Do I have to back up my phone before I root ? How would I get all my apps+data if I decide to unroot and go 100% stock ? And I know there is several ways to root the phone, is there a best way to root this phone or it doesn't matter?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums
In order to root your device you need to unlock the bootloader. Problem is when you unlock the bootloader you also wipe the device.
Returning back to stock your apps & data is kind of like when you unlock the phone, there is many hoops and stuff that you can jump thru to save and restore your data once your back on stock but its an awful lot of work for beginners.
Basically unlocking the device, your device gets wiped.
Restoring back to stock, your device once again gets wiped.
Its just the price you pay to play....
You can use such apps like SMS Backup and Restore from the Play Store to save text messages to sdcard when your unrooted and you can restore these at any point (rooted or stock).
You have the backup & restore option under Settings on your phone which will save your free apps downloaded from the Play Store but it won't save your data associated with them.