google play store part
I remember a while back hearing about custom google play store APKs, are they still a thing? And if so, could someone explain them to me? (Or just send a link to them)
I’ve tried Mobilism, but the search is locked behind a login and their activation emails aren’t reaching my inbox.
rooting part
Could someone help me root my phone?
I’ve never rooted phones before, and I can’t find any trusted information on how to root my specific model of phone.
I have a Samsung A03s, please ask me if you need information.
First for good info for rooting your phone check xda forums. They surely have a forum for ur phone and surely have someone who rooted it and has more experience and is willing to help out.
For a store u could use apkpure app store (no account needed) or apk mirror
Be careful when rooting because there are risks of bricking and such. Dont root ur main phone it might be risky since its ur first time.
Second this, I’d buy another phone, maybe a used/new Google pixel from a few gen back, and practice rooting it. I’ve bricked my phone twice before and it’s not fun. Once I got lucky and was able to get back in, but the other time I had to factory reset and rebuild all my personal stuff. Others have mentioned XDA, but I’d also check out Munchy: https://youtube.com/@munchy_cool
Search for an app called aurora store in f droid. Open source app so it’s safer to use. You can download any apps from play store with it.
There isn’t anything as trustworthy or comprehensive as Mobilism from my experience. Your best bet is to try making another throwaway email to get the activation email.
I probably should mention, I’ve checked the FMHY megathread but haven’t found anything on the play store cracks, and the guide for rooting doesn’t cover my phone.
Don’t root your phone. It gives everything on your phone root access to do whatever it wants, which totally invalidates all of your phone’s security measures and leaves you completely unprotected. Nothing worth doing to your phone needs root, and there’s almost always a way to do whatever you want to do without rooting.
@AphoticDev
Unless Google opens it up in revenge, then no, not totally unprotected. But they did set the rooting path to expand the attack surface needlessly.
It’s a consequence of locking up your device, so you can’t control it to serve as a vehicle for ads, DRM, and data mining.Security 3rd, otherwise there would be no problems with patching.
Still one needs to be VERY aware what consequences rooting has.
->
@moosetwin@AphoticDev
-> (@GrapheneOS offers a good way out of this, but it’s only for Google hardware, which is in the race to the bottom with stripping hardware features.)
which totally invalidates all of your phone’s security measures and leaves you completely unprotected.
This is bullshit. If that was true, Linux would be the most unsecure OS in the world, since it’s users always have access to sudo.
On Android phones with root, you have a root access manager, which controls root for all apps. Any app that would like to use root access has to go through your root manager to request it, which asks the user if they’d like to grant access. Usually, the Magisk app handles this, but in the past other root apps like SuperSU used to be used.
If you don’t grant access to root, the apps on your phone have only as much access as on an unrooted phone. Root doesn’t make your phone less secure, apart from physical attacks due to the unlocked bootloader.
