Question Negative aspects of bootloader unlock and root - Samsung Galaxy A52 5G

Hi everyone! It's quite long I'm not on a Samsung phone, but due to some circumstances, here I am with an A52! While on other phones (like my previous OnePlus and Xiaomi) unlocking the bootloader and rooting the phone, changed nothing in terms of system capabilities, I remember that with Samsung phones, the process should trip Knox (I don't even know if it's still a thing) and some functions like fingerprint sensor and Samsung or GPay won't work anymore.
My question is: is this still true? I really want to root my phone, but if I have to renounce to GPay and banking apps, it's not easy to choose.
Many thanks in advance!

Knox efuse is part of the hardware... still.

Knox is still a thing. Here are some things you lose forever, even if you return to stock:
-Samsung Pay
-Samsung Pass
Here are some things you lose but can recover (KnoxPatch is highly recommended for this):
-Secure Folder
-Samsung Health
-Secure WiFi
-Smart View
-Private Share
-Samsung Flow
Things like GPay don't depend on Knox. You can recover that with the universal safetynet fix (MOD) and hiding Magisk well
Banking apps each have their own ways of detecting root, so it's just a matter of properly hiding Magisk and/or Playstore/Safetnet integrity.
You will lose OTA updates of course but those can be recovered by flashing stock and locking your bootloader again.

Thanks for the update!!

You're welcome. All Samsung's should be optimized or they run like sick horses. Be it by rooting then using the new tools/apps available or by working within the stock framework using settings, adb edits or a Package Disabler and 3rd party apps. Either way takes time and effort.
Once you start flashing firmware your taking risks that you don't need to. Android 9 or higher is relatively secure, constant upgrades/updates aren't needed. They will change the playing field, break things, causing you to have to find new work arounds and waste time. A stock Android is almost impossible to crash and burn. If you do the worst that can happen is a factory reset; no lasting damage, limited lost time with a predictable end point.
Rule #1- if the firmware is fast, stable and fulfilling its mission let it be. The current load on this stock N10+ will be 3yo in June, still fast and stable. It's still running on Pie, security simply isn't an issue. Just because it's stock doesn't mean you have to run it stupid... the Android OS can be extremely long lived with only minimal maintenance.

Related

getting rid of blur

Has anybody tried to remove blur from a rooted x2? I've read that it has multiple parts, the gui and the social aspect. I'm interested in neither.
They say that removing the packages will cause problems, but I haven't found anywhere that lists what sort. Is it possible to remove blur and replace with the vanilla android packages from google? I'm using launcher pro right now, but the bloat is still running in the background.... and I dont like that.
any information/suggestions are welcome
thanks!
-C
The "problems" those people are referring to are phone-destroying. Simply put, you'll break it if you try what you're suggesting. You can't simply "remove" Blur; it is deeply integrated into the operating system. In very basic terms (since that's the only way I know how to explain it anyway, haha), if you replace one part of it with stock, other parts that depended on the Blurred version will freak out. It will be bricked.
Many applications that drain resources can be removed safely, and you can find a nice little list here detailing what ones are confirmed to be safe to remove.
What you're looking for is a whole new rom running stock Android, but first we need the bootloader unlocked. That will take people and time.
I'm quite new to the android platform, but from what I gather, you'd have to fix the init scripts (such that they don't try to start blur), which (I believe) are in the devices ROM.
I dont think that would require any changes to the kernel, so we shouldn't need to have an unlocked bootloader, but only write access to the device rom.
I'll have to read further into it, I suppose write access could require unlocking the bootloader, who knows.
how to disable blur sign in
on our atrix we can disable blur with
alt-e e bluroff
see this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1027994
if you do not do this you accept motorola's terms of service and privacy which basically means they can collect tons of data on you. on our atrix, even our facebook status (and those of friends) are spammed into logcat if we use the motoblur**** widgets

google-ectomy, possible?

