The ultimate guide to rooting, jailbreaking, and homebrewing your devices: Android, iOS, Windows RT, and WebOS [Updated 2/4/2013]
February 4, 2013 76
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Is your phone feeling a bit boring? Does your tablet need more customization? Sometimes, your devices don’t feel personal enough. Other times, it can be bogged down by needless bloatware and other cruft. Free it with one of several free tools for iOS and Android!
Jailbreaking, on iOS devices, allows you to install apps, tweaks, and themes that Apple hasn’t approved. You can add a fifth (or sixth, or seventh) icon to your dock; you can make the entire system bright red. Although Apple tries hard to not let people jailbreak, the worst they can do is void your warranty; and rest assured, Apple will void your warranty if you jailbreak. (Jailbreaking is 100% legal, although pirating apps is not!)
Rooting, which is for Android devices, allows you to modify crucial system files that would otherwise be locked away. This lets you do things like block ads, remove/freeze bloatware, use a firewall, and much more. Due to the thousands dozens of devices available, there are dozens and dozens of rooting methods; however, there are also some rooters that are fairly universal. Take note although rooting is 100% legal, it may void your warranty.
Disclaimer: Please proceed with caution. Although the art of rooting, jailbreaking, and homebrewing has been been turned into a science (all three are fairly safe to do), all after-market software modifications have the risk of bricking your device. By proceeding below and rooting/jailbreaking/homebrewing your device, you recognize and accept the risks of these processes. Locutus, Ashraf, dotTech and anyone else except yourself are not responsible for any gain, loss, or harm done to you, your device, or your data. If you brick your device and come whine here, Ashraf will probably laugh at you.
Table of Contents
Android Rooting
Do you like HTC’s Sense skin? What about Motoblur? More like Motoblah! By rooting your Android device, you can get more customizability along with more apps.
Android is a unique beast among mobile OSes. Unlike iOS or WebOS, which are made exclusively by one company and only have a few software releases, Android has thousands dozens (maybe hundreds) of devices and many different software versions. As such, it is extremely difficult to make one rooting program work on all devices. However some programs, like SuperOneClick, have managed to get fairly close to the end goal of a universal rooting program, and some others, like z4root, even allow rooting from the comfort of your hand (no computer required).
Rooting Android with z4root
Have Android 2.2 Froyo or below? That means you can root your phone, from the convenient location of your phone! All you’ll need is a small bit of time. No computer is required. (If you have above Android 2.2, skip down below to SuperOneClick or device-specific rooting.)
First, you’ll need to make sure that non-Market app installs are allowed; this is called sideloading apps. To do this, go to Menu > Settings > Applications and check “Unknown Sources”. (If it’s greyed out, that means that your carrier has decided to be mean and block sideloading. To remove this restriction, try rooting with SuperOneClick or device-specific rooting below.)
Now that your phone allows sideloading, download z4root onto your phone. Once it has been downloaded, use a file manager to navigate to the APK installer (it will probably be in the download folder) and install z4root. After it is installed, launch z4root from your app tray open it up from your launcher:
Once z4root has been launched, you are half-way finished. Now all you have to do is decide if you want a permanent root, or just a root until you reboot your phone (temporary root). If you want a permanent root, be aware that it won’t work on every phone (try SuperOneClick or device-specific rooting if z4root doesn’t work for you).
Once you select what type of root you want, just follow on-screen instructions and you will be rooted within minutes. You know you are rooted if you have a “SuperUser” app in your app tray. You may have to reboot your device for this to appear. If the “SuperUser” app appears, congrats! Your Android 2.2 phone is now rooted.
Te following is the list of known phones compatible/incompatible with the permanent root:
(Click on the list to view it in full size.)
If your phone is not in the list shown above, it may or may not be compatible with z4root. The only way to find out is try it out. If your phone is on the incompatible list, you can only use the temporary root option.
Rooting with SuperOneClick
Rooting with SuperOneClick is a fairly easy affair, but requires a bit of setup first. The first thing you need to do is make sure your device will work with SuperOneClick. SuperOneClick only works for devices on Android Gingerbread (2.3.x) and lower. See device-specific rooting if your device is not compatible with SuperOneClick.
