Taking the first step towards power by rooting your mobile device

 Jun 19, 2015

Ever wondered how you can be in full control over your phone and not let the pesky system block you from doing certain actions? Well, if you root your device, you will now be able to take this power for yourself.

When you acquire root access to your phone, you essentially gain administrator power over the device. This allows you to make unrestricted modifications to your phone and also, allows you to install third-party applications that would normally not work on your device.

Rooting your device is the first step you would normally take when you want to start customising your device, one of the biggest advantages of doing this is that you can install custom recoveries like ClockWork Mod.

With great power comes great responsibility, this means that it can be dangerous to have root access if you do not know what you are doing. Luckily, there are some applications that can help you with this rooting process.

The next few steps show you how to root your phone.

  1. Make sure under Settings > More > Security, you enable unknown sources. This will allow you to install third party applications that don’t originate from the play store.

  2. You can download activeroot and run it to gain the power of root on your device.
  3. Download and use SuperSU, this is an application that allows you to manage the administrator permissions and nothing else (useful when you are new to rooting).

That's it, you have rooted your phone. Now each time your phone wants to use an application that needs super user permissions, it will prompt you for it.

One of my favourite applications to use is Titanuim Backup. This will allow you to backup all your currently installed applications and the data associated with it; very handy if you constantly fiddle with your device. This is an application that requires root access to work.

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About the Author:

Auret Swanepoel  

As a recent addition to the New Horizons team, Auret is a highly skilled and qualified IT Technical trainer. He has been a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) since 2008 and has since then, also become a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP), a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) and a Microsoft Certified Information Technology Professional (MCITP). With his international experience as a trainer in South Africa, Auret is able to adapt his teaching style to different audiences in the classroom and ensure that students are learning in a positive and collaborative environment.

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