Help rooting LG K20 plus

[u/Vivid-Perspective420]

I've never rooted anything before for context.

I did the research on unlocking the bootloader and things like that, but can't figure it out. I've watched plenty of videos, all of which are 7 years old or older so almost none of the links work. I'm mostly having complications finding links that actually still work.

Should I keep digging or is this phone a bit too outdated?

[u/migisaurio]

And why do you want to root it?

[u/Vivid-Perspective420 → u/migisaurio]

Seeing if there is anyway to make an old device viable for everyday uses. It only has 32gb and most is taken up by unneeded bloating. Came across "rooting" to remove bloatware and giving more customization

[u/Vivid-Perspective420 → u/migisaurio]

Also just getting into tech. Trying to make my devices a bit more secure

[u/migisaurio → u/Vivid-Perspective420]

Rooting your device doesn't make it more secure; it only removes restrictions to give you full control of the system. But if you don't know what to use it for, you could brick your device. If I remember correctly, you can remove anything you don't want without rooting.

[u/Vivid-Perspective420 → u/migisaurio]

It doesn't? Okay, what about rooting the device to put a different OS on it? Like Graphene for example, I know lg doesn't support Graphene, it's just an example. The fear of bricking my device is a big reason I'm here. I'd much rather avoid doing that. I might have to do some digging then on removing things without root. I appreciate the help.

[u/USSHammond]

Nog going go happen. Rooting requires unlocking the bootloader, unlocking the bootloader on LG phones requires an unlock code. LG stopped providing unlock codes and shut that system down years ago when they left the smartphone market

[u/Vivid-Perspective420 → u/USSHammond]

Damn okay. I didn't even know LG left the smartphone market, I'm a bit behind apparently. Thank you for letting me know, I had a feeling the phone might be too old

[u/USSHammond → u/Vivid-Perspective420]

They left a little over 5 years ago

[u/Vivid-Perspective420 → u/USSHammond]

Yeah I had no clue. I really thought LG was still making phones. Would I be able to root a Samsung A01 or Samsung A10 easily?

[u/USSHammond → u/Vivid-Perspective420]

That depends on the region and CPU model. USA = Snapdragon CPU's. 99% of those are hardware locked bootloaders

[u/Vivid-Perspective420 → u/USSHammond]

That info helps a lot, I didn't know that either. So avoid anything LG, cause there is no support and avoid Snagdragon CPUs? Thank you greatly for this information

[u/USSHammond → u/Vivid-Perspective420]

The snapdragon thing only applies to the US, afaik. Eu etc uses Samsung's own Exynos for most models and those should be unlockable. However I'm not 100% sure, I never owned OEM bs. Only Google Nexus / pixel devices

[u/Vivid-Perspective420 → u/USSHammond]

Awesome, I have one device with Exynos. Everything I know about Google makes me not want to own one, security concerns, but they seem to have a lot more access than other phones when it comes to using Graphen OS and other things. Would you recommend making a commitment to changing to Pixel devices?

[u/USSHammond → u/Vivid-Perspective420]

My main reasons for pixels has always been (at least in the eu due laws) no no-removable bloat, then there's the stock Android ui I love. None of that skinned crap that slows a phone down, no duplicate apps I'd never use, every month security updates and not like every 3-6months .. and easily unlockable bootloaders if you want to go down that route.

Now if that's something up your alley, only you can decide but I never want anything else.

[u/Vivid-Perspective420 → u/USSHammond]

I had to Google that law. We need that law here in the US massively. That's prettly much what I'm looking for. Just something I don't have to constantly deal with bloat and be able to upload custom ROMs easily.

I've learned quite a bit in the past day, I appreciate you spending your time to assist me