Do I Need to Root my Mobile

Apreciar

I have a Samsung S4 which was purchases through 3mobile, I have now had it unlocked and would like to remove a number of apps which were perin stalled by three and do not allow removal only update or back date. To remove these apps would I need to root the phone, if so what is meant to root, how would I do it and are there any dangers to doing this.

vuvuzela

The main danger is turning your phone into an unusable brick...
Rooting means effectively gaining admin or root (from linux) access to your phone. There's one guide here http://blog.laptopmag.com/how-to-root-the-samsung-galaxy-s4 but there are several different ones by different people - that one isn't a recommendation by me, just an example. It can be a bit of a convoluted process and you need to follow each step exactly as written down.

Lifeforms

There's a couple of options. You can usually disable them, so they're not running, and delete all short cuts on the desktops, but the apps will still be there, just doing nothing.

You can use some form of app hider to make them not show at all in your list, but they're still there.

Or you need to root the phone, and install something like titanium back up and use that to remove them.

Rooting the phone is not fool proof. It will more often than not void any warranty if it's discovered. Potentially it can leave you more vulnerable if you have a habit of installing dodgy stuff on it, and can break the phone if you mess around with it too much.

Would I do it? Not if it were just for bloatware. If I were planning to re-rom it as well into something nicer to use then yes I've done that before. I have rooted previous phones for full back up as well, but it's a risky thing that you have to weigh up with the downfalls of messing it up.

There is also a difference of me doing it on a £60 phone, rather than a £200-300+ phone.

cookie365

Some S4s have firmware that (to cut a long story short) could mean that an over the air upgrade to a rooted phone could brick it.

I wouldn't risk it for some bloatware.

Guide on how to root here:
http://androidforums.com/international-galaxy-s4-all-things-root/732797-rooting-galaxy-s4-dummies-guide.html

Reasons why it's a bad idea here:
http://androidforums.com/international-galaxy-s4-all-things-root/765477-knox-security-locked-bootloader-new-firmwares.html#post6125221

JJ_Egan

Samsung will reject warranty on a phone that is rooted or shows signs of such on hidden counters .
Actual safety of rooting varies phone by phone .
Though rooting and custom roms can open up a whole new world .

paddyrg

You've got an S4, one of the finest and priciest phones ever made to date. Just to hide a few bloatware apps it's not worth bricking (making a functioning phone into one as functional as a brick). If you really can't bear touchwiz then try Nova which replaces the whole user interface, is fully customisable, but doesn't require root and won't void your warranty.