AdBlock Plus
[Price: Free]AdBlock Plus is a free, open source application that removes advertisements on your Android device. It’s considered a must-have for root users even if those of us who make a living on advertising hate that. This one is configurable so that some unobtrusive ads get through which is nice and the app is configurable. It’s not available on the Google Play Store but there is an official link from ABP that you can use by clicking the button below.
Dumpster
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]Dumpster is a data recovery tool that can find files you have deleted and then restore them. It supports photos and videos like most, but also music files, documents, PDFs, and pretty much anything you may have accidentally deleted. Like most recovery tools, root isn’t required for use but having root access can improve the app’s performance and help it find more lost files. Once installed, it acts like the Recycle Bin on your computer and you can delete files permanently if needed. It’s a good app to have around, just in case.
Flashify
[Price: Free / $3.99]Flashify is a root app that all root users should have. What it does is allow you to queue up stuff to flash from recovery without having to reboot your phone. This includes zips, mods, kernels, boot images, recovery images, and much more. This is a great tool for root beginners or amateurs and it’s especially great for those who don’t enjoy using ADB and Fastboot commands. It’s simple, it has a good, modern interface, and it just works.
Greenify
[Price: Free / $2.99 (optional)]Greenify quickly climbed the list as one of those essential root apps a long time ago. The app checks out your running apps and shows you which ones are running, which ones have been run, how frequently they have run, and how many times each one wakes up your device. Using this information, you can hibernate apps to prevent them from running in the background and drain your battery. This is the only app that prevents Facebook from waking up your phone 700+ times per day and it’s totally free although you can buy the donate version for $2.99 to help fund development!
Link2SD
[Price: Free / $2.35]Link2SD is a root app that allows you to move apps over to your SD card. It creates links to make your device believe it’s actually on your device so it works for apps that conventional Apps2SD apps don’t work on. This is a great way to take advantage of your external SD card space. It’s not as great as Marshmallow’s adoptable storage, but it’s a good alternative until people actually get it. There are some bugs, so read the user reviews before trying it out and do keep in mind that moved apps will perform more slowly.
Quick Boot (Reboot)
[Price: Free / $1.99]Quick Boot is an app that is both absurdly simple and absurdly useful. In most versions of Android, the power menu is weak sauce and you can only power down and sometimes you can reboot. Quick Reboot fixes this by allowing you to boot to recovery, and boot to bootloader. If you go pro, you’ll also get Tasker support as well as a hot boot option which just reboots the Android UI. It’s quick, simple, and makes finding an advanced power menu for your device a little bit less of a priority.
Nandroid Manager
[Price: Free / $1.99]Nandroid Manager does exactly what the name says it does. It manages your nandroid backups. This app gives you basic info about your nandroid backups and allows you to interact with them. You’ll be able to restore apps and data from nandroids to your current system along with a bunch of other information if you buy the pro version. You can also flash a new recovery if need be, set a nandroid backup to be restored when you boot, and verify MD5. If you don’t have a nandroid backup, you should probably go make one. It’s just the right thing to do.
ROM Toolbox
[Price: Free / $9.99]This is one of the very few all-in-one solutions for root users that still actually works. It has a bunch of features that includes a built-in file browser with root, app manager (uninstall system apps, etc), ROM management (create nandroid backups), script writer, font installer, and a lot more. On some devices, you can even change the boot animations, themes, and status bar icons. It doesn’t work for every phone, but it should work for most. Do beware, though, because it’s been half a year since the app was updated and we’re not entirely sure if the project was abandoned or not.
SDFix
[Price: Free]SDFix is a system modifier tool that helps those running Kit Kat and Lollipop overcome the dreaded locked-down SD card problem. I have personally tested this on a Note 3 running both Kit Kat and Lollipop as well as an HTC One M9, NVIDIA Shield Tablet, LG V10, Note 4, and Nexus 5 all running Lollipop. This makes your SD card useful again and takes away the limitations placed on other apps like file browsers. It doesn’t work for all devices but it’s definitely worth a shot if you are afflicted with this issue and your device doesn’t have a ROM or mod that solves the issue. It’s also absurdly easy to use. Open it, hit go, wait a few seconds, and then uninstall the app.
Servicely
[Price: Free / $2.16]Servicely is a newer application that helps control background services. This will allow you to do something like prevent Facebook from running in the background while your device screen is off. It’s a stop-gap for stopping rogue apps and unwarranted wake ups of your device and should help improve battery depending on how you use your device and which services you decide to stop. It’s a solid service and worth a shot if you have a service you just can’t stop.
SuperSU
[Price: Free / $3.75]SuperSU by Chainfire is the de facto Superuser application available. Most root methods have you installing this app anyway so most new root users already have it. It’s a solid root app with a ton of features and it acts like the front door to your device so any old root app can’t just go nuts. You’ll have a list of all the apps that have requested and been granted (or denied) root access. You can also fully unroot your device, keep logs, and more. It’s also frequently updated which is what you want in a Superuser app.
Tasker
Next on our list is a very useful root app called Tasker. This
powerful application can make your phone do pretty much anything you
want. It’s a vague description but an accurate one because the only
limit is your imagination. Many of the functions don’t require root
access but to get the full range of things you’ll be able to do, root
will be required. It’s a great application, especially for tinkerers and
those who have unusual needs for their smartphones. Do beware, though,
because the learning curve is rather steep.
Titanium Backup
Titanium Backup is a long time mainstay at the top of many root lists
and it feels almost blasphemous to not include it here. With this
application you can uninstall bloatware (a must have for many people),
freeze apps (leaves them installed but prevents them from ever running),
and backup your applications and application data. ROM flashers have
sworn by this app for years and it may very well be the most popular and
oft recommended root app of all time. If you have root, go get it
immediately. Root life just isn’t the same without it.
Viper4Android
[Price: Free]Viper4Android is an audio modification tool that gives you untold amounts of control over how your audio sounds coming out of the speakers, out of Bluetooth devices, and out of your headphones. It comes with its own audio driver, an equalizer, tons of effects that allow you to control how your audio sounds, and a lot more. It’s a complicated install process and you’ll need to go to the official XDA thread for downloads and instructions, but this is as good as it gets when it comes to audio modifications on Android.
Xposed Framework
[Price: Free]Xposed Framework has replaced installing ROMs for many as the default root experience. Modules are created inside of the framework by many developers that do various things like theming, UI and performance tweaks, visual modification, button remapping, and much, much more. Modules can be a tad difficult to find sometimes depending on your device but there are plenty of universal ones that you can use and enjoy. The button below will take you to the XDA thread where you can download it and learn more information. It’s a must have for root users these days.
