Seriously, when was the last time you actually thought about rooting your Android device?
As far back year 2005 through 2015, Android-root was a very common word among Android device users especially; those whose taste for heavy customization of their Android device is strong.
Android-root was so popular that several online forum websites, blogs, desktop and mobile applications and several other online services and agencies rose and fell with the upwards and downwards movements of the term; Android-root. If you have been an Android device user since as far back as these periods, I am sure you are aware of the presence, greatness and successes of XDA Forum.
XDA Developers Forum was one of the most visited websites of the world during these periods, especially between the year 2005 and 2010. The forum was so popular that every Android extremists including developers, common users, phone technicians and every other persons who, had in one way or another, had any connection with the Android OS; had signed up with the forum or have used certain files developed by the XDA Forum developers; directly or indirectly - and why was that? The answer is simple - solutions!.
XDA Forum was a go-to place whenever you had a need to unbrick or debrick your Android device, root and unroot the device or to get or download applications that lets you customize your Android device just the way you want it.
Apart from these purposes, XDA Forum was also serving as a meeting point where Android lovers meet to share ideas, discuss and gain insights on which Android devices would give the best values. They also share which common issues and or common gains are enjoyable from using or in the use of a particular Android device.
Well, in a nutshell, as far as Android OS and her users are concerned, there is nearly endless possibilities and use cases for XDA Developers Forum.
The questions now are;
Has XDA Developers Forum disappeared?
Do Android users still use Chainfire SuperUser App?
Where have all Android development forums, blogs and websites gone?
The only reason is; Android rooting is no longer so paramount.
But why? That's what you and I shall find out soon. Meanwhile, one thing that should be discussed first is; what is Android Root?
Have you ever thought about it? Do you even know what Android root is?
What is Android Root?
Android-root is an attainable level of access rights or privileges a user can gain into the Android system. An Android user that has attained the root-level access into the Android system can add, remove, rename and modify any files within the Android system as such wishes.
And the process of gaining that root-level access is being referred to as Android rooting.
NOTE:
Accessing your Android device as a root-level access user can be so destructive especially; when you don't actually understand the Android system patterns and as a result, you can completely render your Android device useless, dead and totally unusable.
So, Why Was Android Root So Popular?
Well, I must confess; this is an extremely simple question with really complex answers. The answers are complex in the sense that, there were so many reasons for which Android rooting was very popular and common among Android device users back then. And that's not all, every single Android users back then, attached varying levels of importance to each reason.
For example, if you asked some Android users; "why would you root your Android device?", they may say, "because I want a custom ROM installed on my phone! - of course, that's a reason but the actual motives behind that reason given may vary from persons to persons.
Some wanted to install custom ROM because the stock ROM that came with their phone was so slow and sluggish. Another wanted a custom ROM installed because their stock ROM was not heavily customizable. Another common reason for needing custom ROM installed was to get rid of bloatwares.
There was nearly countless reasons for needing custom ROM during these periods. In fact, there were custom ROMs that minimize phones' power consumption hence, make the phone's battery last longer - at a time when most phones' battery were small, this was an extremely valuable reason; you'll agree.
Now, Why Has Android Rooting Become So Less Paramount?
Well, this is a simple question. It's because there is nearly no reason to root Android devices.
If you remember and can relate to this, Android rooting was so popular because nearly every Android issues requires root access to correct.
Okay. Let me give you a few examples;
Back then, when only a few select Android devices get the official latest Android versions pushed to them, CyanogenMod was the messier that helped several other Android devices you'll never thought would get latest Android versions, to get them.
However, to get the latest Android updates on your Android device through CyanogenMod custom ROM, your device must be rooted.
If your Android device had signal issues back then, you'll most likely need to flash a new radio.img and or kernel files - and to do that, you definitely need root access.
If you need to record the screens of the first Android devices, Android root is a requirement.
Those are just a few pressing reasons why Android devices ought to be rooted. I mean, rooting your Android device back then was like breathing a new life in it.
Why? Because a rooted Android device can be made more productive, customized, lively, more fun and even more efficient. A rooted Android device could accomplish several tens of tasks any unrooted Android device could not and that's just what has changed.
Starting 2018 I think, all Android devices that were made, out of the box; now have all the features for which you may ever wish to root the device.
Examples;
For example; Dark Theme feature was one of the commonest reasons for which Android devices were being rooted. Now, most Android devices have Dark Theme feature, out of the box.
Effective Power Saver mode - apart from fairly huge batteries that are shipped with recent Android devices, virtually all the recent Android devices are now have superb power saver mode out of the box.
So, What's the Point?
The point is, with every new Android versions ever released since Android Marshmallow, Google makes rooting Android devices more difficult and make gives Android users much lesser reasons to root their devices.
I mean, why would you want to root your Android device when everything you'll achieve by rooting the device is already there on that device, out of the box? Thus, if you desire heavy customization, your Android device can already be customized to your taste without being rooted.
Now, instead of asking; "Why Has Android Rooting Become So Less Paramount?", I believe the question should be, "do you ever missed rooting your Android device?".
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