Bold claim - iPhones are easier to root and mod compared to Android

[mKTank]

That is ONE phone.......from LG that they chose not to lock at all to enhance sales. One phone does not make all Android phones.......

You can do your own research. I've wasted enough of my time.

Putting a stop to bickering with these people: back to the OP, another thing I should add is that outside of the U.S., other countries seem to enjoy unlocked bootloaders more often. So, internationally speaking, rooting is certainly almost always more available than jailbreaking. If you also talked to some of these guys behind iPhone jailbreaks (musclenerd, p0six) and the Pangu guys...it takes a long, long time and a huge amount of security research and work to find these exploits in iOS. Having the bootloaders readily open is a huge amount of relief for Android developers. Seems like only certain US carriers like Verizon are hell-bent on locking down phones and adding their bloat-ware. But internationally speaking, at least in Canada, it's quite nice how little the carriers interfere with these phones. Yes I get the suite of Rogers apps on my Note 4 but I can disable them and I have an open bootloader.

 

[gotluck]

If you have an unlocked boot loader they just flash supersu.. That isn't an exploit.. What are they developing? You talking about the super user utility itself, you saying that is an exploit? Maybe you are saying the custom recovery used to flash supersu is an exploit?

Rooting via unlocked boot loader is not an exploit imo

 

[gotluck]

Lol did you really just refer to a 4 year old jailbreak for iOS 3.0?

ios 4.3 breh

Still the most impressive root exploit to date, slide to jailbreak, no installing anything

 

[jamezr]

You can do your own research. I've wasted enough of my time.



Putting a stop to bickering with these people: back to the OP, another thing I should add is that outside of the U.S., other countries seem to enjoy unlocked bootloaders more often. So, internationally speaking, rooting is certainly almost always more available than jailbreaking. If you also talked to some of these guys behind iPhone jailbreaks (musclenerd, p0six) and the Pangu guys...it takes a long, long time and a huge amount of security research and work to find these exploits in iOS. Having the bootloaders readily open is a huge amount of relief for Android developers. Seems like only certain US carriers like Verizon are hell-bent on locking down phones and adding their bloat-ware. But internationally speaking, at least in Canada, it's quite nice how little the carriers interfere with these phones. Yes I get the suite of Rogers apps on my Note 4 but I can disable them and I have an open bootloader.

Sorry but 2 OEMs that provide you a process to unlock their flagships phones does not all Android phones make.

 

[spinedoc77]

I agree with the OP. Jailbreaking my iPhone 6 plus was a piece of cake. Rooting my android phone was easy as well, but more involved. Neither was hard by any stretch of the imagination though.

 

[skratch77]

You can buy a developer unlocked galaxy s5 right off of samsungs website.

It is 100% unlocked and has no Knox

Root it and install any modem,kernel or rom

 

[mi7chy]

You can also buy unlocked bootloader developer edition of Note 4 but there's no point in hacking it up since it's more advanced than the next few new iPhones.

 

[mKTank]

You can also buy unlocked bootloader developer edition of Note 4 but there's no point in hacking it up since it's more advanced than the next few new iPhones.

Well isn't Samsung so lucky they have such a loyal fan. Thanks for the laughs as always.

IMO the only Note 4 worth getting is the international variant.

 

[ecrispy]

Most of the replies aren't really addressing the issue at hand. It doesn't matter how much effort devs have to put into finding an exploit, my post is about what the end user experience is like.

I have installed plenty of custom roms and am very familiar with root/recovery in Android, which is why I made this thread. The truth is 99% of Android roms are the same. Sometimes you come across a truly unique one like MIUI. Otherwise its the same AOSP/CM base with settings etc. That is why Xposed was such a big deal, it gave you 99% of what a custom rom could do with just root.

And jailbreak + Cydia is almost exactly like Xposed, since you don't really need to modify the base OS, and this way you don't lose any stability also. If any of you has used multiple Android roms, waiting for the next nightly which doesn't cause random reboots or SoD, you'll know what I mean.

And really you can't compare iTunes backup (which is a gui app built into every phone) with TWRP nandroid!! That is crazy.

 

[mKTank]

Most of the replies aren't really addressing the issue at hand. It doesn't matter how much effort devs have to put into finding an exploit, my post is about what the end user experience is like.

I have installed plenty of custom roms and am very familiar with root/recovery in Android, which is why I made this thread. The truth is 99% of Android roms are the same. Sometimes you come across a truly unique one like MIUI. Otherwise its the same AOSP/CM base with settings etc. That is why Xposed was such a big deal, it gave you 99% of what a custom rom could do with just root.

