Reason to root your android

" Android " is one of the most open, versatile, and customizable mobile operating systems out there. You may think you don't need to root your phone, but you'd be surprised at how much more you can accomplish with a little work. Here's the reason :

1. Truly own your devices  

In the end, all of this boils down to one thing: you own your device, and you should be able to do with it as you please. Certain manufacturers and carriers try to keep that from happening, but with root access, you truly own your device and open yourself up to all the possibilities other parties try to block. Sure, there's some risk involved, and we don't usually recommend rooting other people's phones, but in the end, you can't put a price on true openness and control.

2. Flash a Custom ROM

Okay, so you probably already know about this one—but it's one of the best benefits of rooting. A custom ROM is basically a custom version of Android, and it truly changes how you use your phone. Some merely bring a stock version of Android to non-stock phones, or later versions of Android to phones that don't have it yet. Some add a few handy features, some add lots of really unique features, and some change your operating system from head to toe. No matter what phone you have—even if it's a Nexus—we highly recommend checking out the custom ROMs out there. You won't be disappointed. Note: As some of you have noted, you don't actually need root access to flash a custom ROM—though you will need to unlock your bootloader (a process that sometimes comes bundled with root access).

3. Flash a Custom Kernal

Some of Android's most under-the-hood tweaks require a custom kernel, which you can only flash with a rooted device. The kernel is responsible for helping your apps communicate with the hardware of your phone, which means a custom kernel can give you better performance, battery life, and even extra features like Wi-Fi tethering (on unsupported phones), faster battery charging, and lots more. You can flash kernels manually or simplify the process with something like Kernel Manager.

4. Boost Your Phone's Speed and Battery Life

You can do a lot of things to speed up your phone and boost its battery life without rooting, but with root—as always—you have even more power. For example, with an app like SetCPU you can overclock your phone for better performance, or underclock it for better battery life. You can also use an app like Greenify to automatically hibernate apps you aren't using—perfect for those apps that always want to run in the background when you're not looking.

5. Unlock Hidden Features and Install "Incompatible" Apps

Sometimes, even Android isn't open enough to give you some of the features you want. Either an app is blocked by carriers, hacks into Android's system files, or otherwise isn't available. Luckily, rooting can help with that: you can install carrier-blocked apps, get features from the latest version of Android, make incompatible apps compatible, power up your hardware, get features like Beats Audio from other phones, or emulate exclusive features like those on the Moto X. Whatever you want, rooting gives you the power to do a lot more.