LG G4: How to Unroot

If you have rooted your device but no longer need or want it then you can follow these step by step instructions for how to unroot the LG G4.

Root access on an Android device is like a double-edged sword. Having root access allows you to do a lot more with your smartphone or tablet but it can come at a cost. If you aren’t careful with what you install, then you could open yourself up to hackers and thieves. Not only that, but you could also install some apps or make some modifications that can throw your LG G4 into a bootloop.

This is bad news for anyone who hasn’t created a recent Nandroid backup of their LG G4. This guide will talk about two different ways that one can unroot their LG G4.

I do want to mention though, most people will want to unroot their device because they want to accept an OTA update. You do need to understand that accepting an OTA update requires that all changes you have made(that required root access) also be reverted back to how it was. For example, if you used root to change the DPI of your smartphone, simply performing the unroot will not allow you to accept an OTA update(usually). You will also need to change the DPI back to what it was from the start, and then unroot, before you can accept that OTA update.

I am going to assume that you have installed SuperSU as your root management solution in this tutorial as well. If you’ve followed my how to root the LG G4 tutorial then this is what you have installed anyway. It doesn’t really matter what app you have managing your root access for your applications but SuperSU is usually the one that everyone uses. I like it for its ease of use and all the features that is included. However, it is not open source so some prefer to use something like Superuser.

This first method is just a way to disable SuperSU and this can help to use applications which check to see if you are rooted or not before allowing you to use their service(Android Pay for example). You can easily enable root again if you follow this method. The second method mentioned here will actually uninstall SuperSU from your device and you will have to install the SuperSU binaries via a custom recovery if you want to gain root access again.

Easy LG G4 Unroot

1. Launch the SuperSU Application
2. Tap on the Settings Tab
3. Uncheck the ‘Enable Superuser’ Option
4. Reboot the LG G4

Complete LG G4 Unroot

1. Launch the SuperSU Application
2. Tap on the Setting Tab
3. Scroll Down and Tap on the ‘Full Unroot’ Option
4. Tap on Continue
5. Wait for the SuperSU Application to Close
6. Then Reboot the LG G4

Explanation

These two tutorials are pretty self-explanatory but remember, each of them will get rid of root access in different ways. If you are looking to accept an OTA update and need to get rid of root access then you’ll want to go with the complete LG G4 root method. However, if you’re just trying to activate a credit card with Android Pay then you can probably get by with the easy LG G4 unroot method.

As mentioned, you will need to revert all changes that you have made(that required root) before you can accept an OTA update. I used an example of reverting the DPI settings back to how they were on stock but you also need to revert any other changes that have been made to the system partition. Meaning, any changes to the build.prop file need to be set to how they were. . .any changes to the hosts file(from something like Adaway), needs to be restored to how it originally was. . .and any other changes(like fonts, Xposed Framework/Modules/etc) all need to be uninstalled and set back to how they originally were.

There are some modifications and changes that root applications can make that are simply too hard to restore. This is especially true if you don’t exactly know everything that is changed from a root application. This means that you could still fail the OTA update verification and you will need to do a factory reset on the LG G4. Failing this, you might need to download a firmware file and manually flash it to get everything back to how it was. I’ll talk about some of these method later on this week for those who are interested.