It is most likely compatible if it is not one of these (the following are incompatible devices)
- Sprint EVO 4G (HTC Supersonic)
- Droid Incredible (HTC Incredible)
- HTC Desire GSM
- HTC Desire CDMA (HTC BravoC)
- HTC Aria
- Droid Eris (HTC DesireC)
- HTC Wildfire (HTC Buzz)
These phones have locked NAND chips. In order to remove this lock, you must use unrevoked, a NAND unlocker.
So far the known phones that are compatible with SuperOneClick are:
- Acer Liquid Metal
- Dell Streak
- HTC Magic (Sapphire) 32B
- HTC Bee
- LG Ally
- Motorola Atrix 4G
- Motorola Charm
- Motorola Cliq
- Motorola Droid
- Motorola Flipside
- Motorola Flipout
- Motorola Milestone
- Nexus One
- Samsung Captivate
- Samsung Galaxy 551 (GT-I5510)
- Samsung Galaxy Portal/Spica I5700
- Samsung Galaxy S 4G
- Samsung Galaxy S I9000
- Samsung Galaxy S SCH-I500
- Samsung Galaxy Tab
- Samsung Transform M920
- Samsung Vibrant
- Sony Ericsson Xperia E51i X8
- Sony Ericsson Xperia X10
- Sprint Hero
- Telus Fascinate
- Toshiba Folio 100
The key thing to note is just because your phone is not on the above list does not mean SuperOneClick won’t work with your phone. As long as your phone is not listed on the incompatible list (first list shown above), then your phone may still work with SuperOneClick. The only way you will know for sure is to give it a try; if you are on Android 2.3 Gingerbread or lower, SuperOneClick will likely work for your device. See device-specific rooting if your device is not compatible with SuperOneClick.
After verifying your phone is rootable, there still remain couple of prerequisites to rooting your device:
- You NEED to put your phone on USB Debugging mode
- You NEED to install make sure the Android drivers for your phone are installed
- Make sure you DO NOT mount your SD card
- If you still can’t get something to run, try doing it in recovery mode
To put your device into USB Debugging mode, go to Settings > Applications > Development and check the “USB Debugging” box. After enabling debugging, install drivers for your phone on your computer and plug in your phone.
After installing the drivers, you’ll need to download SuperOneClick. Note that, due to the exploit used in the rooting program, it may be detected as a virus; this is to be expected and the program is clean as far as we know. Extract the program and open SuperOneClick.exe (Vista + 7: right click -> run as administrator):
The beauty of SuperOneClick is its rooting method is universal, allowing for all Android devices to be rooted at any version number. So, just hit Root to root your device.
(Sidenote: After rooting, if your device did not allow for sideloading, you can enable sideloading on your device by hitting the Allow Non-Market Apps buttons.)
Once the root procedure has finished, go back to your device. Open your app launcher and you should a new app called “Superuser”. This verifies your device has been rooted; if you don’t see it, try rebooting your device.
Congratulations! You’ve successfully rooted your Android device. Now go have fun theming, de-bloating, and modding.
Device-specific Rooting
dotTech has a section on how-to root guides for individual Android devices; you can read the guides from the links below:
Google devices
Samsung devices
- How to root Samsung Galaxy S4 (GT-I9505, the one with LTE and Qualcomm quad-core processor)
- How to root Samsung Galaxy Camera
- How to root Samsung Galaxy Note II
- How to root Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
- How to root Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7
- How to root international Samsung Galaxy S III (GT-I9300)
- How to root international Samsung Galaxy S III LTE (GT-I9305)
- How to root Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III
- How to root Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III
- How to root T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S III
- How to root AT&T Samsung Galaxy S III
- How to root Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos GT-I9082
- How to root Samsung Galaxy Exhibit 4G
- How to root Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G
- How to root Samsung Rugby Smart I847
HTC Devices
Motorola Devices
Sony Devices
Amazon Devices
LG Devices
ASUS Devices
Barnes & Noble Devices
Oppo Devices
Lenovo Devices
Acer Devices
Other
If z4root nor SuperOneClick worked for your device and we haven’t covered your device on dotTech, the best place to find how to root your device is XDA-Developers. Visit XDA and look for your specific device; then roam the forums and look for a thread that explains how to root. (You will most likely find it in the Android Development subforum for your device.) You can even ask questions if you have trouble.
