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[–] 7 points 1 year ago (6 children)

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.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Typically unlocking the bootloader requires a full wipe. It's a security method intended to keep an attacker from compromising your OS to access our data if the phone is stolen.

    I've never rooted a phone without requiring a wipe, but I've owned mostly Samsung

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  • 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.

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  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    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.

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