That's the question I'm most confronted with. So, I'm here with this post, to tell you about all the fantastic things that you can do. If you don't know What Rooting is, find out What Rooting is! This article can also be named as "Why you should Root your device", because if you haven't rooted your Android phone yet, I'm sure, by the end of this one, you won't be able to resist the temptation to root your device.
The Sacred list of things you can do after Rooting:
- Block Ads:
Just when I finish rooting any Android device, I jump straight to the Play Store and do a search for "Adfree". Adfree is a tiny utility that frees you from annoying ads in free games and apps. It works on 90% of apps and games and tops this list because it solves an annoying problem really simply, and takes just a minute to setup.
Update: All ad blocking apps have been removed from play store. You can download adfree from here instead.
- Uninstall System Apps:
If you don't feel the need of any system app, then why keep it? Free up some space by uninstalling it. Won't talk much about this point, read the specific post for Uninstalling System Apps.
- Change the Boot Animation:
You can change the nice (or ugly, as it looks to me) little animation that pops up every time you switch on your mobile. Here's how you can do that.
- Increase your Internal Memory and RAM:
If you have root, and are lucky enough that your kernel supports these things, then you can perform this seemingly impossible task. Increasing internal memory is done by partitioning your memory card and then using an app called link2sd, while RAM can be increased using Swapper. See the full guide on how to increase internal memory and RAM.
- Theme your device:
If changing the boot animation is not enough for you to personalise your device, you can even create a theme yourself.
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Backup and Restore your apps:
- An extremely popular and useful app called Titanium Backup allows you to take backups of any of your apps, so that you can restore them later on. This way, you can keep your highest scores on games, and every other data of apps, intact.
- Install a Firewall:
Droidwall, an app for rooted devices only, acts as a firewall and can let you choose which apps you want to be connected to the internet. You can save a few bytes of mobile data this way, if you are on a limited data plan.
- Change Permissions of an App:
If you're afraid of malicious apps taking away your personal data, you can change their permissions the way you want. Most of the times, it's recommended that you give a quick look that an app isn't asking more permissions than it requires for it's functioning. For example, a live wallpaper won't need access to your contacts in any damn way. If you are not rooted, then you should uninstall that suspicious app, but if you're rooted and love that app, then you can continue using that app and still be secure by changing the permissions.
- Get an even more robust anti-theft solution:
Avast Anti-Virus that comes with a built in anti-theft solution becomes even more dangerous for the thief! If you're rooted, anyone except you won't be able to uninstall the app and the thief won't even be able to know if you've any anti-theft system enabled.
- Convert User Apps to Sytem Apps (and vice versa):
If you find yourself using an app more than the default one intended for the same thing, then you can uninstall the system app and covert the one you prefer to system app. This can work with Keyboard, Launcher, Messaging, Music Player and lot of other apps. You can perform the reverse option too. (Stay tuned, I'm planning to write a seperate post on this topic.)
- Govern your CPU's clocking frequency:
SetCPU and Nofrills CPU Control are two apps that allow you to underclock and overclock your CPU. While underclocking will help you in increasing your battery life, overclocking the phone will better your device's performance. Your kernel needs to support overclocking. Find a custom kernel with overclocking support, over the net, as most stock kernels don't support this.
- Supercharge your phone:
If your phone has become laggy, then rooting it is one of the best solutions. A script called V6 Supercharger Script by XDA Dev Zeppelinrox manages the RAM on your device in a more efficient way and makes t go zoom zoom. Download Script Manager from the play store and the script from here to give this a go.
- Flash a Custom Recovery:
Flashing a custom recovery will allow you to flash ZIP files easily. Trying custom ROMs and taking full nandroid backups become a hell lot easier when you have a custom recovery like clockworkmod.
- Increase the speed of your Sdcard:
An app called SD speed increase tweaks some system files, which in turn increases the reading and writing speed of your sdcard, which means lesser lags on your phone.
- Change the name of your device:
By editing a file named build.prop, you can change the name of your device that appears under the About screen in settings menu. One of my friends used a third party launcher, changed his device's name, changed the boot animation and splash screen and pasted a HTC sticker on the back of the device, to make his friends believe that he is having a HTC device, when he was actually having a Spice Mi 425. :P (A seperate guide on how to do that is in progress.)
- Change your fonts:
Fonts have a huge effect on how your phone looks. You can have everything (on your device) in your favorite font using Font Changer. It's also possible to create your own font and use it on your device.
- Enjoy thousands of apps that require root:
The Play Store has a plethora of apps that require root to do various awesome things (all of which can't be described in this post). Rooting will allow you to use any or all of them.
- Unroot your phone:
If you want to take your phone to the service center, rollback the changes you've done to restore your warranty. More often than not, the tool you used to root your device with, comes with an option to unroot it too! If not, search the internet for the same. If you're using a Samsung device and have flashed custom recovery or ROM, then use triangleaway to remove any evidence of whatever you did with your device.
If you think I missed something, or You've found any interesting app for rooted phones, I'd be pleased to hear from you :-) Have Fun with your rooted mobile!
