Enabling root has always required a device wipe. It’s unfortunate if you want to do it well after receiving your device and using it for months with the stock software.
It definitely didn’t always require a wipe - I think it might be storage encryption by default that was introduced, that made it a requirement, where modifying/replacing system/bootloader components means it can’t decrypt the data anymore.
Not in my experience, but again that was quite some time ago - I think it was Android 6 the last time I did it.
ETA: although now that I think about it, it was technically done in an “unsafe” manner by exploiting vulnerabilities. For the more safety-concerned, maybe a wipe was preferred.
Typically unlocking the bootloader requires a full wipe. It’s a security method intended to keep an attacker from compromising your OS to access your data if the phone is stolen.
I’ve never rooted a phone without requiring a wipe, but I’ve owned mostly Samsung
Even old Samsung phones would let you root and flash custom roms without wiping, the bootloader was open from the factory and you could just override your recovery and system partition with Odin. That’s how I did it with my Galaxy Gio during the Android 2.2 days
It’s so that someone else can’t unlock your bootloader and install malware. Like if you’re entering a country and they say “please unlock your phone” and they take it, they could unlock and replace the bootloader without you being able to tell.
The article implies simply rooting will do - something I haven’t done in quite a while, but last I knew didn’t involve wiping your existing setup.
Enabling root has always required a device wipe. It’s unfortunate if you want to do it well after receiving your device and using it for months with the stock software.
It definitely didn’t always require a wipe - I think it might be storage encryption by default that was introduced, that made it a requirement, where modifying/replacing system/bootloader components means it can’t decrypt the data anymore.
Not in my experience, but again that was quite some time ago - I think it was Android 6 the last time I did it.
ETA: although now that I think about it, it was technically done in an “unsafe” manner by exploiting vulnerabilities. For the more safety-concerned, maybe a wipe was preferred.
Typically unlocking the bootloader requires a full wipe. It’s a security method intended to keep an attacker from compromising your OS to access your data if the phone is stolen.
I’ve never rooted a phone without requiring a wipe, but I’ve owned mostly Samsung
Even old Samsung phones would let you root and flash custom roms without wiping, the bootloader was open from the factory and you could just override your recovery and system partition with Odin. That’s how I did it with my Galaxy Gio during the Android 2.2 days
I’ve owned pixels and Nexus and you could unlock without wipe. Locking required a wipe. Now both do not sure when it changed though.
No now it does. Before you could unlock your bootloader and not wipe. Locking it has always required a wipe. Now both do for some reason.
It’s so that someone else can’t unlock your bootloader and install malware. Like if you’re entering a country and they say “please unlock your phone” and they take it, they could unlock and replace the bootloader without you being able to tell.