Hi all.
I have a rooted phone that is used strictly in wifi mode and only needs to be able to run 4 or 5 standard aps, a couple of optional aps, plus the aps that support rooted phones and enhanced power management. I don't want google-anything on it, and I am not kidding. My prime concern is battery life, I hope to be able to run my phone for 3 to 4 days (or more) between charges, so deleting all fluff aps and crapware is important, as is underclocking it and getting rid of google. I also want to stop updating of the operating system and installed software by google.
I hope to do a hardware mod to remove power from the cell band rf transceiver. Despite it being turned off in the phone using software, I am detecting occasional transmissions from the cell band transmitter. Hardware mods are not a problem for me, I'm a retired EE, who specialized in RF design.
I need to know if it's possible for the phone to function if gmail, google+, google search, chrome, google calendar and google-whatever are exhorsized (uninstalled)? Yes, I also want to give the playstore the boot, to prevent excessive battery drain (and, yes, I do realize downloading aps will be slightly more difficult without the playstore).
For those who might be interested, the phone is used as a wifi phone for the home based Ooma telephone service. I also might like to run a mini bittorrent server. It seems to me that the android community could use bittorrent in place of the playstore, thus making it easier for others to give google and google playstore the boot
I love this forum, and want to thank all those that support and administer it.
Aloha,
A
alohagirl said:
Hi all.
I have a rooted phone that is used strictly in wifi mode and only needs to be able to run 4 or 5 standard aps, a couple of optional aps, plus the aps that support rooted phones and enhanced power management. I don't want google-anything on it, and I am not kidding. My prime concern is battery life, I hope to be able to run my phone for 3 to 4 days (or more) between charges, so deleting all fluff aps and crapware is important, as is underclocking it and getting rid of google. I also want to stop updating of the operating system and installed software by google.
I hope to do a hardware mod to remove power from the cell band rf transceiver. Despite it being turned off in the phone using software, I am detecting occasional transmissions from the cell band transmitter. Hardware mods are not a problem for me, I'm a retired EE, who specialized in RF design.
I need to know if it's possible for the phone to function if gmail, google+, google search, chrome, google calendar and google-whatever are exhorsized (uninstalled)? Yes, I also want to give the playstore the boot, to prevent excessive battery drain (and, yes, I do realize downloading aps will be slightly more difficult without the playstore).
For those who might be interested, the phone is used as a wifi phone for the home based Ooma telephone service. I also might like to run a mini bittorrent server. It seems to me that the android community could use bittorrent in place of the playstore, thus making it easier for others to give google and google playstore the boot
I love this forum, and want to thank all those that support and administer it.
Aloha,
A
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are threads all over the place trying to do this. Google is deeply ingrained into all the apks used by the os. You will be very hard pressed to find away to remove them completely and still have things work right.
I agree that security is an illusion. I dumped Microshaft in 2013 in order to improve my security and privacy.
However, the android operating system is supposed to be open source, so it should be possible to de-google-ize it IF someone knows how to edit and recompile the android OS.
I was merely asking if anyone knew of a way to give google the boot, even if it came down to paying someone to compile a custom rom.
The loss of google playstore is not a consideration, neither is a monetary forfeiture (any programmers out there?).
I'm curious, is it possible to gag google so it can't connect to the outside world (with a firewall)? We used to do this in XP to prevent Bill's Internet Explorer from downloading updates.
Are any of the custom roms currently available able to run without google-anything??
Is there any hope, or is it truly hopeless? If a custom rom that gave google the boot was available, how many would pay a small fee to have it? Just curious??!!
TY
A.
alohagirl said:
I agree that security is an illusion. I dumped Microshaft in 2013 in order to improve my security and privacy.
However, the android operating system is supposed to be open source, so it should be possible to de-google-ize it IF someone knows how to edit and recompile the android OS.
I was merely asking if anyone knew of a way to give google the boot, even if it came down to paying someone to compile a custom rom.
The loss of google playstore is not a consideration, neither is a monetary forfeiture (any programmers out there?).
I'm curious, is it possible to gag google so it can't connect to the outside world (with a firewall)? We used to do this in XP to prevent Bill's Internet Explorer from downloading updates.
Are any of the custom roms currently available able to run without google-anything??
Is there any hope, or is it truly hopeless? If a custom rom that gave google the boot was available, how many would pay a small fee to have it? Just curious??!!
TY
A.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is one project that is working on removing Google completely in the forums. A search will find it for you. There are some issues that I don't recall if they could find a way around or fix. You could give that a shot.

What are the benefits or rooting

This could be a general question for all Android phones.
It seems that Google is making it more difficult to root with every release of Android . If you do manage to root, sometimes you lose functionality unless you manage to find a workaround.
In years gone by, there were good reasons to root because Android was missing a lot of useful features that developers were able to implement on rooted devices but Android has improved a lot and Google has implemented a lot of the functionality that previously required root and customs ROMS.
So my question is what are the real benefits of rooting the Moto Z and rooting in general?
Still mandatory
1) Access to hosts-file for ad-blocking and other security purposes.
2) Ability to remove bloatware installed as system apps by vendor or manufacturer.
3) Use of firewalls, filters and stuff on network level
4) Granulated right management like "deny location", "deny network state" and stuff - per App.
As long as even only one of these access rights is not available on non-rooted Android, rooting is mandatory.
By the way: And at least 1)+4) was MY reason not to buy the Blackberry PRIV, which could have been perfect for me by means of design, look-and-feel, specs... if it was rootable. And that´s contrary to BB´s intentions. Sad, so sad... :>
Now Moto Z: Happy, so happy!
Also:
- Customize UI (I use battery bar, seconds in status bar, up-/downloadspeed, blurring background on expanded notification bar)
- when possible (atm only with marshmallow, not nougat or later) Xposed with a number of modules [not SafetyNet compatible... other say that, I was able to use it with suhide on my old phone]
- Viper4Android (sound equalizer for the whole system)
- Greenify
- and a few more
- works with SafetyNet
To put it simply.
fULl cOnTROOOoOL
omnomnomkimiiee said:
To put it simply.
fULl cOnTROOOoOL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those are all great reasons to root. One more reason that I find gives me peace of mind is the ability to do actual backups. Titanium backup and even nandroid backups (which kind of go along with rooting) are great for making sure you don't lose any important information or settings.

