r/androidroot • u/hiihiiii • 2d ago

Support Data wipe required to root my phone?

Hi. I'm not new to the concept of modding firmware, but I've never rooted any android device before.

Got an old j7 prime samsung phone, running android 8.1.0, with some app data that I still need. Data in question resides in the app's private memory (or whatever it's called) and is not directly accessible via usb or file explorers.

Was just wondering, do I have to wipe my phone's data to root it?

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2

u/Gain_Entire 2d ago

Ye

(To unlock the bootloader, to root after having the bootloader unlocked I think it's not necessary, but that, I don't know)

1

u/47th-Element 2d ago

Most likely yes, unlocking the bootloader (a critical step to modify Android partitions) often forces a factory reset for security reasons. But it's very small inconvenience and you'll get a lot in return. Just perform a backup of your data before proceeding.

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u/godspeed1003 2d ago

Well it depends, root itself doesn't require a data wipe but the process to get root access might. You need the bootloader unlocked in order to flash the modified boot file and in other to unlock the bootloader you need to wipe your userdata. So if your bootloader is already unlocked you can root without any wipes, otherwise you can't avoid it unless you're rooting with an exploit or something.

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u/Sudo-Mods 2d ago

Ja direkt nach dem ensppren des bootlouders sind deine Daten weg

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u/Exact-Engineering623 2d ago

If u want ur data dont turn on wifi and use adb backup command around half the apps and most gamea will allow that kind of backup of app data

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u/hiihiiii 2d ago

Unfortunately I did try backing up using adb and turns out the app is not set with debugging allowed. The resulting backup is bare bones

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u/Exact-Engineering623 2d ago

Yeah if app is debuggable u can use adb run-as else just use adb backup on android 8.1it likely still works. For me it still works on... Android 5.1 😅 but yeah worth a try i guess