Comment by Narushia
13 hours ago
I agree that the features should ideally be provided by the base system so that the user does not have to "hack them in" with root-powered apps. But the reality is that most Android "distros" simply do not support the features that I would consider basic functionality. I mainly root for three reasons:
- Backing up all app data via Neo Backup. Android has an auto-backup feature that backs up app data to the user's Google Drive, but unfortunately the app developer can simply opt out of this, and the user cannot do anything about it. This means that app data may be lost when migrating to a new phone, as the app data is stored in directories that are not accessible in the filesystem without root.
- High-quality call recording via Call Recorder. For some reason, some (most?) phones do not allow apps to access the raw incoming audio stream. Non-root apps have to rely on capturing the other end through the microphone, which is horrible.
- /etc/hosts-based ad blocking while using a VPN via AdAway. DNS-based ad blocking is possible via apps like AdGuard, which use a local VPN to accomplish this. Unfortunately, Android only allows one VPN connection at a time, which means that without root I would not be able to use a VPN for any other purpose while simultaneously blocking ads.
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I have no experience with GrapheneOS, so I'd be interested to hear if these features are possible on it without rooting. If not, can I request these features somewhere?
Rooting is a very bad idea. https://madaidans-insecurities.github.io/android.html#rootin... But GrapheneOS is fully open source and provides great build instructions, so you can always make your own build and add whatever features or privileged apps you like within the standard AOSP frameworks for privileged apps with system integration.
> Backing up all app data via Neo Backup
GrapheneOS includes Seedvault by default. https://grapheneos.org/features#encrypted-backups
> High-quality call recording via Call Recorder
Call recording is built into the Dialer app on GrapheneOS. https://grapheneos.org/features#encrypted-backups:~:text=Cal....
> DNS-based ad blocking is possible via apps like AdGuard
DNS-based blocking can also be accomplished by using Android's native Private DNS feature with a resolver that blocks ads. You could even host your own on a VPS if you are more comfortable running name resolution and DNS-level adblocking on infrastructure you control.
The RethinkDNS app also lets you use DNS-level adblocking and a VPN at the same time. https://grapheneos.org/faq#ad-blocking-apps
> I have no experience with GrapheneOS, so I'd be interested to hear if these features are possible on it without rooting.
I recommend giving https://grapheneos.org/features a read.
> If not, can I request these features somewhere?
Check out the issue tracker on GitHub: https://github.com/GrapheneOS/os-issue-tracker/issues
Rooting is only a bad idea if there is an alternative. Unfortunately I have to root my devices because there isn't an alternative method to provide me, the physical owner of the device with control over the device. I would much prefer not to generally have root on my phone but to be able to access root externally or via a hardware switch or some other scheme. ADB root is fine.
The alternative to "running as root" isn't "not having access to root".
>Rooting is only a bad idea if there is an alternative.
An alternative to accomplish what?
>to provide me, the physical owner of the device with control over the device
Control over what properties or behaviours of the device, exactly?
No offense, but these complaints feel more like aesthetic ("I want to log into a user named root") than practical ("I want to be able to do things that could only be done under root")
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