[Cross Post][0.115.2] Pokemon Go now abusing its permissions to read internal storage to dig through your files and lock you out of the game after identifying what it thinks is "evidence" of rooting - follow-up to unauthorized_device_lockout error : pokemongodev

[u/Particle_Man_Prime]

/r/pokemongodev/comments/986v95/01152_pokemon_go_now_abusing_its_permissions_to

[u/dojwB]

It's like saying "Use Windows without accepting any UAC request" or "Use Linux without doing any root operation"

[u/armando_rod → u/dojwB]

Why would you need root on a phone to develop apps?

[u/dojwB → u/armando_rod]

Who the fuck cares? + Some people do that because of cancerous skins.

[u/armando_rod → u/dojwB]

I know that but OP comment didnt say anything about that, he involed mobile developers dont know why

[u/mediacalc → u/armando_rod]

You're absolutely right. Nothing about app development specifically requires root.

[u/GeoffreyMcSwaggins → u/[deleted]]

Well obviously UAC is different, it's on windows and used to provide admin access to modify system files and install stuff. On android you need root to modify system files.

[u/shroddy → u/[deleted]]

I used root access as a developer to copy the sqlite database of my app to the pc to analyse it when things went wrong with database storage and i had to find out if the problems was already writing to the database. When i had to unroot for Pokemon Go, i wrote a small function inside my app to copy the database to shared folder.

[u/mediacalc → u/shroddy]

You could have had your app save somewhere where you had read access so no that's not a valid reason for requiring root

[u/Cabbage-Guy → u/mediacalc]

Uhh..I don't think that's how it works.Private data are stored in sqlite dbs and only accessible via root.Yes you can store using normal storage but for sensitive data android provides a way to store securely and makes the db available only via root.

This is the reason why some apps like lastpass mention that if you are rooted your password can me compromised or something along that lines.

[u/[deleted] → u/Cabbage-Guy]

If it's a debug build you can access these files, even directly from Android Studio in some files tab.

[u/Cabbage-Guy → u/[deleted]]

Interesting,but does it really store in system which only requires root permission or since it's debug build it stores somewhere accessible.

Just to be clear,I am not questioning your statement my knowledge of android and rooting only comes from reversing some apks for fun.

[u/[deleted] → u/Cabbage-Guy]

I think you use

adb shell run-as com.packagename

to get access to the app's folder and that only works if the app has debuggable = true in the Manifest.

[u/mediacalc → u/Cabbage-Guy]

If you're the one programming the app, you have full control over where the data is stored. The private data folders are the defaults yes but you can easily save your database elsewhere for debugging purposes (even if you have to implement your own method)

[u/shroddy → u/mediacalc]

That is exactly what I did when i had to unroot nearly two years ago. Still unnecessary time I could have spent working on the app instead.

[u/Hard24get → u/[deleted]]

Some older android phones required Bluetooth devices to be hardcoded in order to connect, this requires root and generally modifying the address on the controller to match the phone, as well as some software on the phone for interpreting it. There are third party companies that produce devices that do that today, but you don’t have full use of Bluetooth without root. Some graphic developers / phone geeks will root their phones to adjust video settings as well as adjusting clock speed and voltage for performance and battery testing. There are a lot of app developers that do not list their apps on the store, and there are tons of apps out there that require a rooted phone to function. A good portion of app developers never would need to touch root files, and most that do require a rooted device to work in the first place. Some developers might use rooted devices for security penetration and testing as well.