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Rooting, warranty and pre-installed apps

Wossi
6: Helper
6: Helper

I got the One M8 yesterday and so far I'm really liking it. A bit of an upgrade from my Galaxy Nexus.

 

The only major gripe I have is the pre-installed apps that you cannot uninstall. As far as I can see the only way to get rid of them is to root the phone and either use Titanium backup to delete them or put another rom on there.

 

I have no problem with rooting the phone as all my previous phones were rooted, but I'm hesitant with this one as I don't fancy having an invalidated warranty due to both HTC and Vodafone making so there are apps taking up space on the phone that you can't get rid of.

 

So, if I root my phone will I lose the 24 month warranty that comes with it?

72 REPLIES 72

drey_p
16: Advanced member
16: Advanced member

@Wossi wrote:

 

So, if I root my phone will I lose the 24 month warranty that comes with it?


Yes, rooting your phone will void your warranty.

PWIAC

Brilliant, so the only way to get rid of Facebook and the other 15 useless apps from my phone is to void my warranty?

 

I know I can disable them and then hide them from view, but if I had wanted them I would have downloaded them myself.

 

It's a shame as I have no complaints about the phone itself.

hrym
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

I agree with you, there are far too many pre-installed and non-uninstallable apps.  I don't use Facebook, so it's always frustrating to find that it's using the odd bit of data (OK, not much) even though it isn't even set up.   I've recently been testing a Vodafone Smart 4 which has very limited memory.  To compensate for this, all the (few) pre-installed apps can be removed - even Facebook!  So it can be done.  I suspect the manufacturers get a fee for all this and that keeps the cost of the handset down, probably not by much, though.  Some of the inbuilt HTC apps (especially Gallery & TV) are particularly large - though Gallery does have a lot of functionality that usually comes with additional apps.

I don't mind the gallery app so much although I did freak out when the music kicked in, it's the stuff like Facebook, HTC Guide, HTC apps, Kid mode, kikin, my web, parent dashboard, polaris office, scribble, setup, stocks tasks, tips and help and Vodafone.

jeffkinn
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

All phones have these things on them  - the HTC unbranded phones have all the same stuff other than the specific Vodafone apps.

Jeffkinn_Sig.png

I can understand that manufacturers want to sell phones that work out of the box, but what I don't understand is why I, as the person who bought the phone, doesn't have the option of uninstalling without having to root.

 

The one thing that Vodafone did correct, was selling the Galaxy Nexus. A pure Android phone with no extra crap installed. I assume this is one of the reasons they didn't bother with Nexus 4 or 5.

TimGriff6
13: Advanced Member

Have a look at the RCS thread and see what's in store for you soon.

hrym
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

@Wossi wrote:

I can understand that manufacturers want to sell phones that work out of the box, but what I don't understand is why I, as the person who bought the phone, doesn't have the option of uninstalling without having to root.



I think Google are with you on that.  They're getting increasingly ratty with manufacturers who skin and modify Android so heavily that it's more their OS than Google's - Samsung especially.  There will always be Google apps that are built into the OS, but there's some reaction against that, too, and I'd expect regulators to start looking at that they same way they did with Microsoft.   Mind you, if we go too far in the other direction, we'll have phones that just turn on and then require heavy user intervention to customise and set up before they'll do anything useful.  Regulators are rarely users and and more interested in setting complicated traps and obstacle courses they can then fine the manufacturers for tripping over.  No government can resist finding ways to dip its greasy fingers into a pot of cash!

All this about warranty being void is rubbish. The Law is as follows

Does rooting your device (e.g. an Android phone) and replacing its operating system with something else void your statutory warranty, if you are a consumer?

In short:

No.

Just the fact that you modified or changed the software of your device, is not a sufficient reason to void your statutory warranty. As long as you have bought the device as a consumer in the European Union.

A bit longer:

Directive 1999/44/CE dictates 1 that any object meeting certain criteria (incl. telephones, computers, routers etc.) that is sold to a consumer 2 inside the European Union, has to carry a warranty from the seller that the device will meet the quality that you would expect for such a device for a period of 2 years.

A telephone is an example of such a device and is an object that comprises many parts, from the case to the screen to the radio, to a mini-computer, to the battery, to the software that runs it. If any of these parts 3 stop working in those 2 years, the seller has to fix or replace them. What is more these repairs should not cost the consumer a single cent – the seller has to cover the expenses (Directive 1999/44/CE, §3). If the seller has any expenses for returning it to the manufacturer, this is not your problem as a consumer.

If your device becomes defective in the first 6 months, it is presumed that the defect was there all along, so you should not need to prove anything.

If your device becomes defective after the first 6 months, but before 2 years run out, you are still covered. The difference is only that if the defect arises now, the seller can claim that the defect was caused by some action that was triggered by non-normal use of the device. 4 But in order to avoid needing to repair or replace your device, the seller has to prove that your action caused 5 the defect. It is generally recognised by courts that unless there is a sign of abuse of the device, the defect is there because the device was faulty from the beginning. That is just common sense, after all.

So, we finally come to the question of rooting, flashing and changing the software. Unless the seller can prove that modifying the software, rooting your device or flashing it with some other OS or firmware was the cause for the defect, you are still covered for defects during those 2 years. A good test to see if it is the software’s fault is to flash it back with stock firmware/OS and see if the problem persists. If it does, it is not a software-caused problem. If it is not possible to revert it stock software any more, it is also not a software-caused defect. There are very few hardware defects that are caused by software – e.g. overriding the speaker volume above the safe level could blow the speaker.

Many manufacturers of consumer devices write into their warranties a paragraph that by changing the software or “rooting” your device, you void the warranty. You have to understand that in EU we have a “statutory warranty”, which is compulsory that the seller must offer by law (Directive 1999/44/CE, §7.1) and a “voluntary warranty” which the seller or manufacturer can, but does not need to, offer as an additional service to the consumer. Usually the “voluntary warranty” covers a longer period of time or additional accidents not covered by law 6. If though the seller, the manufacturer or anyone else offers a “voluntary warranty”, he is bound to it as well!

So, even if, by any chance your “voluntary warranty” got voided, by European law, you should still have the 2 year “compulsory warranty” as it is described in the Directive and which is the topic of this article.

In case the seller refuses your right to repair or replace the device, you can sue him in a civil litigation and can report the incident to the national authority. In many European countries such action does not even require hiring a lawyer and is most of the time ensured by consumers associations.

The warranty under this Directive is only applicable inside the European Union and only if you bought the device as a consumer.

hook out → I hope this encourages many of you to go and flash your devices with something Free! ☺


  1. EU member states must have by now imported the Directive 1999/44/CE into their national laws. So you should quote also your local law on that topic. 

  2. A consumer is a natural person who acts for their own private purposes and not as a professional. 

  3. Batteries can be exempt of this and usually hold only 6 months warranty. 

  4. E.g. a defect power button could be caused by spreading marmalade in it or hooking it onto a robot that would continuously press the button every second 24/7 – of course that is not normal or intended use. 

  5. Note that correlation is not causation – the defect has to be proven to be caused by your action, not just correlate with it. 

  6. E.g. if a device manufacturer guarantees the phone is water- and shock-proof or a car manufacturer offers 7 years of warranty against rust.