iOS jailbreaking
Apple makes cool toys. However, Apple has not-so-cool restrictions on these toys. Apple likes to build a “walled garden” around its gadgets: You can’t buy or download apps they don’t approve of, and don’t even think about setting custom ringtones. Don’t like that icon? That’s too bad, as Apple won’t let you change it. Luckily, there are ways to blow a hole in this walled garden (without damaging the turnips), and it’s called jailbreaking.
evasi0n (iOS 6.x)
It’s been a long road, getting from there to here. However, after almost a year without a new jailbreak, the first unthethered iOS 6.x jailbreak has been released. Titled evasi0n, it’s available for any device running iOS 6.0 through 6.1. In other words, it shows you how to jailbreak iPhone 5, iPad Mini, the new iPad (aka iPad 4), and any older iDevice on iOS 6.0 or 6.1.
After downloading evasi0n, extract and run evasi0n.exe. Note that you’ll need to disable passcodes prior to jailbreaking. When you’re ready to go, just hit “Jailbreak” and you’ll be on your way!
After it goes through the various stages of jailbreaking, you’ll need to tap the new app on your homescreen labeled “Jailbreak”. Only tap it once! After tapping, it will go through a few more stages of jailbreaking, and will reboot once or twice.
Congratulations, you’re jailbroken!
[evasi0n for Windows download]
[evasi0n for Mac OS X download]
Absinthe (iOS 5.x)
After downloading Absinthe, extract absinthe-win-[version].exe and run it. Absinthe still won’t start, however: that was just an extractor. Now go to the newly created absinthe-win-[version] folder and run absinthe.exe. You’ll need to run it as administrator.
Just plug in your device and hit jailbreak. It may take quite a while, especially if you have a large amount of data already on your device, due to some of the exploits it uses. Around halfway through the jailbreak, your device will go into Restore mode. This is perfectly normal and is one of the ways the jailbreak works.
In just a few minutes, you’ll be jailbroken! Congratulations!
[iOS 5.1.1 download - Windows] [iOS 5.1.1 download - Mac OS X]
[iOS 5.0.1 download - Windows] [iOS 5.0.1 download - Mac OS X]
JailbreakMe.com (iOS 3.x, 4.x)
Do you have an older device, one running iOS 3.1.3 or 4.3.3? You’re in luck! These older software versions are vulnerable to the world’s easiest jailbreak–and you don’t even need a computer to do it on! Simply go do JailbreakMe.com from your device:
Notice the “Free” button? JailbreakMe installs just like any other app, meaning it’s super simple to install:
After tapping Free and Install, just wait a minute or two, and suddenly, Cydia is installed! It’s that simple.
Windows RT Jailbreaking
RT Jailbreak Tool
dotTech has an easy-to-follow guide that shows you how to jailbreak your Windows RT tablet. The jailbreak works with any tablet running on Windows RT, including Microsoft Surface RT. Click here to read the guide.
WebOS homebrewing
Homebrewing, which is for HP’s WebOS devices, allows you to install apps that aren’t in the App Catalog. It also allows you to install tweaks to the WebOS operating system, like faster animations, overclocking, and many more. The best part about homebrewing is that HP is entirely alright with you if you do it, and on WebOS, there is a large active community of people that write homebrew applications and tweaks. These applications range from things that weren’t submitted to the App Catalog to things that wouldn’t be allowed in the App Catalog. Unlike jailbreaking or rooting, setting up your WebOS device for homebrewing is as easy as the Konami code. Literally.
Homebrewing with WebOS Quick Install
Luckily for WebOS users, there is a single, unified app for getting set up. To get started, open your Just Type box and type in upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbastart. (Five points for those of you that know what that is.)
