Safely root a T-Mobile S5 (5.1.1, G900TUVS1FOL1)?

[Droid_Parent]

Safely root a T-Mobile S5 (5.1.1, G900TUVS1FOL1)

I'm a desperate parent in need of a thorough education (as quickly as possible) to safely root a T-Mobile Samsung S5, running on Android 5.1.1, baseband version G900TUVS1FOL1. Need to enable surveillance of social media activities but have to root the phone to do so (only found out that nugget AFTER purchasing the software but think I should be happy with it). I don't want to brick this phone because of any ignorance on my part and I have an extreme need to get this done ASAP.

Since I am certain there are a bunch of URLs in existence to do this, what I need is a comprehensive list of them to guide me in doing the following:
1. Completely backup the phone and OS FIRST (need a safety net should something go wrong and want a complete recovery plan upfront). Do I have to root the phone first to do this?
2. The actual rooting process. I found the androidcentral.com/root guides but it is not clear to me if the procedure for the T-Mobile S5 apply for a PC running W10 Home Edition (64-bit) and if it still applies to my child's S5 on the version and build it has right now.
3. Once the phone is rooted, how evident is it that the phone has been rooted (teens are quite clever and saavy)?
4. What is the recovery process should the phone need to be recovered? Want to guard against having the rooting process get hung or anything else.
5. Want to understand at what points is the phone going to be most vulnerable so I can work more carefully through that part ..... or am I worrying too much?

Thanks in advance!!!!!

 

[Rukbat]

Re: Safely root a T-Mobile S5 (5.1.1, G900TUVS1FOL1)

1. Completely backup the phone and OS FIRST (need a safety net should something go wrong and want a complete recovery plan upfront). Do I have to root the phone first to do this?

Yes. But there's no need to - you can always reflash the OS. [Samsung] How to flash Stock ROM via ODIN

2. The actual rooting process. I found the androidcentral.com/root guides but it is not clear to me if the procedure for the T-Mobile S5 apply for a PC running W10 Home Edition (64-bit) and if it still applies to my child's S5 on the version and build it has right now.

See T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S 5 Look around those forums for a rooting method for your baseband. (The people who find rooting exploits for each ROM [each one has to be done differently, because Google patches the exploit in the next fix] post them there first.)

3. Once the phone is rooted, how evident is it that the phone has been rooted (teens are quite clever and saavy)?

Running any rooted app will show that. (There's even an app called Root Checker.) And the fact that SuperSU or Superuser is in the app drawer is also a sign that it's rooted.

4. What is the recovery process should the phone need to be recovered? Want to guard against having the rooting process get hung or anything else.

See #1. Do it during TV prime time, because it's actually quite boring. Start it going, then go and watch TV.

5. Want to understand at what points is the phone going to be most vulnerable so I can work more carefully through that part ..... or am I worrying too much?

If the phone is rooted properly, there's no "vulnerability" except to the warranty - it's void if you root the phone.

 

[Droid_Parent]

Hi Rukbat:

Thanks for the info. Will be working thru this over the weekend and hoping for no complications. Obviously, the goal is to root the phone with as little alteration to what's already there as possible (thereby leaving less suspicion until a later time or the additional eyes of other adolescent friends). The large majority of the info I am looking for is having a safety net for complete restoration if something goes wrong.

1. Will still perform a complete backup using SmartSwitch just to preserve as much as possible. The problem is that it doing just this kind of backup does not assure a return to "original" state (or at least AS original as possible). The idea being that I want to leave as little evidence as possible that the phone was dinked with. Reflashing back to stock ROM means virtually doing a hard reset (if I understand it correctly) and that means all kinds of app re-installs. That's a dead give away that "The Old Man" did some kind of tinkering with the phone.
2. Just want to make sure I cover all possible failures for this. Although rooting has been thoroughly discussed here and other places, I'm looking for as much assurance that any potential adverse influence is considered before I do this.
3. I thought as much. Still that's a small indicator that something was done but hoping it's not enough to warrant any glaring evidence.
4. The challenge is getting my child to give up the phone for long enough to get this done. I wonder what kids now would think of a life where there were no smartphones (like when I was growing up)?
5. As far as voiding the warranty .... well, it's almost 2 years old so worrying about the warranty is moot.

One last NEW question: IF the rooting activity is successful the first time through, will I need to treat the phone after rooting as if a HARD RESET was performed?

Thanks for the assist. Will work this as quietly as possible and maybe sneak it after their bedtime to let it run during a late night movie.

 

[L_Spilker]

Is this "child" a girl? How old? As a responsible respectful father I would have a very serious talk with my teenage daughter before taking such invasive measures. Wether it's a pic or message you want to see its all a little weird and creepy. Sounds like you have much deeper issues at home.