How to root an Android phone - LG P500 demo

There are normally two kind of users - the normal user and the superuser/poweruser. The normal users accept what is provided to them and use it forever without any issues. And the other category is the superusesr/powerusers which I am and you are trying to be one (assuming you are reading this for rooting your phone). These kind of users are not contended with what is provided to them and so they tinker and hack stuff to take control into their own hands !

The Android OS is a derivative of Linux. And as you know in linux, you have to be root user in order to execute some privileged commands. Similarly, in android, you have be a root user in order to install some privilege apps, overclocking your processor, etc etc. So how to gain root access in android ? You can't just  write su and gain access. The process of becoming a root user is called rooting and in this post, I will show you how to root your phone.

Note: Rooting an Android phone will break the phone's warranty. So proceed at your own risk !


To root your phone, you simply go to www.unlockroot.com and download the software. Follow the guide - connect your phone with the computer and keep the phone in USB debugging mode.  Click on 'root'  and then the software will automatically detect the device. Press the device name button and voila - your phone is rooted. I used this software to root my phone. 

The software detected my phone - LG P500 and when i clicked on that button, my phone got rooted. Pretty simple eh ? This software indeed reduced a lot of hard work - eg. writing commands using adb in the command prompt,etc. 

But, this software doesn't support all devices and if you are unlucky, visit the following link to know other methods - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1152306 This link contains all the information about rooting/recovery/custom rom/faq etc

So, how do you know that your phone is successfully rooted ?  To verify this, there will be an app icon in the app drawer called superuser.  The icon is shown on the right. Hence, if you see this icon, it means you are now a superuser ! (welcome to the club :D)

Now what should I do after rooting my phone ? The first thing to do is to download useful apps from Google Play which require root privileges. The most important app is the one which moves your apps to SD card. Eg DroidSail Super App2SD (ROOT) There are some apps which by default don't have option to 'send to SD card' eg. Whatsapp messenger. So, you can send such apps to SD card using App2SD(root). Imagine the amount of internal space that will be saved as a result. In my case, my internal memory got increased by 50 MB as I almost shifted all my apps to SD card.

Similarly, you can install MyBackup Root to backup all your phone data. 

So, rooting your phone has many advantages as you have seen here and its worth trying if you are not in love with what you have right now. In my next post, I will explain what is custom recovery and how to back up your phone using Nandroid ! Till then, Happy Rooting :)