Do you still root or jailbreak your smartphones?

Hacking, rooting, and jailbreaking. If you’ve owned a smartphone from the early years of smartphones, then you’ll know what these words mean. If you want to give your smartphone some extra functions, you’ll need to do these things, or bring your device to someone who can. But nowadays, do you still find the need to hack your smartphones?

The first time I encountered this was when I had the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. There was a very active community then for Symbian and I was able to flash a custom ROM to make the operating system leaner and faster. For a time, it was good. But eventually, it cannot keep up with the strengths and potential of Android.

I was introduced to jailbreaking when I had the iPod Touch 3rd-gen. At that time, jailbreaking was already popular as iPhone owners were finding ways to unlock their devices and make them work on other carriers. But one of the biggest benefits of jailbreaking an iOS device is the installation of Cydia, a third-party app installer, allowing you to install apps not authorized by Apple’s App Store. For iOS device owners who want to customize their devices and add extra features, jailbreaking is the only way.

The Android platform, given its more open system, gave plenty of opportunities to hack. Developers were able to create custom ROMs that users can flash on their device to give it more function or make it behave like any other Android. I was exposed to this when I had the Kindle Fire (1st-gen) and was able to flash a custom ROM based on Android KitKat. It removed the customizations and restrictions of Amazon and I was able to make it behave like a regular Android tablet with a stock interface.

I was able to do this with the HTC One X, Samsung Galaxy S8, and Xiaomi Mi 3. Paranoid Android and LineageOS were the top contenders in the custom Android ROM scene. If you frequent XDA Developers, then you’ll know that there are more to choose from out there.

Going back to iOS, Apple doesn’t like people tinkering with its software. Since most jailbreaks rely on the exploitation of vulnerabilities on iOS, Apple is quick to patch those by rolling out software updates, rendering the jailbreak useless. If you want to keep your jailbreak, you’d have to skip updates, which is also dangerous for the end-user.

Apple is wise enough, though, to look at the features that users want on their iOS device and have adopted jailbreak features which are then implemented in the succeeding iOS versions. This includes the Control Center, Bubble Notifications, and Home Screen Widgets, to name a few. It’s a slow process, though, but would eventually help iOS mature to what it is now.

Nowadays, it’s becoming more difficult to jailbreak an iOS device. Meanwhile, Android is just chugging along, allowing any good developer to customize Android at a deeper level as long as root access is available for the device. But personally, I no longer find the need for it. I have both an iOS and Android device, and for the latter, I kind of accepted the fact that iOS will always be closed. If I want customization, I have to use Android.

Do I still hack my device? Not anymore. And often I just limit myself to installing launchers, icon packs, and wallpapers. Maybe I have outgrown the excitement of having to jailbreak and flash the device, the fear of possibly bricking it, and the joy of succeeding in doing it. But there are still cases when I need to do it. A good example is installing Google services or apps on newer Huawei devices.

Maybe there’s still a need to hack a device as we have the preference to have control over devices we own and make it behave or look the way we want it to. And for that to happen, the only option is to root or jailbreak.

How about you guys? Do you still root or jailbreak your smartphone and customize it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.