Open the Developer Mode app that appears and flick the switch in the top right corner. It’ll ask you for your developer mode password; if this is the first time you’ve done this, you don’t have one. A little while after tapping Submit, you’ll be in Developer Mode–congrats!
Now that you’re in developer mode, connect your device to your computer. Hit Close when asked if you want to use your device as a USB drive.
Everything else is done from the computer. Download the latest version of WebOS Quick Install, currently version 4.3.1, from here. If you don’t have Java, be sure to get it now!
Once downloaded, double click it to launch. It will complain that you don’t have Novacom drivers installed. When it does, just hit the install button and wait a few minutes.After the drivers are installed, it should look something like this:
Hit the globe to search the internet for packages.
The package we’re looking for is called Preware. Once you’ve found the package, click install. Very shortly afterward, you’ll have Preware nicely installed on your device. It’ll appear in the downloads tab.
Conclusion
It’s never fun to be told what to do by Big Brother; this is even more true when it comes to electronics we spend our cold hard cash on. With just a few minutes of your time, you can free your device from the shackles put on it by Corporate America. Jailbreaking, rooting, and homebrewing opens doors for your device that would not be open otherwise. Enjoy! (And remember: Don’t pirate apps.)
Originally published August 24, 2011; updated multiple times since then.
Motorola Devices
- How to root Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx HD
- How to root Motorola RAZR i
- How to root Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE
- How to root Motorola Droid RAZR HD
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Niceeeeeeeeeeeeeee! *Applauds Locutus*
Can I haz your Touchpad?
If I was going to use unrevoked to root my HTC phone what would be the best way of backing it up so if anything went wrong I could restore it? I’m using Android 2.2.1 at the moment — I know with iOS devices you can use the restore button in itunes, is there anything similar for Android?
Can this article be downloaded as a pdf?
Thanks
@lol768: There is ROM Manager that makes nandroid backups, which are the equilivant of image backups for Windowa that you do with software like Acronis. However, you need to be rooted to use ROM Manager. :-P
If you tell me what exactly you are trying to back up I may be able to tell you an alternate way to back it up. (Once I get home — I am typing from my phone right now.)
@Lanny: Yes. First download a PDF printer like CutePDF. Then click on the “Print” button at the top. Then go to file -> print and printing using the PDF printer you downloaded earlier.
Wowwie, nice guide!
If you are using z4root on one of the compatible phones, try rebooting first after installing it. (Rooting didn’t work for me until I rebooted after installing z4root)
@Ashraf I’m basically trying to ensure that if rooting the phones bricks it, I have some way of turning the brick hack into a functional phone again. I know there are Android stock ROMs available for HTC phones but I have no idea how I would flash a bricked phone and install a ROM. Data loss is not an issue as contacts are on the SIM and other files are on the SD card.
I know HTC have recently announced a firmware update to unlock the bootloader but this is not yet available for install.
Thanks for your help,
lol768
@Ashraf: Sure, just be prepared to fork over a small sum of money. ;-)
@All: It’s nice to see you’re all so excited about this! I seriously wish I could help you more, but I don’t have an Android device to do the Android test with. Ashraf had to help with that =/
@Jyo: Thx for the tip!
@lol768: If you are worried about a brick, I highly suggest you visit http://forum.xda-developers.com/, find your device and start reading the guides on it. There will definitely be threads talking about how to fix bricks.
@Locutus: Are we taking an arm and a leg type thing here or something more humane? And when do you plan on joining the fun? Nexus Prime is supposedly coming out later this year.
@Ashraf: whenever at&t makes data plans a requirement. Or when I get a nice one with no dataplan. Or when someone releases a WiFi only device. ;-)
Something less humane, actually… How about a cerebral cortex? :-P
So after a great deal of soul-searching I used Z4 to root my Dell Streak. (Soul-searching because it’s still under warranty.) Since I didn’t want to muck with the warranty, I’ve rooted it with the ‘temporary’ option, so I’m unrooted if I cold-reboot the phone. And since I’m basically tip-toeing here, I also didn’t install Busybox.
My question is — if I had a hardware problem, would my warranty still be valid? (Since it’s a ‘temporary’ root.) What about if I use the ‘permanent’ option?
