The Testament of the Android

The Testament of the Android

Non-profit and free for redistribution
Written on November 11 | 2014
Published on October 27th | 2015

For entertainment and research purposes only

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DISCLAIMER:
The Paranoid's Bible and its writers hold
no responsibility for the acts of others.

The Paranoid’s Bible is for research and
entertainment purposes only.

Please visit our blog for more PDFs and information: https://www.paranoidsbible.tumblr.com/

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Contents
Preface	4
What is Rooting?	5
Benefits and drawbacks of root	6
Common custom versions of Android	7
Basic apps Google doesn’t want you to know about	9
XPosed Installer	11
XPrivacy	12
Rooting 101	13
Installing your custom ROM	14
Afterword	15

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Preface

Hello guys.

I was asked by the Paranoid’s Bible team to make a short segment about Android rooting and security to complement the main book as the team is too paranoid to move on from their Nokia 3310.

Well, here it is.
In this guide, I will talk about some easy methods to root your phone, why you need to do it this very moment without excuse, mention some ROM’s for you to load onto your phone and finally, some apps to protect the little privacy you have left in your life. At least for a week until the NSA decides to reveal that all phones since 2001 has had several hardware-level backdoors installed.

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What is Rooting?

Rooting is the process of gaining “root”-level access on your Android device. For some reason, Google thought it was a brilliant idea to lock away the Android version of an Administrator account for “your own safety and ease of use”. Basically, your phone is gimped on purchase. While most people won’t even notice it, the admin account is out of your grasp. Imagine if that was true for your PC. Something’s wrong, and it’s easy to fix, but you can’t run CMD.exe as admin to fix the issue with three lines of commands. You want to install this piece of software, but you need admin rights to do it so you can’t use it. That’s the default setting on Android.
As you can see, it’s basically a middle finger to consumers and developers alike, and many phone producers (like HTC and Samsung) are aware of the potential drawbacks of this and therefore have made it much easier for the average user to unlock this power of system administration.
Also, with root, you can get rid of /ALL/ apps installed on your phone, so if you have a Samsung (or any American carrier phone with bloat installed), you will feel blessed by the seven gods of fate over the ability to remove said cancerous bloat that does nothing but take up space.

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Benefits and drawbacks of root

As I touched on briefly before, Root has some amazing benefits. I’ll make a short list of it now, followed by a list of cons to make it easy to decide if rooting is for you.

Pros:
• System-level control
• Uninstall carrier apps
• Custom OS install
• Hardware-level tweaks (CPU speed, battery life, better screen controls, multi-touch boost)
• Install ALL apps on your device
• Custom functions and button mappings
• AdBlock
• System images for 100% reliable backup
• Super secret privacy stuff on your device
• xPosed network


Cons:
• Risk of soft-bricking your device
• You may void your warranty
• All updates of your Android version must be done by hand
• Minor compatibility issues
• You won’t ever be able to live with stock android again

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Common custom versions of Android

Even if you aren’t into rooting, you should already know about CyanogenMod. It’s probably the most expansive, compatible and well-marketed version of Android out there and it has been customized to run on a frankly insane amount of devices. But for now, let’s do a run-down on the most popular ROM’s and some a little more obscure and device-specific for your pleasure.


==Cyanogenmod - https://www.cyanogenmod.org/ ==
As mentioned just before, Cyanogenmod is probably the way to go for a beginner root user. It’s so simple that my mom actually uses it and likes it. That should tell you pretty much everything you need to know. If a 51-year-old woman finds joy in using this ROM, even the most tech-ignorant should be able to not mess it up.
I would recommend this for every beginner because it’s as close to stock android as you can come, but with a hefty amount of added features like security reinforcement and theme support.
The best thing about Cyanogenmod is that it comes with its own easy installer. Just hit up their site and follow their “how to install” guide and you are up and running in less than 15 minutes.


==Carbon - https://carbonrom.org/==
Like CyanogenMod, this ROM is remarkably close to stock, but it has some nice goodies out of the bag as well. First off, it has a sleek, beautiful design, powerful optimization and is designed with a great user Experience in mind. The rom also has a nice toolbox for Carbon-exclusive features for you to tinker with.


==SlimRom - https://www.slimroms.net/ ==
SlimRom is another one of the UX-based roms that look, feel and work wonderfully. This rom is pretty unique and has a nice slew of features that makes the phone adapt to you, from theme inversions, left-handed mode, privacy guards and a lot more listed on their website. Do check this out of you feel like having some bling to your functionality. A fair warning: The ROM isn’t s light-weight as the previous mentions, so keep in mind that it probably won’t run well on a mid-low tier phone.


==AOKP -  https://aokp.co/ ==
“Infused with Magical Unicorn Power” indeed. They don’t lie with that tag line. This is probably the most impressive ROM out there and needs no introduction to the people in the scene. You simply won’t find any ROM with more functions out of the box. An honestly baffling amount of hardware-level tweaks, software customizations and said Unicorn magic will make you love this ROM. Note that this will work on mid-high level phones and above.
The drawback to this one is its honestly overwhelming feature set. So, if you want this to be your daily driver, please take your time to figure out how it works.


