How to root the Nokia X

BY Rajesh Pandey

Published 26 Mar 2014

nokia_x

The Nokia X is the Finnish company’s first Android-running smartphone. However, the handset uses on an outdated version of Jelly Bean, instead of KitKat but since Nokia has themed the whole OS to behave like a Windows Phone device, the underlying version of Android does not really matter. On the flip side, using such an old version of Android means that there are quite a few security vulnerabilities and performance issues. The positive side is it makes rooting the Nokia X an extremely easy task via some of the older root-based exploits available for Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean.

If you want to root your Nokia X, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Download this APK file and transfer it to your Nokia X.

Step 2: On your device, head over to Settings / Security and enable the “Unknown sources” option.

Step 3: Using a file manager like Astro (pre-loaded), navigate to the directory where you had transferred the APK file in Step 1.

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Step 4: Install the APK file and then proceed to open it. Simply select the “Gandalf” option in the app, after which you will receive a pop-up saying that the device has been successfully rooted. Make sure to reboot your device after this for the changes to take effect.

Once the device has been rooted, you will notice that SuperSu has also been installed to the phone. The app will act like a permission manager for all the apps that require root, allowing you to enable or disable access to them.

With your Nokia X rooted, you can convert it into a normal Android device and can also install the whole suite of Google apps. We will be posting these guides over the coming few days so stay tuned!