Rooting but Keeping Stock ROM?

[jarrettt]

Hello, I recently picked up my GS4 off ebay and have been loving it. I want to root in order to get things like setCPU (if that's still a thing), Google Wallet, and other root features. My problem is I wish to stay on touchwiz and keep the features that came with my stock phone, such as smart stay, scroll etc. If I root can I keep all of the stock features and then just 'add' the root features? Will rooting affect over-the-air updates, or is that only ROMs?

 

[Golfdriver97]

Welcome to the forums.
Rooting will allow you to use SetCPU and other root required apps. You can stay on your stock ROM and use them. No big deal.
Rooting does void part or all of your OS warranty. You cannot accept any OTA updates (you can download, but they will fail upon install).

 

[jarrettt]

Thank you for the reply. If I root without flashing another ROM is it easy for me to unroot to accept updates?

 

[Golfdriver97]

Thank you for the reply. If I root without flashing another ROM is it easy for me to unroot to accept updates?

Yes. Reflashing through Odin will fully unroot you. There should be a way to fully unroot with the superuser app, but sometimes it is hit and miss.

In all honesty, I would suggest to stay rooted and look into Custom ROMs. Especially AOSP (Vanilla Android) as they stay up to date faster than stock. The down side to that is you lose the Samsung features.

 

[jarrettt]

Yes. Reflashing through Odin will fully unroot you. There should be a way to fully unroot with the superuser app, but sometimes it is hit and miss.

In all honesty, I would suggest to stay rooted and look into Custom ROMs. Especially AOSP (Vanilla Android) as they stay up to date faster than stock. The down side to that is you lose the Samsung features.

Do you know the best current method I can use to root my s4?

 

[neitin]

Am interested in knowing too

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk

 

[Golfdriver97]

Do you know the best current method I can use to root my s4?

Am interested in knowing too

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk

Here: GalaxyS4Root.com - Learn How To Root Samsung Galaxy S4, install custom ROMs, and more!
Zedomax is the person who maintains the site, and he does wonderful work with root and especially videos on ROMs. It like a sneak peek if you even want to try it or not.

 

[zetodavido]

Do you know the best current method I can use to root my s4?

Hi, welcome.

First of all, keeping the stock rom is a great idea if you don't want to deal with flashing custom roms. I have my S4 rooted and using the stock rom. I use Xposed modules (specifically one called Wanam Xposed) to theme Touchwiz the way I want it to look.

I have a Verizon S4 running 4.3. I used a method called Safe Root in order to root it. Search for it online. However, you must make sure that you are rooting with the proper method by doing a search on (for example) "how to root [carrier] galaxy s4 [build i]".

Also, your bootloader is most likely locked. If you try to install a custom recovery you could soft brick your phone. If this is the case you can use a program called SafeStrap to flash some roms.

In any case, do more research about your specific phone (model, carrier, build, software version) in order to find a suitable root method. Good luck! Oh yeah, if you root then take an OTA update you will lose root and depending on your phone you may not be able to get it back

 

[alexcolka]

Is it true that Kit Kat is hard to root?

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[ELavar]

Nope, not true at all.

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