12 reasons not to root your Android phone - and the only time I would

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ZDNET's key takeaways

• Rooting or jailbreaking a phone isn't as hard as it once was.
• The process does involve considerable risk.
• Some reasons might make you want to try.

Many years ago, when I first heard about rooting Android phones, the practice intrigued me. Rooting (Android) or jailbreaking (iOS) was a challenging task that some did simply because they could, and some did it because they had a very specific need. 

One reason rooting/jailbreaking has been such a controversial subject is because of the risks involved. I have rooted a few Android phones over the years, and one time I wound up bricking a device (that is, it was rendered unusable). Fortunately, that was a spare test handset; I still had my main phone available.

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