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Hacking my old phone taught me what makes Android tick
I've been using Android since 2010. In those days, there wasn't as much that you couldn't do without needing to gain full system administrator access (or replace the stock operating system entirely). It was pain. It was also a delight, and I learned so much about Android in the process.
The need to root and ROM our phones
Phones couldn't do nearly as much as they can today
I've written before about how I rarely back up my files to cloud storage, even the files on my phone. Instead, I plug in an external SSD and sync my internal files using FolderSync. I can even back up certain apps by copying the Android folder. This type of data backup was one of the reasons many of us rooted early Android phones.
On early Android phones, you could access photos and downloads just fine, but there were many apps you couldn't back up without "rooting" the device and gaining access to system-level files. The term rooting refers to the process of bypassing the built-in restrictions in order to gain permission to access the full Android system, not just the files under your user account. These system files are sometimes referred to as the "root" files because they are the root on which all other software depends.
These days, I wouldn't say rooting is entirely unnecessary, but there are far fewer pressure points. Many apps now require an online account and automatically transfer data when signing in on a new device. Those who don't often transfer when using Google's transfer tool or an app like Samsung SmartSwitch when setting up a new phone. Google Play Games now supports cloud saves, which wasn't yet a thing back then. You can even transfer your exact homescreen layout and system preferences using the official tools. We used to need Titanium Backup for features like that. Please forgive these ancient How-To Geek screenshots.
Rooting goes far beyond backups. Some of us rooted or installed a custom ROM in order to unlock deeper system-level automations using tools like Tasker (functionality now baked into most Samsung Galaxy phones without root). Rooting was also a way to remove bloatware, which was a bigger issue back then when phones came with entire suites of carrier apps, and even pre-loaded software like Facebook couldn't be disabled. I wouldn't say it's a non-issue today, but even most of Google's own apps can be disabled, and for those few remainders that you can't turn off via system settings, you can just use ADB instead. Heck, you can even remove any app without ADB.
Rooting was also a way to use your phone as a portable hotspot even if your plan didn't allow it. The vast majority of mobile plans support tethering today. The feature is so ubiquitous that it almost feels quaint, the hoops so many of us used to jump through.
In the process, I learned where my data is stored
Deep down, Android looks like a PC
Android is based on Linux, which is the reason I fell in love with Android in the first place. I was enamored by the idea of a mobile Linux-based device. Ultimately, Android has grown into what feels like an entirely separate platform, complete with a modified kernel, but deep down, it's still Linux.
This is most visible when you view the root folder. To be clear, you don't need a rooted phone in order to view these files—it's only modifying them that requires you to hack your phone. You can view system files by installing an app like Solid Explorer and enabling the ability to view system files in its settings.
These system files show that Android's root software structure shares similarities with Linux. The file structure isn't an exact match, since Android doesn't need to serve all the same roles that Linux does on a desktop or server, but you'll notice shared folders like /dev, /etc, and /mnt. What you don't see is a C Drive or a D Drive. Android clearly isn't Windows.
Revealing how it all falls apart
Rooting and ROMing now come with too many downsides
Not only are there fewer reasons to root or ROM phones these days, but there are even more reasons not to. For many of us, the dealbreaker is losing out on banking apps. These perform security checks and often stop functioning if they notice your bootloader has been unlocked.
Then there are our photos. In the early days of Android, smartphone cameras were pretty bad. Now they're just pretty, but that changes when you install a custom ROM. That's because there are many proprietary bits involved in producing smartphone photos that aren't included in free ROMs.
So much of the computing we do on our phones is unrelated to processing power and specs. It's the trusted communication between your phone and a payment terminal when making mobile payments. It's the encryption keys shared when using certain messaging apps. If you do something to lose these features, Android suddenly becomes a lot less useful.
