Question Magisk/Root procedure for 5a 5G?

[Ehikes]

Hey all,

I purchased my new 5a after seeing various headlines about how the Google Dialer would allow you to opt in to automatic call recording. That's incredibly helpful for my job, and a major reason why I've kept my OnePlus 6 for the past few years, but now the battery is barely getting through half the day.

It looks like Google is restricting auto calls to outside the US, which sucks because I live in a one-party consent state and always ask for permission to record.

Magisk could be the answer since it has a few modules for other Pixels to get auto call recording. However, do we know if we can apply the same method for Magisking the 5 to the 5a? I figure it may carry over because these two devices are so similar in specs and software, but I'd like to make sure before getting into the process.

 

[xatlasm]

Yes, you can. See screenshot of my rooted 5a. I have the JP version but there's no reason why it shouldn't work on the US version too.

 

[himom]

Hey all,

I purchased my new 5a after seeing various headlines about how the Google Dialer would allow you to opt in to automatic call recording. That's incredibly helpful for my job, and a major reason why I've kept my OnePlus 6 for the past few years, but now the battery is barely getting through half the day.

It looks like Google is restricting auto calls to outside the US, which sucks because I live in a one-party consent state and always ask for permission to record.

Magisk could be the answer since it has a few modules for other Pixels to get auto call recording. However, do we know if we can apply the same method for Magisking the 5 to the 5a? I figure it may carry over because these two devices are so similar in specs and software, but I'd like to make sure before getting into the process.

Go to Settings -> About Phone. At the bottom is your build number. Go to https://developers.google.com/android/images and download the image that matches your version, probably .007.

Extract boot.img from it and adb push it to /sdcard. Have magisk patch that and save it. adb pull that patched boot.img and make sure you have OEM Unlock enabled in Developer Options. After confirming that, reboot to fastboot and run 'fastboot flashing unlock'. This will likely wipe your phone. Once that's done, reboot back into fastboot and run 'fastboot flash boot <local path to patched boot.img>' Now you have magisk installed. You can also install LSPosed and XPrivacyLua if you want to tinker with that or the Universal SafetyNet Fix at: https://github.com/kdrag0n/safetynet-fix/releases. Just download 1.2.0 and adb push it to your phone and have magisk install it.

 

[exile1ck]

Go to Settings -> About Phone. At the bottom is your build number. Go to https://developers.google.com/android/images and download the image that matches your version, probably .007.

Extract boot.img from it and adb push it to /sdcard. Have magisk patch that and save it. adb pull that patched boot.img and make sure you have OEM Unlock enabled in Developer Options. After confirming that, reboot to fastboot and run 'fastboot flashing unlock'. This will likely wipe your phone. Once that's done, reboot back into fastboot and run 'fastboot flash boot <local path to patched boot.img>' Now you have magisk installed. You can also install LSPosed and XPrivacyLua if you want to tinker with that or the Universal SafetyNet Fix at: https://github.com/kdrag0n/safetynet-fix/releases. Just download 1.2.0 and adb push it to your phone and have magisk install it.

So I actually did this a couple days ago with the universal safetynet fix. Ipassed safetynet on magisk but googlepay doesnt work. Does googlepay work for you?

 

[himom]

So I actually did this a couple days ago with the universal safetynet fix. Ipassed safetynet on magisk but googlepay doesnt work. Does googlepay work for you?

I haven't had a chance to try it yet. I have the card added but I've yet to pay with it. Maybe later today I'll give it a whirl.

 

[nsoult]

It doesn't look like there are valid device fingerprints for the 5a yet in MagiskHide Props Config, so I'm not sure how you're able to pass basic ctsProfile checks.
I've rooted and have installed the universal safetynet fix, but until there is a 5a fingerprint, I'm not sure how I can pass safetynet.