Android debloat suffucient or custom ROM (Lineage) neccessary?

Hey,
Will rooting and extensive debloating Android be sufficient to stay away from google and tracking or is it neccessary to use a custom Rom (Lineage?).
Unfortunately there is no custom Rom for Samsung Xcover 4s yet.
I'm aware, that stock Lineage also will not be sufficient, but I ask myself if I get the manufaturers ROM almost as reticent as Lineage.
Maybe someone asked himself this question before and can give me a hint.
Thx
If your aim is to stay away from Google tracking, then you would have to remove Google play services completely. Make sure you know the cons of that - many apps depend on Play Services and would no longer function on your phone. If you are okay with that, debloating should be sufficient.
In future, if you decide to install a custom ROM, it is always better to go for official builds.
Wrichik Basu said:
If your aim is to stay away from Google tracking, then you would have to remove Google play services completely. Make sure you know the cons of that - many apps depend on Play Services and would no longer function on your phone. If you are okay with that, debloating should be sufficient.
In future, if you decide to install a custom ROM, it is always better to go for official builds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx. That sounds promising, I expected Google and other Bloatware to be as deep in Android system that there would be no way to stay on stock rom.
I'd prefer custom Rom, but waterproof and removable battery are rare features today in combination I guess. Xcover 4s would satisfy my hardware needs, but hoping for custom Rom on Samsung with Exynos probably is hopless, right?
Oh man, I hate to trade-off. And my actual phone (Xperia ZR) is dying slowly and annoying with more and more problems

