What is virtualxposed, virtualapp, ROM, rooting? And what are the risks of using them?

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What is virtualxposed, virtualapp, ROM, rooting? And what are the risks of using them?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

I can answer some of this. Rooting is a process of granting your phone’s ‘root access’ to you. Root access means you, and the apps you install, can control literally everything in your phone’s system, and even install entirely new operating systems that are in files called ROMs. For example, most android phones have manufacturer apps and user interfaces that are otherwise impossible to get rid of because they’re built in to the OS.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Rooting a phone is the process of taking full control over the device. “Root” is terminology from Linux-based operating systems, it basically means the ‘admin’ user. Android is based on Linux. The risks of rooting are that you potentially void your warranty, permanently render the device inoperable, or leave your device insecure and vulnerable to malware. The iPhone equivalent is known as “jail-breaking”.

ROM is Read Only Memory, though today it’s a bit of a misnomer since there are often various ways to easily overwrite it. ROM is usually the storage component where the core operating system/firmware of an embedded device like a smartphone is stored – it’s not intended for storing files or being used as RAM. There isn’t really a “risk” to using it, it’s just the way smart devices are built.

VirtualXposed appears to be a tool that exposes additional customisation of a phone’s behaviour without rooting it (using the Xposed framework which is designed for rooted phones). I’ve never heard of it before and didn’t bother to look further into it than that. There is [a website](https://virtualxposed.com/) if you want to know more.

VirtualApp, according to the above website, looks to be some sort of virtual environment (similar to virtual machines or containers) that allows one to run Android applications (.apk) within it, upon which VirtualXposed is based.

I gather the point of those apps is that rather than rooting the system directly to gain control, you run apps within this virtual environment which you already have control over – kind of like intercepting the way an app interacts with the Android system so that you can manipulate the system calls used by the app. But I would assume if you’re looking into this stuff you have an actual reason for doing so, so you would know more than me why you think you need to use it.

I don’t know what the risks of those apps are; potentially you could be banned by online services tied to particular apps if they discover you’re manipulating their function. It may also leave you vulnerable to the same insecurities and malware that rooting does.

>1)What should I do before rooting my phone?

Backup any data you wish to keep. Have a backup phone in case you break something and can’t live without a phone.

>2)What would be the safest way to root, because if I brick my phone my parents would get pretty angry, and 120% inflation wouldn’t help either.

Not to do it. Different models of phones may be rooted more or less easily than others, and there may be more than one method to do so. If you’re finding instructions for it online then generally speaking they’re already going to describe the safest and easiest way known at the time. Unless you’re into the hacking scene yourself, there isn’t a whole lot you can do to make the process any safer.