And jailbreak + Cydia is almost exactly like Xposed, since you don't really need to modify the base OS, and this way you don't lose any stability also. If any of you has used multiple Android roms, waiting for the next nightly which doesn't cause random reboots or SoD, you'll know what I mean.

And really you can't compare iTunes backup (which is a gui app built into every phone) with TWRP nandroid!! That is crazy.

My point was: a root for an Android phone is most of the time available whereas jailbreaks usually take a long time to show up after each update.

Putting aside root/jailbreak availability, then yes, it's obviously much easier on iPhone to get the tweaks you need. Cydia more often than not saves you from installing things that will definitely break the phone and you can add an endless amount of repos. I argue that you can accomplish more with a jailbreak than you can with a root (without taking flashing ROMs into account) given the fact that there are relatively few packages available on Xposed, an even fewer number of which actually apply to your device. Cydia's better indeed.

 

[bubulol]

why android users often stigmatize JB from iOS
I agree with OP, the process of both operating rooting is nearly same but after rooting device, it aint the same story
Android is far more complicated , multi-task, apps in background, fully tweakable for hundred device models
iPhone was one of my first true smartphone (i owned an android device before), and was able to JB immediately
While i have switched to Android since 2 years, i am still afraid to root my device because any update will erase your rooted device, because every major android update, process will start over
Moreover, XDA (biggest Android knowledge base) targets more experienced audience
I think Android device doesn't need to be rooted while an iPhone must be jailbroken because iOS is too much limited

 

[Oletros]

I argue that you can accomplish more with a jailbreak than you can with a root (without taking flashing ROMs into account) given the fact that there are relatively few packages available on Xposed, an even fewer number of which actually apply to your device. Cydia's better indeed.

Only if you omit the Play Store and the sideload in of apps

 

[mKTank]

Only if you omit the Play Store and the sideload in of apps

Meh. Most of the main tweak apps are available through Xposed (Wanam, Gravitybox, etc.)

 

[gotluck]

All of my root apps are from the play store or fdroid. Cydia encompasses both xposed style tweaks and what you could call 'regular root apps'. Cydia is really the only option for unapproved software on iOS. I've never installed xposed fwiw. Yes cydia is better than xposed, but its also casting a wider net.

Depends on what you are hoping to accomplish

For me, Flex 2 is what is really missing on android. You get the flexibility of xposed for tweaking particular apps, without giving the tweaks full access to your system. So much safer for messing with how regular app store apps work.

 

[Oletros]

Meh. Most of the main tweak apps are available through Xposed (Wanam, Gravitybox, etc.)

Meh? Yopu claim that Cydia is better because it has repositories and now you say meh to Play Store and all the root apps and sideloading of them?

 

[Tinmania]

I pretty much agree with the OP, with the caveat that many things that you can do with a jailbroken iPhone you can already do with an unrooted Android phone.

As for me, I foolishly predicted my Note 4 (AT&T) would be rooted long before a Jailbreak would appear for the iPhone 6/6+. Boy was I wrong. Nearly 3 months with my Note 4 and there doesn't even seem to be a glimmer of hope for root--and this is with an actual bounty placed to give to whomever does it.



Michael

 

[mrex]

I'm writing this as a diehard Android lover, although I have owned iOS devices and enjoy them too. Android is well known for its customizability and options.

But I think iOS is actually easier in many ways.

Root
Android: hope you have a Nexus or that your oem supports this (e.g. HTC). For lots of users like Samsung, this is never going to happen, there is simply no exploit even after years.

iOS: jailbreak is there for every single iPhone since they are all the same hardware with no carrier limitations

Ease of rooting
Android - connect your phone to pc, install drivers, run scripts etc. Enough to scare away most people and has dangers

iPhone: you visit a website on the phone and do 1 click

Customizability
Android: if you have root and unlocked bootloader, you can run custom roms + recovery. This is a complicated process for non-tech users. If you just have root, you can run Xposed or some other root apps

iOS: no custom roms needed. Jailbreak installs Cydia, you browse the repo and there are hundreds of mods available to install via 1 click just like an app store, with reviews and ratings.

Safety
Android: you can do nandroid backup if you know how to and have custom recovery. Its again complicated and not as full featured

iOS: builtin backup/recovery via iTunes means you can be pretty safe and even backup to iCloud, restore any app and data easily.

i feel abit stupid, but i didnt understand this post and its sort of analoques. if you want to customize your phone, you can do it out of the box with android without rooting and/or custom rom while you dont have any other choice than jb/cydia with iphone. if you want to run custom roms instead of current os on your android phone, you need to replace your os by a custom rom. but that is even more customizing your phone for a reason "x"...

