Rooting has become one of the big new things in the online culture. People who can root their Android smart phone (or Android tablet) are seen as tech savvy and daring.
While there are benefits to rooting an Android device such as increased freedom and more control over the functionality of your device, there are just as many (if not more) drawbacks if rooting isn't done correctly.
Rooting is probably not going to slow down anytime soon, specially as the Android continues to take over more and more of the mobile market, but just because everyone is doing it, doesn't mean you should. Even if you decide to jump off that bridge with everyone else, there is no promise you will land safely.
What is Rooting?
In a nutshell, rooting is accessing the root system of the Android software. More often than not when you first buy your Android you are not allowed access to the root of the system. This is done because smart phone makers don't know who will and who won't buy their phone.
If they gave root access to everyone right away, then a lot of people would wind up messing up their phones and this could cause some problems for the people who made the phone. Basically your phone comes with a default setting to not allow you to access the root menu for your own protection.
Because each smart phone maker wants to provide a different product, most of them put in safeguards against rooting that work differently than another manufacturers. For some smart phones, rooting is as simple as going into the main menu of the software on the phone and pushing a few buttons.
For other Android smart devices, rooting requires an extensive knowledge of computer programming. Whatever type of smart device you have if you decide to root it, realize there are some very bad things that can happen. While the following three mishaps are not the only bad things that can happen, they are probably some of the worst and most common rooting disasters out there.
Disabling Your Network Capability
Your smart phone's ability to connect to the network is the key to the Android doing what it does. If you have a phone, then you need the network you are connected to in order to call and text people. If you have an Android tablet you need the network in order to download apps and to surf the internet.
Because your phone's ability to connect to the network is so vital to what it does, one of the worst things you can do is disable your phone's network ability. If your phone can't connect to a network it can't do what it supposed to do.
The easiest way to avoid causing this to happen is to not root your phone in the first place. However, if you are going to root your phone, make sure you know what part of the software handles your network capability and make sure you don't do anything to it that changes it too much.
Be aware that there are a lot of different programs that work to get your phone on the network so before you delete or change anything make sure you know that doing this will be safe.
Delete the Operating System
Android relies on the Android operating system to work. Just like your computer, if your phone doesn't have an OS of some kind, it will not do anything at all but turn on and give you a black screen (or maybe white or blue or purple depending on who made the device).
In essence when you manage to delete the Android OS you pretty much have made your phone an overpriced paper weight or perhaps a tech chic decoration of your coffee table. A smart device without an OS of some kind doesn't work so you really want to avoid this happening to you.
The best way to avoid deleting your OS off your phone is to make sure that when you root it you don't change any of the source code unless you know exactly what you are doing. If you change the source code incorrectly you can cause your OS to stop functioning at all.
Along with not changing source code without knowing what you are doing, you are also highly advised to not delete anything either. A lot of people have deleted something thinking it wasn't important only to watch in horror as their Android stopped working at all.
Disable All Your Apps
Believe it or not when you root your Android you can actually potentially make it to where none of your apps work. For apps to work they have to be able to talk to the OS on the device, if you do something that stops this communication (such as changing the code or deleting a single line of that code) you can cause your phone to have a problem using apps.
Given that most of us got an Android to use apps, disabling its ability to do this is obviously a bad thing. The easiest way to avoid this problem is to make sure that you don't interfere with the OS's ability to communicate with other programs. If you know about how coding works, this really shouldn't be a problem, but if you don't, then maybe you shouldn't mess with rooting your phone.
IN fact all of the above issues are most easily avoided by not rooting your phone in the first place. Also, if you do root your phone, you don't have to do anything with it, you can simply be proud of the fact that you own a rooted phone.
In the end your smart device belongs to you and it is your right to do with it as you please, but if you want your Android to work well, do not root it unless you know what you are doing. There are a lot of good guides about rooting on the internet so make sure you study how rooting works and have a good understanding of it before you do anything.
Jacques CormierAbout the Guest Author:
Jacques Cormier is an accomplished Android writer who regularly contributes articles and tips to OneClickRoot.com and other leading tech blogs and websites.