 

[exile1ck]

It doesn't look like there are valid device fingerprints for the 5a yet in MagiskHide Props Config, so I'm not sure how you're able to pass basic ctsProfile checks.
I've rooted and have installed the universal safetynet fix, but until there is a 5a fingerprint, I'm not sure how I can pass safetynet.

isnt the magiskhide project coming to an end though?

 

[bulletfodder]

isnt the magiskhide project coming to an end though?

yes. There will be another program that comes along. The main dev for Magisk got hired by google, so...

 

[Schroeder09]

I have a Pixel 2 XL. It's rooted on Android 10 still. I never even upgraded to Android 11 because by the time it came out I was already sick of dealing with the rooting updates. I don't care what anybody here says it's always a pain in the ass. It takes 3 to 4 hours to get everything set back up right after rooting. The time to back up everything before you start has to be considered. And when things go wrong you spend a whole weekend making them right. I don't have time for it anymore.

I most enjoy my EX kernels ability that allows me to sweep to sleep the display. I love this because it's handy and makes it so my screen off button (power button) is basically never used. It never fails this way. This means I never have to tear my phone apart to replace mechanical components.

I enjoy adaway. I enjoy YouTube vanced. I enjoy viper for Android. I enjoy substratum. I enjoy button mapper. I really, really enjoy Tulsa divers pixel launcher mods that allow me to make the buttons on the screen smaller to give me more screen real estate, but I think that hasn't been available since Android 11. You can no longer modify button icons from what I understand. I don't know if this is still true. I know there are rootless versions of substratum and the YouTube advanced, but when I last read about them years ago they were limited as compared to the root versions.

I leaned towards root being basically worthless, not worth the time, and more of a pain in the ass for a basic user who's not a developer. If I get the Pixel 5a or the Pixel 6 is rooting still worth it in 2021? Are there any rootless versions of the things I've mentioned here that would satisfy all my likes and needs I've mentioned here on Android 12 on a Pixel 5A or Pixel 6?

 

[nsoult]

in case anyone cares, magiskhide props config module was updated recently and I was able to use it to force basic attuestation, so my 5a is now passing safetynet checks.

 

[liberatorx3]

I have a Pixel 2 XL. It's rooted on Android 10 still. I never even upgraded to Android 11 because by the time it came out I was already sick of dealing with the rooting updates. I don't care what anybody here says it's always a pain in the ass. It takes 3 to 4 hours to get everything set back up right after rooting. The time to back up everything before you start has to be considered. And when things go wrong you spend a whole weekend making them right. I don't have time for it anymore.

I most enjoy my EX kernels ability that allows me to sweep to sleep the display. I love this because it's handy and makes it so my screen off button (power button) is basically never used. It never fails this way. This means I never have to tear my phone apart to replace mechanical components.

I enjoy adaway. I enjoy YouTube vanced. I enjoy viper for Android. I enjoy substratum. I enjoy button mapper. I really, really enjoy Tulsa divers pixel launcher mods that allow me to make the buttons on the screen smaller to give me more screen real estate, but I think that hasn't been available since Android 11. You can no longer modify button icons from what I understand. I don't know if this is still true. I know there are rootless versions of substratum and the YouTube advanced, but when I last read about them years ago they were limited as compared to the root versions.

I leaned towards root being basically worthless, not worth the time, and more of a pain in the ass for a basic user who's not a developer. If I get the Pixel 5a or the Pixel 6 is rooting still worth it in 2021? Are there any rootless versions of the things I've mentioned here that would satisfy all my likes and needs I've mentioned here on Android 12 on a Pixel 5A or Pixel 6?

I cannot live without YouTube Vanced or Viper4Android, and I have found no alternative. Magisk rooting is pretty easy though, so I don't think it's that much of a hassle.

in case anyone cares, magiskhide props config module was updated recently and I was able to use it to force basic attuestation, so my 5a is now passing safetynet checks.

Wow holy you're right it is super recent, thanks for the update.

