has evolved over the years to the pace to which Google updated the system Patcher gaps and problemsmany of which have already resolved administrator access at the time. As is generally the case, the company that Android develops has been established in independent trends and developers. It benefited us all.
Let's examine some examples of options which are now included in any Android and which were only possible Having rooted the phone.
The successive Android updates have fed the improvements implemented by the manufacturer's layers, included Google's own innovations and were also inspired by independent developers. All shared experience He made Android what we have today. Stable, versatile, attractive, extremely functional and very complete. As long as the root today is not necessary.
The root may not be what it was, but those who lived it know that, for years, it has paved the way for real freedom in Android
I have no longer rooted my mobiles, although I keep one at least with root access. Although day by day, it is no longer essential, and sometimes even penalizes, access to administration is useful for trying hidden functions of WhatsApp or Android Auto, for example. I doubt that Google ends it for more than trying. And better like this: it is always the key to obtain a total mobile control for which we pay.
Cover image | Iván Linares
In Xataka Android | With this application, you can customize your Android with many hidden options, without root or magisk
