Verizon Root

[mookiekillsit]

*Please move to correct forum if this is not it. I searched and found nowhere else to post.

For those of us on Verizon, it looks like some magical developer has successfully rooted a Verizon device although it's still in the beginning works!!! Encouraging none the less!! A few more tweaks and a few thousand people to do it in front of me and it's on!! I can't wait to root this thing.

Thread from XDA: [BOUNTY] Verizon Note 4 Root. - Who's in | Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 4 | XDA Forums

 

[Kelly Kearns]

I saw that on xda the other day. AT&T should be close behind.

One thing, I only root to remove bloatware, and never load a custom ROM.

Doesn't the bootloader have to be unlocked for custom ROMs?

 

[Androidprodigy]

Sounds promising, nice.

 

[Trees]

In the past root was definitely the way to freeze bloat. Would be happy to see root be an option for Verizon Note 4's. As Kelly mentions above, the bootloader has to be unlocked to install custom ROMs, unless there is some sort of SafeStrap option.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

In the past root was definitely the way to freeze bloat. Would be happy to see root be an option for Verizon Note 4's. As Kelly mentions above, the bootloader has to be unlocked to install custom ROMs, unless there is some sort of SafeStrap option.

And AT&T and Verizon both have locked bootloaders and the Devs at xda have said unlocking the bootloader for Verizon and AT&T isn't going to happen so don't ask.

I'm good with that, like I said, root for me was only to removed all the crap they thought I needed. I also moved tons of apps to my SD card on my S5 and I like the ability to be able to stop apps from auto starting and running in the background.

So a locked bootloader doesn't bother me, just let me have access to the above stuff lol

 

[mookiekillsit]

So you won't be able to install custom ROMs? What's the point of rooting then? Just to uninstall bloat and take advantage of certain apps?

 

[Kelly Kearns]

So you won't be able to install custom ROMs? What's the point of rooting then? Just to uninstall bloat and take advantage of certain apps?

Do all the above I said. Getting rid of bloat and deciding what runs and doesn't and moving more to the SD card, are good benefits. There are also various apps that you can't run without root. You can also freeze things like the upgrade app.

T-Mobile N4 has an unlocked bootloader. I know some AT&T people have bought unlocked T-mobile variants. I don't know if the T-mobile variant will work on Verizon or not.

 

[mookiekillsit]

Do all the above I said. Getting rid of bloat and deciding what runs and doesn't and moving more to the SD card, are good benefits. There are also various apps that you can't run without root. You can also freeze things like the upgrade app.

T-Mobile N4 has an unlocked bootloader. I know some AT&T people have bought unlocked T-mobile variants. I don't know if the T-mobile variant will work on Verizon or not.

Thanks for the additional info.

I do know it will not work on Verizon as they have different radios. IIRC, Sprint and Verizon use CDMA and are the only ones to do so. Verizon is too hoity-toity to allow anyone to use their stuff or vice-versa lol it's annoying

 

[anon(5719825)]

So you won't be able to install custom ROMs? What's the point of rooting then? Just to uninstall bloat and take advantage of certain apps?

I rooted my T-Mobile Note 4 only so that I could block ads in apps and in Firefox and Chrome and anything else on the phone. Well worth it for me. Not sure what this bloat stuff is people talk about or why that even matters. There isn't a phone out besides the Nexus phones that don't have things installed that we don't want.

 

[mookiekillsit]

I rooted my T-Mobile Note 4 only so that I could block ads in apps and in Firefox and Chrome and anything else on the phone. Well worth it for me. Not sure what this bloat stuff is people talk about or why that even matters. There isn't a phone out besides the Nexus phones that don't have things installed that we don't want.