How To Guide Use german banking apps with root

I decided to root ky Pixel 6 and found out that i couldn't get around the security from germans banking apps.
simple soloution. have magisk/zygisk installed and set the root mode to "user" in the settings of magisk manager.
then go to your settings and setup a second user (wont have root) install your banking apps and enjoy the ability to use them with an rooted device
edit: this method was tested for Sparkasse app's
• S-Push Tan
• Mobiles Bezahlen
IndubidablyStoned said:
I decided to root ky Pixel 6 and found out that i couldn't get around the security from germans banking apps.
simple soloution. have magisk/zygisk installed and set the root mode to "user" in the settings of magisk manager.
then go to your settings and setup a second user (wont have root) install your banking apps and enjoy the ability to use them with an rooted device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not being critical of your choices but why would anyone chance having a banking institution or any financial app including
GPay on a rooted device? Isn't there a much greater chance of being compromised by an app or inadvertent web link? And if the banking institution sees that a bogus user was created what are the chances of recovering funds obtained through fraudulent activity? I understand why people want to root don't get me wrong, but money transfers and transactions on that device seem a little reckless to me. But I could be wrong, just curious of the thinking here.
i Understand, but if you want to have an custom DAC like Viper4Android you kinda need root. my intention isnt to do fraudulent activity, as i mentioned in the Post you dont have Root access on that second user
IndubidablyStoned said:
i Understand, but if you want to have an custom DAC like Viper4Android you kinda need root. my intention isnt to do fraudulent activity, as i mentioned in the Post you dont have Root access on that second user
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You misunderstood my concern wrt banking activity. I didn't suggest that you were doing anything fraudulent but if you were the victim of fraudulent activity would the bank still cover you with a bogus account you created? I don't know if what you did was entirely proper or not but that was not the issue I thought you might be concerned about.
As I said, I completely understand your desire to root be it V4A or DAC or even ad blocking. I just wonder the benefit vs the exposure if you are using banking apps. Without financial transactions occurring on the phone I doubt there is much to worry about other than what we are all concerned about root or not.
bobby janow said:
I'm not being critical of your choices but why would anyone chance having a banking institution or any financial app including
GPay on a rooted device? Isn't there a much greater chance of being compromised by an app or inadvertent web link? And if the banking institution sees that a bogus user was created what are the chances of recovering funds obtained through fraudulent activity? I understand why people want to root don't get me wrong, but money transfers and transactions on that device seem a little reckless to me. But I could be wrong, just curious of the thinking here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Considering DirtyPipe exists and has not been patched yet (plus how long it already took to even acknowledge the problem in the first place), rooting is the least of our worries when it comes to monetary transactions/banking and android.
Bear in mind that DirtyPipe is only one elevation exploit that we've heard about. And for every disclosed vulnerability there are dozens of others that nobody's aware of. The market for rooted android users is very small compared to the overall android phone-user market. Creating exploits specifically targeting rooted phones would be a waste of time and effort compared to working on privilege escalation on non-rooted devices; from a hacker's perspective you want to hit the largest volume of targets in cases like these.
I've been rooting my phones for 10 years now, and my usage of banking/fintech apps on my devices has increased consistently. Applying common sense opsec/infosec practices can negate a large percentage of the perceived risk that root access exposes you to.
On the other hand, if someone wants to target you specifically, as an individual, you're screwed, root or no root, unless you're aware of the risks that come with technology and the pitfalls of android (iOS can be perceived as more secure but when it comes to individual targeting/attacks, there are expensive tools made by some of the world's top intelligence organizations that can wreck havoc on iOS as well)
TL;DR you're never truly safe, root or no root.
Unfortunately that doesn't worked for me
I tested the following apps:
SecureGo
VR SecureGo
Mobiles bezahlen
Every App doesn't launch. Sparkasse is quitting instantly and SecureGo Apps are stuck with their logo.
On the rootet user I get the Browser-warning (of SecureGo) that my device doesn't meet the security requierements. So far so good, but on the non-rooted uses i would have expect that they're working.
Any Idea? I'm on April Build.
i dont know currently, i dont have root anymore since i had to update to the April Update. i'll update if there is something that can be done
Maybe you could confirm that these Apps launch on April build without root? That could help to research the problem a bit. Thanks!
hanni2301 said:
...but on the non-rooted uses i would have expect that they're working.
Any Idea? I'm on April Build.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe these apps are not supporting fully Android 12?
I have an app which, until recently, was freezing when the location was enabled. To be exact, when "Use precise location" was enabled. Only location access the app was not freezing, but couldn't get the coordinates.
Maye this is a similar situation here.
Cheers
Tom
hanni2301 said:
Unfortunately that doesn't worked for me
I tested the following apps:
SecureGo
VR SecureGo
Mobiles bezahlen
Every App doesn't launch. Sparkasse is quitting instantly and SecureGo Apps are stuck with their logo.
On the rootet user I get the Browser-warning (of SecureGo) that my device doesn't meet the security requierements. So far so good, but on the non-rooted uses i would have expect that they're working.
Any Idea? I'm on April Build.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I managed to get the VR Secure Go app working by doing the steps in the op plus using ice box and freezing magisk and the bank apps. I'm on April, too and I'm using radioactive kernel. Rooted stock kernel works as well on my device, but I had issues with the bank apps on some other kernels.
So to confirm, you need to freeze magisk on the rooted user and you're able to use the bank apps on the second (non rooted) user?
On which user you would freeze the bank apps? I doesn't have them installed on the rooted user.
Thanks in advance that you can definitely confirm its not the fault of April built.
hanni2301 said:
So to confirm, you need to freeze magisk on the rooted user and you're able to use the bank apps on the second (non rooted) user?
On which user you would freeze the bank apps? I doesn't have them installed on the rooted user.
Thanks in advance that you can definitely confirm its not the fault of April built.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I only have one user (the rooted user). I've done the following steps:
1. Configure magisk: activate Zygisk and setup deny list for the banking apps
2. Hide magisk app
3. Freeze magisk and banking apps with Ice Box
ok, that is the normal way which is different to the approach the thread starter has chosen.
I use deny list plus hide my applist and works fine with Sparkasse, s-push and mobil bezahlen no need to freeze or use a second user profile
How do you do that, hide applist?
You can bypass it by
Download App Named Shelter from Play store.
The App will create work profile and you can bypass any bank or app you facing issue with it.
When completed create work profile you can clone Bank App and use if.
As Information, It works out of the Box with Magisk denylist,
You only need to Install Ice Box and hide Magisk Manager, even if it is using a random name, "Mobiles Bezahlen" would detect it.
Magisk + Ice Box is sufficient on latest Miui 13 as well!
Regards!
Not sure but I think island could help not sure though as I'm not rooted the app is made by greenify
Only as info, these 2 Apps, Postbank Finanzassistent and Postbank BestSign working by default on a rooted device.
I like Postbank

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