Would you be more likely to buy a pre-rooted phone, or less likely to buy one?

fullscore21

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I'm going to sell my phone, but I don't know if it would be more likely to sell if it's rooted, or if it would be LESS likely to sell if it's rooted.

Would you see rooting as a bad thing if you were buying a phone? Or would you see that as a nice bonus?
 

Aquila

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Absolutely less likely to purchase it. I want stock firmware, bootloader locked, factory reset, fully free and clear devices.
 

Golfdriver97

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Less likely. Rooting is an exploit, and I want to be the one to do it.

To modify your question, I tend to now look at phones where the OEM supports unlocking the bootloader. That alone can be half the battle in attaining root.
 

belodion

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Less. Without for one moment doubting your own abilities, we see many instances in the forums of users who have got into a pickle through rooting, and who come to us to help them get out of it if it's at all possible. If the buyer knew that the seller was a competent rooter, it might be different, but on the whole that cannot be known and a rooted phone for me would be offputting.

Posted via the Android Central App
 

doa70

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Less. As in never. So far I have zero interest in rooting, and if I were interested I certainly wouldn't trust a phone that someone else had done so with.
 

Almeuit

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Absolutely less likely to purchase it. I want stock firmware, bootloader locked, factory reset, fully free and clear devices.
This. I wouldn't trust a rooted phone that could have been tampered with before selling.
 

kramer5150

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I would rather root it myself so I know exactly whats been done to it (if thats what your'e asking). So no I would not buy one... Even if it were given to me, I would politely refuse.
 

D13H4RD2L1V3

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Nah.

As much as I like rooting, I'd rather buy a phone that hasn't had its core system software and security tampered with.

If I want a rooted phone, I'd do it myself. I don't want a phone that has already been rooted, especially if I plan on using it as my daily driver, mainly due to security.

Axon 7!!
 

Laura Knotek

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I would not even consider buying a phone that has been rooted.

If I want to root it, I'll do it myself. I would only have myself to blame if I broke something, but I wouldn't take a chance on buying something that the previous owner could have broken.
 

D13H4RD2L1V3

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Yep. Thanks for all the answers, guys. I definitely won't be selling a rooted phone anymore.
It's never a good idea to sell a rooted device, especially due to compromised security framework caused by the rooting process.

It's typically best to do a full factory reset, and then reflashing the stock recovery and unrooting the device before relocking the bootloader before it goes on sale on a site like Swappa.

Most phone users don't care about root, so it makes logical sense to go through the hoops of unrooting and relocking a device to its full original state before it goes on to a new owner. Gives them extra peace-of-mind.
 

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