==Paranoid Android - https://paranoidandroid.co/ ==
Paranoid Android… Just the name makes it fit right into here. A bunch of security, a touch of amazing material design and always up-to-date, this is probably the rom for you if you like a great experience without all the hassle of tinkering with it yourself.


==Android Revolution HD - https://android-revolution-hd.blogspot.com/ ==
This ROM is for select HTC and Samsung devices only. Wait, why do you list it here then, Pleb, I hear the strawman in my head talk. Well, if you have ever used HTC’s version of Android they named “Sense”, you would know. The Sense overlay and features are simply some of the best. I am not even kidding here. I avoided to root my old HTC legend just because I couldn’t get a keyboard that was half as good as the one the phone came with. And all of the nice features. And the amazing UI…. Anyone that has ever used Sense wouldn’t be able to go back. And now, some wizard made a custom rom based on Android 4.4.2 and Sense 6 for you to install on your phone. So people with and HTC One M7 can still benefit from the new version of Sense that HTC doesn’t officially support for the device. Simply Magical.

Please note: There are a lot of custom ROM’s out there I didn’t mention here. Just do a quick Google search if you feel like the short list I provided wasn’t enough for you.

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Basic apps Google doesn’t want you to know about

Okay. This is where the magic happens. Did you know that Google doesn’t allow a lot of really, really useful stuff onto its main marketplace, the Google Play Store? No? Well, sit down and listen, because you are going to have your mind blown.

Here’s a list of my most commonly used grey market apps for you to install:

AdAway
As the name suggests, this App is an ad blocker. But not just for your browser, but your entire fucking phone. Ever get tired of ads in your free games? Let’s take Cut the Rope as an example. One minute of game, three minutes of adverts. Well, that’s all in the past now, as AdAway blocks most ad networks via the hosts file on your device (See, I told you that rooting is useful).

AdBlock Edge
Well, let’s be honest. AdAway doesn’t catch everything, and neither does AdBlock. But together, the two cover for each other, and since I have had both of these puppies installed on my phone, I haven’t seen a single ad anywhere. Not in the browser, not in my notification feed, not anywhere. Just do yourself a favor and do this. As an added benefit, you’ll save bandwidth on your phone.

Any Play Store replacement
Yeah. For one reason or another, Google isn’t keen on letting you know that there are other ways for you to install apps on your device if you don’t like the hive-mind all that much. And the best thing? It’s pretty easy too! Here’s a short list of app stores you should take a gander at as an alternative:

F-Droid:
A basic, but developer-driven play store alternative that has some experimental apps that for one reason or another didn’t get onto Google Play. Do check it out.

Amazon App Store:
Yep, Amazon has its own app store, complete with both paid and free apps and games.

SlideMe:
A nice, community driven app store based on exploration

AppsLib:
A play store alternative mostly based for Tablet apps that couldn’t pass Google certification. Hidden gems galore.

BlackMart:
YO HO HIBBITY HE BEING A PIRATE IS ALL THERE TO BE DO WHAT YOU WANT CUZ A PIRATE IS FREE YOU ARE A PIRATE!! This one offers you paid apps for free. Yep. No strings attached. Personally, I would prefer you guys to pay for your apps as the $1 they cost isn’t really a major setback. But if you want to run a 100% info-free device, you have no other option.

MarketEnabler:
Not as much a replacement as it is a way to get out of region-locked downloads.

BootManager
This app is another one that requires Root to run. What does it do? It completely kills the auto-start triggers some apps have. You know how Skype is impossible to actually close because it always re-opens on pretty much every occasion it can? Well, nevermore to that.

AppOps starter
AppOps is a developer tool in Android that Google leaked by accident and has covered up since the leak. What does it do? It pretty much disables individual permissions every app you have installed has, iOS style. Because they “patched it out”, you need this to actually open the menu. But now, Angry Birds will never have to know where you sit on the toilet playing it, I guess.

GravityBox
Remember the hardware-level tweaks and OS tweaks I talked about on the custom ROM section? With this app, you can get that on stock, or hell, any ROM there is.
No-frills CPU control

Well, it’s exactly as it says on the tin. Control your CPU speed without any hassle.

Titanium Backup
Best backup tool there is. Just do yourself a favor and get this.

UnbelovedHosts
Removes ads, access to malware domains and other host-file tweaks you will love.
Of course, there are many more, but I want to keep this short and sweet for the newbs. Remember, search engines are your friends if you want to have more stuff.

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XPosed Installer

Oh boy. This one is pretty grand. It’s the single-most amazing benefit of root. The story behind this is that a guy wizard on the XDA forums found a way to make ROM-level changes on your phone without having to boot into recovery and manually patch your ROM. Yeah. Because of this, xPosed installer is the single-most useful tool for device customization and hardware-level tweaks. It’s basically a toolset for toolsets.

Basically, this is a framework to install tweaks on your phone. Just as easy to use as any app store, but with 100% useful things. XPosed installer is also needed to install XPrivacy (duh), so you better just grab this from the get-go.