 

[DB126]

I have a Pixel 2 XL. It's rooted on Android 10 still. I never even upgraded to Android 11 because by the time it came out I was already sick of dealing with the rooting updates. I don't care what anybody here says it's always a pain in the ass. It takes 3 to 4 hours to get everything set back up right after rooting. The time to back up everything before you start has to be considered. And when things go wrong you spend a whole weekend making them right. I don't have time for it anymore.

I most enjoy my EX kernels ability that allows me to sweep to sleep the display. I love this because it's handy and makes it so my screen off button (power button) is basically never used. It never fails this way. This means I never have to tear my phone apart to replace mechanical components.

I enjoy adaway. I enjoy YouTube vanced. I enjoy viper for Android. I enjoy substratum. I enjoy button mapper. I really, really enjoy Tulsa divers pixel launcher mods that allow me to make the buttons on the screen smaller to give me more screen real estate, but I think that hasn't been available since Android 11. You can no longer modify button icons from what I understand. I don't know if this is still true. I know there are rootless versions of substratum and the YouTube advanced, but when I last read about them years ago they were limited as compared to the root versions.

I leaned towards root being basically worthless, not worth the time, and more of a pain in the ass for a basic user who's not a developer. If I get the Pixel 5a or the Pixel 6 is rooting still worth it in 2021? Are there any rootless versions of the things I've mentioned here that would satisfy all my likes and needs I've mentioned here on Android 12 on a Pixel 5A or Pixel 6?

My portfolio of root 'enjoys' differs a bit by overall ROI sentiment around rooting is similar. I stopped after Pie and never looked back. Much of what previously required root can now be accomplished via other means. I do miss being master of my gizmos but there are bigger fish to fry in the world of worries.

 

[peikojose]

Adblock?

 

[Schroeder09]

Adblock?

This is a non-root version of AdAway I take it?

 

[liberatorx3]

This is a non-root version of AdAway I take it?

Most "adblocking" programs are standalone, in the case of android, Adblock has its own browser. Some other browsers that do that are like Brave. However they obviously only work within the application, AdAway does hosts file level blocking so it works throughout the entire OS, so this worked really pleasantly for me from those stupid pop-up ads or the ones that take up quarter of the screen on some apps.

 

[Schroeder09]

Most "adblocking" programs are standalone, in the case of android, Adblock has its own browser. Some other browsers that do that are like Brave. However they obviously only work within the application, AdAway does hosts file level blocking so it works throughout the entire OS, so this worked really pleasantly for me from those stupid pop-up ads or the ones that take up quarter of the screen on some apps.

I never realized brave blocked ads. It's the browser I use. I thought it just blocked third party tracking cookies or something that happen in the background. The ads I notice that are blocked are the broken link ads blocked by AdAway.

When i started rooting I got AdAway just because of the hype and mentions I saw all the time. I didn't see what the big deal was but figured since I was rooted I might as well get all the benefits for the hard work. I have bought in at this point. Going to some sites on my work phone is a real pain. The bombardment of ads is NUTS. Some sites are unusable. This isn't a problem on my rooted p2xl with AdAway.

My camera just failed though. When I replaced it and the battery a couple nights ago I cracked the screen. It isn't shattered beyond use or anything. In fact I don't think most would even notice unless I pointed it out. I still think I'm going to be going to the 5a or p6 pro based on the reviews that I start to see after a couple months' use for each of these two variants.

If someone could figure out a smooth way to do updates and stay rooted without having to hook up to a PC and spend 3 hours doing it id never think about leaving root. It's a PITA though.

 

[liberatorx3]

I never realized brave blocked ads. It's the browser I use. I thought it just blocked third party tracking cookies or something that happen in the background. The ads I notice that are blocked are the broken link ads blocked by AdAway.

When i started rooting I got AdAway just because of the hype and mentions I saw all the time. I didn't see what the big deal was but figured since I was rooted I might as well get all the benefits for the hard work. I have bought in at this point. Going to some sites on my work phone is a real pain. The bombardment of ads is NUTS. Some sites are unusable. This isn't a problem on my rooted p2xl with AdAway.

