I’ve written this blog post about moving from rooted Samsung to a Pixel running GrapheneOS. It’s a list of every root tool that I used, with a note on whether I’ll miss it. I wrote it as a checklist for myself initially, and decided to add links and more comments and publish it. Turns out I don’t really need root, which truly surprised me.
Do you have any apps or tools that hold you back from leaving root?
Ansolutely! I thought a lot about the pros and cons of GrapheneOS, and decided it was better for both my privacy and security, and also ease of life. I still felt bad about the loss of control though, and that’s why I wrote this list for myself. Now I don’t feel as some evil company forbids me from having root access, but that I voluntarily chose a system that protects my privacy to the point of taking some tools (that I didn’t really use that much) away from me to protect me agains exploits. It may be copium, but I’m happier :)
i don’t have a pixel so no grapheneOS.
but i will use root to my advantage >:)
Valid, I can respect that choice. I prefer having full access available, but that’s just how I do.
And you can still root Graphene - they just don’t support it
But you have to compile it again on every update, right?
You don’t have to compile GrapheneOS from source thanks to avbroot which can take a release zip, patch it with root and sign it using a custom avb key. This lets you root while keeping the bootloader locked.
The rooted-graphene project automates this completely using GitHub actions. It even lets you do OTA updates like normal GrapheneOS.
Not against the idea of someone doing what they want with their hardware. That’s what got me into custom ROMs, and Linux, and Open Source projects to begin with.
I personally will not be rooting my GrapheneOS, even though once upon a time I would have jumped at the idea because of wanting a few things.
I feel it does compromise some of the security mechanisms and philosphies of GrapheneOS.
Like I said though, it’s our device, use it how we want.
Wait, what? That’s a pretty big deal!
It should be noted that while you can do this, it can increase your attack surface, defeating a lot of the point of Graphene. Before I started using Graphene, I was a huge fan of rooting and getting full control of my device, so I definitely understand the appeal. But I don’t think I would root Graphene myself, automated or otherwise.