How do I edit my original thread or add an addendum???

[Uncle Vinnie 666]

I'm trying to root my AT&T Samsung Galaxy S4 I337 4.4.2 device. I don't own a computer. I'm disabled & a shut-in. I barely understand about 1/100th of the postings that I've read. I've little patience with Computer Syntax & Computer mum-bo-jum-bo BS! I'm starting to believe that AT&T has suppressively locked this phone & blocked the ability to jailbreak it! Am I correct??? Can anyone out there relate & HELP???

 

[Golfdriver97]

Most rooting methods do require a PC. As for something to try on the device itself, you could try searching for Towelroot. However, if your current ROM was built in June or later, that method probably won't work.

 

[Uncle Vinnie 666]

Thanks Much 4 your HELP. I've tried towelroot & my device has a Sept. 4th 2014 date. That's probably why it didn't work(root). I guess no one of the current jailbreak geniuses has come up with a way to root a device with my kind of problems.

 

[Rukbat]

Towel Root depends on being able to crash Linux (the operating system underlying Android). That little excploit was patched in June. There are some pretty good people working on finding another exploit to root later devices.

(It's probably possible to "downgrade" your phone to 4.4.2, which would allow Towel Root to root it.)

And, yes, Samsung has caved nin to AT&T and Verizon to make the phones more corporate-friendly and less user friendly. For those of us who don't have to worry about the "upstairs office", Samsung is just losing customers. I don't want a phone that can play Candy Crush, I want a Linux computer that can make phone calls. (It's why my over the air update firmware is disabled, and I'm still at 4.4.2. I won't upgrade until someone can root a later version of Android or I win the lottery and can buy a phone that doesn't make Fort Knox look like Swiss cheese.)