All you do to install a module is pick it, download it and reboot your phone. Bam. If tweaking an OS could get any easier than this we would all be exalted into godhood.

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XPrivacy

Well. In the chapters passed, we have touched briefly upon security. Now comes the mother of all privacy apps on the system.

XPrivacy is a toolbox, not unlike the ones you can find on XPosed, but this one focuses on, well, you guessed it: Privacy!

Okay, right away, I want you to just go buy the pro version. The guy who made this has sunk half his personal time into making this, and the paid version basically runs itself, so just do it. It’s worth the money you cheap bastard.

Well, what can you do with this awesome piece of software?

Restrict App permissions, restrict hidden permissions, show how much data each application uses, sends and downloads behind your back, makes a debug log for you, forces secure connections when it can, flushes your cache for identifying data, FRAKKING FAKES YOUR DEVIDE ID, NUMBER, SERIAL, HARDWARE, SCREEN RESOLUTION, GPS COORDINATES, MAC ADDRESS, IMEI NUMBER, ANDROID ID, GSF ID, ADVERTISING ID, COUNTRY, OPERATOR, GSM CELL ID, SSID AND USER AGENT. AND IT RANDOMIZES IT ON REBOOT TOO! THIS PIECE OF SOFTWARE BASICALLY SINGLE-HANDEDLY CLOAKS YOU AND YOUR PRIVACY IN A NUKEABLE WAY

Another added benefit of having the paid version is the community filters. We are all too lazy to manually poke around with permissions on the 100+ apps that are on our phones, so with a simple click of a button, you can cut the balls off of all of your apps at once. No hassle, no sweat, no nothing.

Just get this. You have no excuse not to. The software basically runs itself after you set it up (pretty simple to do, too).

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Rooting 101

Okay, now, after you have digested all of the nice options that are open to you, you want to root your phone. “But Pleb!! How do I do that??” You ask? Well, it’s actually pretty simple nowadays. Back when I rooted my first device (A HTC Legend, notorious for its Fascist-tier boot loading protection), I had to work around with custom SD cards, command line hacks and shady software. But nowadays, you can pretty much hook your phone to your computer, press a couple of buttons and bam. Done.

Here are some ways to easily root your phone:
CyanogenMod Installer: https://www.cyanogenmod.org

This one is probably the simplest. Go to CyanogenMods homepage, download the tool and follow instructions. Within ten minutes, you should have a nicely rooted phone. Since this is literally the easiest thing in the world to do, I won’t describe how it’s done. It’s literally a 1-2-3-4-done thing.

Kingo Root: https://www.kingoapp.com/
This is the second easiest option you have. It’s another plug-and-play with simple directions that are impossible to mess up. Just follow the steps and you are done. This doesn’t have a 100% success rate, but if it fails, nothing happens. So you won’t mess up your phone this way. If you have a HTC or a Samsung phone, this is the tool to use as it also bypasses the protection these phones might have installed.

FramaRoot: https://forum.xda-developers.com/apps/framaroot/root-framaroot-one-click-apk-to-root-t2130276
Okay. I lied. This is probably the easiest way to root since it doesn’t even need a computer to do so. Just download the .APK, run it and bam. Rooted. This app runs a couple of exploits to force Super User and Root access on your device, and because of that, it can pretty much tell you if you are wasting your time right away. Just look up the thread on the XDA forum I linked to read about how to use this app.

Finally, if you are unsure about how this works in practice, you can just search “Android Root tutorial” on YouTube and see it in action. It’s literally never been easier to root your phone than it is nowadays.

As an extra bonus, you can look up showcases of Android roms on there too, in case you want to see them in action before committing.

Speaking about….

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Installing your custom ROM

This is a little fiddlier than just rooting your current ROM, but it’s still a fairly easy thing to do.
Here’s a short tutorial on how to do it in end-2014. This might be updated once a better way is developed, but you can just Google it if you feel like not bothering me.

WHAT YOU NEED:
• A rooted phone
• A computer
• A Mini-USB cable
• Internet connection
After you have downloaded your ROM of choice, you need to also download the Google APK files in case you want to have Google maps, play store and all the other things. Different tiers of the APK files can be found here: https://www.sharedapk.com/google-play-services-3-0-25/
Turn your phone off and boot it into recovery mode. This differs from device to device, so a quick search for “recovery mode [device name]” should do.
Now, open this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHULkfePcTg  and follow the instructions to install TWRP Recovery and follow the steps to install the custom ROM. The good thing about TWRP is that it has a touch screen interface that makes recovery much easier than with stock.
Bam!

Now you are done.

Easy, wasn’t it?

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Afterword

So, this 101 EZ-guide is now over. Personally, I find it important to share this, even if it’s just adding to the redundancy of the resources online. Well, I hope that you have found this a little helpful, and if you want me to edit something in here, add more stuff or maybe fix a mistake, please send message to paranoidsbible.tumblr.com

Anyhow, have a good one and enjoy your freshly-rooted phone!