I was looking for a backup utility which functions like Acronis Trueimage, so based on Ashraf’s post, I installed ROM Manager. (It installed the Clockwork Mod-whatever too.) However, when I try to use the Backup option, the phone spontaneously reboots. Any suggestions?
I’ve found the most concise explanations about rooting etc. so far on this site, so thanks!
@Locutus: You may want to consider the fact that data plans are becoming more expensive day by day. Grandfathering one in right now for the future may not be a bad idea.
Or, if you don’t want to have a data plan, buy a phone unlocked. Nexus Prime will be out soon which means Nexus S prices will drop. You can probably pick a brand new one up (from Craigslist, eBay, or even XDA-Developer’s marketplace) for $300 or less. Even if you have the AT&T band Nexus S, AT&T cannot force you to use a data plan.
@Rajeev: The voiding of warranty is a tricky business. Officially, most manufacturers will tell you if you root you lose your warranty. However, there have been reports of 1) People unrooting their phones before sending them for warranty fix/replacement and 2) People having had their phones replaced at no charge (under warranty) even after they rooted their phones (and didn’t unroot).
Temporary root is typically for NAND locked phones (i.e. HTC devices). I am not sure if “temporary root” on a Dell Streak leaves behind any files or not. Therefore I can’t really tell you if temporary rooting your Dell Streak will void your warranty or not. It really depends on Dell.
In regards to ROM Manager, it backs up in “recovery mode”. So rebooting is normal. (You will need to flash Clockword Recovery first, though. Look at the first option in ROM Manager.) In fact you wouldn’t be able to backup if your phone didn’t reboot.
I just tried unrevoked and my firmware is too new for the exploit to work :(. I guess my only option is an xtc clip. Does anyone have any experience with these?
@ashraf
Thanks for the response. I just wondered, because afterI reboot my phone (after the ‘temporary’ root), and then check for root, I get the message that I’m not rooted. Given this, I was assuming that I’d be back to square one after a reboot.
@lol768: What phone do you have?
@Rajeev: Now I dont know what would happen since you are temporary rooted. I believe since you flash ClockworkMod Recovery while you are rooted it should work fine. However I dont know for sure. My best advice is to go to XDA Developers and ask.
@Ashraf: I did try XDA a few months ago; for some reason, couldn’t really make any sense of the information there (TOO MUCH information!). I posted some questions, didn’t really get answers I could work with.
This article was the clearest and most concise one on the subject I’ve seen so far (and I’d gone through the web extensively before I posted on XDA some months ago) — kudos to Locutus. Will try XDA again, though.
BTW, the ‘Acronis-style’ backup with ClockworkMod doesn’t seem to work. I instigate the backup command, it opens a filename dialogue, then reboots (which, as you say, is normal). But — no backup file found after the reboot. So, again XDA, I suppose…
Thanks, anyways — like I said, clearest article on rooting I’ve seen. (No other article gave me the guts to root — even if temporary — during the warranty!)
@Rajeev: Did you flash ClockwordMod Recovery before running a backup?
@Ashraf: Yes, it shows as “Current Recovery: ClockworkMod Recovery 2.5.0.7″
@Rajeev: Umm… yeah, it probably has to do with the fact that you are temporary rooting. However, I am not sure. Sorry I can’t be of more help!
@Locutus: Did you update this? I opened dotTech to see this on the frontpage but don’t remember doing it myself.
@Ashraf: Yup, the iOS information and the SOC information were a good 9mo out of date. Decided they should be actually followable.
@Locutus: Good job. I think we should start maintaining this guide like how the article on best free windows anti-virus is maintained.
hi… can someone pls tell me if you use superoneclick to unroot your phone – do you lose the data ie msgs pics apps etc that is already on the phone?? thanks
@raz: No–no data is lost. Only by installing custom ROMs, which is an entirely different subject, would you lose that kind of data.
@Locutus: thank you buddy for your answer – that should now allow me to carry out the unrooting without any worries, cheers.
If I jailbreak my iOS device do I lose the ability to backup via iCloud and the app store?