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My current Android phone Samsung Galaxy S4 (GT-I9506, Android 5.0) has much outdated software and OS. I would like to get much faster update cycle. The current Android and Samsung support cannot provide it. Therefore, I am thinking about rooting my device and possibly this way speeding up the update cycle.

I have installed CyanogenMod in my unrooted device unsuccessfully a few times. I think the failure may be due to the unrooted device. I think you cannot get the full control of the device without the rooting and thus insufficient updates in your device.

Can a rooted Android device have more regular update cycle? However, I am not sure if rooting can make the update cycle worser because of possible loss of the main developers' support in the device and OS.

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    Yes, if you go on and install an actively developed custom ROM for your device such as Cyanogenmod. You might even get updates every day. Also, when you say that Android 5.0 is outdated, spare a thought for the devices which still retail with Android 4.2
    – Tamoghna Chowdhury
    Jan 5, 2016 at 7:27
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    Further to Tamoghna's point on the version of Android, most flagship devices currently retailing are only version 5.1, possibly 5.1.1 so 5.0 is hardly much outdated at this stage.
    – Matt_Roberts
    Jan 5, 2016 at 8:10
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    "I have installed CyanogenMod in my unrooted device unsuccessfully" – resulting in a rooted device. CM offers OTA AFAIK, by the way.
    – Izzy ♦
    Jan 5, 2016 at 9:01

2 Answers 2

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Generally, if you're talking about updates for any ROM, then you should know that it doesn't matter if you're rooted or not to get regular updates.

Moreover, rooting modifies your /system partition, due to which OTAs (for stock ROM) will fail to install, because nowadays most updates are Block-based OTAs.
So, for successfully installing official OTAs, it's better not to root your phone or use systemless root.

You're not getting regular updates because maybe Samsung hasn't yet released any updates for your device.

But if your phone is rooted and if you have flashed a custom recovery, then, as you said, you can install any custom ROMs with active developers which might be getting regular updates.
As @Tamoghna said, you can install ROMs like CyanogenMod which might provide daily updates.
You can also check for CM daily updates using apps like CyanDelta Updater (as said by @Firelord) which provides delta updates of minimal size.

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  • For build updates, perhaps CyanDelta Updater or CM Downloader can help to download incremental updates instead of full updates.
    – Firelord ♦
    Jan 5, 2016 at 13:47
  • @Firelord Oh okay. I thought those apps just provide the full update. I've never used any of these apps
    – Gokul NC
    Jan 5, 2016 at 13:52
  • Neither did I. But I thought to mention them, in case somebody finds them helpful in context of your answer.
    – Firelord ♦
    Jan 5, 2016 at 13:54
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Yes. Root it -> Install custom recovery -> Flash CyanogenMod.

Currently the S4 supports CM13 which is already on 6.0.1 with latest security patches. Nightlies are always stable enough regarding hardware, the software may crash here and there, but from my experiance, those nightlies are as stable as any other ROM.

You can also check how is the S4 standing regarding GPE software, because you can maybe just convert it to GPE and use vanilla Android.

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  • This doesn't clearly address "Can a rooted Android device have more regular update cycle?" unlike other answer. You've not accounted stock ROMs here.
    – Firelord ♦
    Jan 5, 2016 at 13:56
  • As I said, the CM is already on 6.0.1 for his device, meaning that it does get updated regulary. As the OP said he already tried installing CM on his device, I presumed that he is aware that custom ROMs get updated much more frequently.
    – Chapz
    Jan 6, 2016 at 8:26
  • If OP already knew about that, the question wouldn't have been asked at first place since rooting has nothing to do with increasing the update cycle. So the assumption here appears to be far-fetched.
    – Firelord ♦
    Jan 6, 2016 at 8:29

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