My camera just failed though. When I replaced it and the battery a couple nights ago I cracked the screen. It isn't shattered beyond use or anything. In fact I don't think most would even notice unless I pointed it out. I still think I'm going to be going to the 5a or p6 pro based on the reviews that I start to see after a couple months' use for each of these two variants.

If someone could figure out a smooth way to do updates and stay rooted without having to hook up to a PC and spend 3 hours doing it id never think about leaving root. It's a PITA though.

Do you root with Magisk? It's definitely a lot easier now. https://topjohnwu.github.io/Magisk/ota.html

Doing updates and staying rooted was a PITA for me too, I ended up just never updating haha. In fact, my P2 is still running some old custom 9.1 version.

 

[Schroeder09]

Do you root with Magisk? It's definitely a lot easier now. https://topjohnwu.github.io/Magisk/ota.html

Doing updates and staying rooted was a PITA for me too, I ended up just never updating haha. In fact, my P2 is still running some old custom 9.1 version.

Yes. I use magisk, and that's exactly what I did. I have yet to (never will on this phone anymore) update to android 11 because I KNEW such a big OS change would leave my phone broken for days. One of the big things I like on my phone is Tulsa divers modified button bar icons and making the bar a lot smaller, so it uses less screen real estate. When 11 came out I read that the icons couldn't be modified. Not sure if that's correct. It's been too long. Regardless, I just stopped updating because of the potential for a bad couple days, and even when things went well I never wanted to spend the 3-4 hrs to back the phone up and get everything just like it was before after booting back up into the new update.

It's easier to update and root now than it was when I had to download the update, open it, remove "-w" from the flashall.bat file, flash twrp, flash magisk, and then re-install all the modules or the ones that were messed up or inactive from the update?

 

[nsoult]

This is my process, ymmv:

I keep my os, etc stock. I run mostly the latest updates, however, there have been times I have skipped a few monthlies.

step 1: go to google's developers site to download the latest factory image.
step 2: unzip, extract boot.img, adb push it to my phone
step 3: edit either the .bat file or the .sh file depending on whether I'm using windows or wsl2, remove the -w
step 4: reboot into fastboot, execute .bat or .sh
step 5: reboot, open magisk, patch boot.img that I pushed in step 2, adb pull patched boot to computer
step 6: reboot into fastboot, run `fastboot flash boot [patched image file name]`, repeat command for boot_a or boot_b
step 7: reboot, verify in magisk that root is ok

pretty simple, I think, and only takes like 10 minutes of my time. I don't see it as burdensome, but I'm not sure how the future it going to look - the steps described above was my process for my old pixel 4xl, so with magisk's developer working for google now, I'm not sure this will continue to be as easy if I want to continue to keep safetynet checks working on my pixel 5a.

 

[Tulsadiver]

Yes. I use magisk, and that's exactly what I did. I have yet to (never will on this phone anymore) update to android 11 because I KNEW such a big OS change would leave my phone broken for days. One of the big things I like on my phone is Tulsa divers modified button bar icons and making the bar a lot smaller, so it uses less screen real estate. When 11 came out I read that the icons couldn't be modified. Not sure if that's correct. It's been too long. Regardless, I just stopped updating because of the potential for a bad couple days, and even when things went well I never wanted to spend the 3-4 hrs to back the phone up and get everything just like it was before after booting back up into the new update.

It's easier to update and root now than it was when I had to download the update, open it, remove "-w" from the flashall.bat file, flash twrp, flash magisk, and then re-install all the modules or the ones that were messed up or inactive from the update?

Are you talking about these navbar Icons? I converted them to vector files and they still work for me (i'm on Android 12-Pixel 4XL). I'm probably going to get one of the Pixel 6 phones. I was going to hold out until the punch hole camera went instead to "under the screen" but my Pixel 3XL died and I no longer have a backup phone.