 

[ecrispy]

My point was: a root for an Android phone is most of the time available whereas jailbreaks usually take a long time to show up after each update.

Putting aside root/jailbreak availability, then yes, it's obviously much easier on iPhone to get the tweaks you need. Cydia more often than not saves you from installing things that will definitely break the phone and you can add an endless amount of repos. I argue that you can accomplish more with a jailbreak than you can with a root (without taking flashing ROMs into account) given the fact that there are relatively few packages available on Xposed, an even fewer number of which actually apply to your device. Cydia's better indeed.

I disagree about root. Sep in the US, for a lot of devices there is no root. And with Lollipop, root itself isn't going to be enough, you need unlocked bootloader as well. Much harder.

Yes, Cydia is indeed much more encompassing.

----------

I pretty much agree with the OP, with the caveat that many things that you can do with a jailbroken iPhone you can already do with an unrooted Android phone.

As for me, I foolishly predicted my Note 4 (AT&T) would be rooted long before a Jailbreak would appear for the iPhone 6/6+. Boy was I wrong. Nearly 3 months with my Note 4 and there doesn't even seem to be a glimmer of hope for root--and this is with an actual bounty placed to give to whomever does it.



Michael

Forget the Note 4, there's no root yet for the Note 3, after years! And many other phones as well.

Yes, by default Android has a lot more customization options (like widgets, changing default apps, launchers) than iOS, which is why I use it. But the thing is all iOS users have access to jailbreak now and its not even going to void their warranty since its reversible (unlike on Android, e.g. Knox).

 

[gotluck]

Yep^, times are a-changin!

 

[spinedoc77]

I disagree about root. Sep in the US, for a lot of devices there is no root. And with Lollipop, root itself isn't going to be enough, you need unlocked bootloader as well. Much harder.

Yes, Cydia is indeed much more encompassing.

----------



Forget the Note 4, there's no root yet for the Note 3, after years! And many other phones as well.

Yes, by default Android has a lot more customization options (like widgets, changing default apps, launchers) than iOS, which is why I use it. But the thing is all iOS users have access to jailbreak now and its not even going to void their warranty since its reversible (unlike on Android, e.g. Knox).

The Note 3 did have root pre Kit-Kat. It got root for Kit-Kat also with towelroot, but that was late into the phones lifespan, and only because Geohot for some reason put his mind to it. With Geohot gone and a root way above Chainfire's paygrade, and really no one else interested root is probably never going to happen for the Note 4. That's why I switched to a tmobile Note 4 and use it on AT&T.

 

[jamezr]

The Note 3 did have root pre Kit-Kat. It got root for Kit-Kat also with towelroot, but that was late into the phones lifespan, and only because Geohot for some reason put his mind to it. With Geohot gone and a root way above Chainfire's paygrade, and really no one else interested root is probably never going to happen for the Note 4. That's why I switched to a tmobile Note 4 and use it on AT&T.

I know a lot of people that are getting TMO phones just so they can unlock and root.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

And jailbreak + Cydia is almost exactly like Xposed, since you don't really need to modify the base OS, and this way you don't lose any stability also. If any of you has used multiple Android roms, waiting for the next nightly which doesn't cause random reboots or SoD, you'll know what I mean.

My experience is, iOS on the iPhone and iPad ends up having way more issues with Cydia apps/hacks VS next to no issues using Xposed on Android.

And really you can't compare iTunes backup (which is a gui app built into every phone) with TWRP nandroid!! That is crazy.

Google syncs everything I need it to. Now to get my phone exactly the same as when I did a TWRP backup, it's a quick and easy restore using TWRP. I can save my backup on multiple places. I don't need data, a computer, or iTunes to restore if I messed up something on the road or abroad.

 

[technosix]

We all have our preferences, including those who thrive while arguing and creating chaos

 

[zone23]

I agree with the OP.

 

[cdm283813]

It depends on which Android device you get. Every Nexus device is the best when it comes to rooting/unlocking the bootloader out the box. And on top of that Google will not try to break this functionality like Apple does. As for other Android phones it depends on the model and carrier you get. Even though the Nexus 6 is compatible with the Verizon they still don't have that phone for sale under contract. It's a known fact that Verizon hates phones with unlockable bootloaders. Even the developer models have to be purchased off contract.
So if you're serious about rooting without the fear of the OEM/carrier breaking the root/jailbreak the Nexus is no doubt number 1. But if your objective is features the Nexus is not at the top. It really depends on what you're looking for in a phone. I got tired of loading up roms every other day. Even on my Nexus 7 I keep it stock just to experience stock Android.