Yeah, I plan on doing that. I guess a launcher will make my phone feel different but I would prefer a pure Android experience on this phone. The bloat does matter b/c it hogs resources from what I've seen. I really wanted to go N6 but the camera sucks so bad on that thing lol. Moto needs to get it together there. Great daylight pictures but the low light leave A LOT to be desired. It's not that difficult to get that right, is it? Sammy, LG, Apple, all have it down. If Moto could also, they'd be the best smartphones on the planet IMO.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

I rooted my T-Mobile Note 4 only so that I could block ads in apps and in Firefox and Chrome and anything else on the phone. Well worth it for me. Not sure what this bloat stuff is people talk about or why that even matters. There isn't a phone out besides the Nexus phones that don't have things installed that we don't want.

Bloatware is the pre-installed things they put on the phone.

The issue with Facebook is a good example, they pre-installed it like bloatware, so it can't be uninstalled. The pre-installed app is the only one that updates outside of the Play Store.

Also even many of the disabled apps will run in the background using data. You can see that in the battery graph with Lollipop. The issue of bloatware isn't as big a deal for a 32 gb phone as it is for a 16 gb phone. Even disabled, many of them take up a lot of space and like I said, some run in the background while disabled.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

I rooted my T-Mobile Note 4 only so that I could block ads in apps and in Firefox and Chrome and anything else on the phone. Well worth it for me. Not sure what this bloat stuff is people talk about or why that even matters. There isn't a phone out besides the Nexus phones that don't have things installed that we don't want.

Is there an app to block the ads in apps?

 

[anon(5719825)]

Is there an app to block the ads in apps?

It's called Adway. You can't get it from the Play Store. You install something called F-Droid (search Google) and then it's in there. Google no longer allows these apps in the Play store so that is why F-Droid was created more or less and they only host free apps.

You never have to worry about those redirects to the play store again and no more forced ad when opening some apps before you can even use the app.

 

[anon(5719825)]

Yup, was going to post the same about AdAway. It works at the OS level by modifying the system hosts file (ex. MVPS which I've used for years even on my PC's) to redirect known ad networks (MVPS also does known malicious websites) back to the local system effectively blocking them. It requires root access though to modify the hosts file.

Here is the developer's website for AdAway: https://sufficientlysecure.org/index.php/adaway/

I do the same thing on my Surface Pro 3. It blocks ads in everything including apps and especially YouTube.

 

[mookiekillsit]

FWIW:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QicDqTKb_sU&feature=youtu.be

Looks legit but sketchy at the same time lol.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

It's called Adway. You can't get it from the Play Store. You install something called F-Droid (search Google) and then it's in there. Google no longer allows these apps in the Play store so that is why F-Droid was created more or less and they only host free apps.

You never have to worry about those redirects to the play store again and no more forced ad when opening some apps before you can even use the app.

Ok, thanks. I will look into that so when they have root for my phone, I can use it.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

FWIW:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QicDqTKb_sU&feature=youtu.be

Looks legit but sketchy at the same time lol.

Well xda says no good root for Verizon N4 yet and none for the AT&T N4 yet and someone achieving root for these phones will make about $12K.

I'm going with what xda says lol

 

[mookiekillsit]

Well xda says no good root for Verizon N4 yet and none for the AT&T N4 yet and someone achieving root for these phones will make about $12K.

I'm going with what xda says lol

Interesting. I thought I read some of them said it worked. Cant' remember how I found this link though since I was at work. Regardless, we're definitely close!!

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Interesting. I thought I read some of them said it worked. Cant' remember how I found this link though since I was at work. Regardless, we're definitely close!!

Yeah I think with Verizon it basically works but they are working the bugs out now.

 

[Trees]

^^^ Can't stress enough how good advice this is. Root essentially provides "superpowers" on your phone, much like as if you were to use the Administrator or root account on a PC or server as your daily non-administrator account. Best practices recommend to not use your computer logged in as a root/Administrator user.

Gaining root through unknown or uncertain methods is more than risky, so only go with established and trusted developers that have been fully vetted by reputable sources.

For those new to rooting, AC has a great overview that goes into the pros/cons, considerations, and tradeoffs that go along with root http://www.androidcentral.com/root