An app thinks that the phone is rooted

nadrad

There's an app I've been using on my phone for a long time. Since I updated my phone this morning (TQ1A.230205.002.2023021000), the app tells me that it thinks the phone is rooted and doesn't run because of their security concerns.

I thought that GrapheneOS is not rooted, so, it may be a mistake from the app. Is there something I can do about it?

[deleted]

nadrad I thought that GrapheneOS is not rooted, so, it may be a mistake from the app. Is there something I can do about it?

Which app?
GOS is not rooted.
What you can do about it? It depends on your app and the necessity of using that app. If you need to run that app, go into settings - apps, find your app there and check the options, there are options/ toggles for compatibility etc.

treequell

nadrad

There are some apps which compatibility is an issue with GrapheneOS. I'm not sure exactly why this would change for your app since the last OS update. Was there a recent update to the app?

One issue can be that some apps use the Play Integrity API. One of the checks there is that the device is on stock Android OS, which GrapheneOS will fail.

https://developer.android.com/google/play/integrity

treequell

You may want to have a read of this section of the GrapheneOS documentation

https://grapheneos.org/usage#banking-apps

nadrad

Thanks everyone for helping.

The app is 'itsme', which is used for logging in to government websites, banks, etc. in Belgium. So, it would be difficult without it!

I just checked, and seemingly, the app was also updated after my last use. So, I wouldn't know which update has caused the issue (or, maybe just a combination of the two).

@[deleted] and @treequell, I followed your [direct and indirect] suggestions and changed the "Exploit protection compatibility mode" and "enable native code debugging" options, and it worked! However, I'm really confused, because I just returned them to their default values, and the app is still working!

roddyd

nadrad It's probably still working after setting it back because it only checks for root when it first runs.

matchboxbananasynergy

roddyd To be clear, GrapheneOS doesn't support root/is rooted. The app is probably trying to check for something and if that check fails, it calls that "root", but that's not really what's happening.

[deleted]

roddyd An analogy. I tried to log in to my bank from latest version of Mull with privacy addons enabled and was told that my browser was outdated and that i should get latest version of Chrome or similar :) Surely the bank knows better than I.