Galaxy Note 5 Root Status

Status: Available (see breakdown)

Update 3: Sprint Note 5 Rooted! (August 31, 2015)
And just like that, we’ve root for the Sprint Note 5 as well. Cheers!
Thanks yaboy!

Update 2: T-Mobile Note 5 Rooted! (August 27, 2015)
Cheers, people! T-Mobile Galaxy Note 5 root is now available. Thanks to developer Manh_IT over at xda for building a custom kernel with auto-root for the device.

Update: (August 26, 2015)
There has been some development, we now have a working TWRP recovery for T-Mobile Note 5. Cheers! However, don’t think you could get root by flashing SuperSU zip on the Tmo Note 5 now. If you do so, you may end-up with a soft-brick.

Samsung made the Galaxy Note 5 official last week and unlike earlier releases, the device is already up for grabs in some regions.

However, for the adventurous users among us, root access on the Galaxy Note 5 is yet to be achieved. The device ships with Android 5.1.1, which is infamous for its rigidity to all the good/clean rooting options like CF-Auto-Root or SuperSU zip (via TWRP). We’ve seen this mess on the 5.1.1 updates to Galaxy S6 and S6 edge, and sadly, getting Galaxy Note 5 rooting won’t be any different.

The only way to get root access on the Samsung 5.1.1 firmware build is to flash/install a custom kernel with root baked-in, however, the downside to this rooting method is that it ensures tripping of the KNOX counter on your device.

Right now, the Galaxy Note 5 has no such custom kernel named to itself yet. But it won’t be long before it does, someone helping and capable might build a kernel with root very soon for the Note 5, and share it for everyone’s use on the interwebs.

Meanwhile, we recommend you to not fall prey to any paid rooting services out there. When a genuinely working root method will arrive for the Note 5, we’ll update this post with proper instructions.

Also, know that rooting Note 5 via the means of a custom kernel (which trips KNOX) may block the use of Samsung Pay on your device forever. We don’t have confirmation on this but it was rumored for the Galaxy S6 / S6 edge that Samsung Pay won’t work on devices with KNOX counter tripped.

Note 5 Root status breakdown by different variants:

Verizon Note 5 Root: Not Available

It’d be hard to tell if Verizon Note 5 would ever get root access, let alone how and when. But that doesn’t mean you should lose hope. Things like Towelroot and Ping Pong Root often come and go, and while they stay, they set everything right.

AT&T Note 5 Root: Not available

Ditto Verizon [icon name=”hand-o-up” class=”” unprefixed_class=””]!

The reason for this trouble that Verizon and AT&T Note 5 has with root access is the locked bootloader on these devices which prevents any modifications to the system partitions, hence no possibility of installing a custom kernel.

T-Mobile Note 5 Root: Available

Link: How to Root T-Mobile Note 5 N920T

[icon name=”bell” class=”” unprefixed_class=””] Update: Turns out Tmo Note 5 received root before any other variant.

The T-Mobile variants are the most friendly to get root access after the international ones. We’re hopeful that as soon as we get root access on the international variant of Galaxy Note 5, we’ll get root on T-Mobile Note 5 as well.