How to Root the LG G3

There’s been some nice development starting to happen for all variants of the LG G3. Today we’re going to follow a step by step process to obtain root access on multiple variants including the Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T and the Sprint LG G3.

Note:
If you purchased your LG G3 recently and are unable to get Stump to root your G3 then you will need to downgrade first. I just finished up the how to downgrade the LG G3 tutorial to show you exactly how to do it.

When Stump Root was announced I immediately published an article about it. This one-click root method has been in the works for at least a month. Stump Root is the product of Team Codefire, a group of four talented and dedicated group of individuals. Team Codefire consists of IOMonster, jcase, Autoprime and PlayfulGod. They had each worked on a root method for individual G3s and then got together to release this all-in-one method to make things as easy as possible.

As of writing this, Stump Root works on the Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T and Sprint variants of the LG G3. For these devices, Stump Root has only been tested with the release version of the firmware. When LG releases a new version of the firmware, Team Codefire might have to release an update before this root tool will work again. The 1.2.0 version of Stump Root also works on the D852G, D852, F400L, D851 and various D855 variants.

Stump Root also works on lots of older LG smartphones. If your LG smartphone has been manufactured between 2012 and 2014, then Stump Root has a chance of working on it.

If Stump Root doesn’t auto detect your smartphone then you can let it brute force the system and look for an exploit. There have been multiple devices rooted(and added into the main tool) from the brute force method. In version 1.02, the brute force feature was known to take up to two hours to complete. In the latest version, 1.2.0, brute forcing can be done as quickly as 1-2 minutes.

Now that you know a little bit of the background here, let’s get you root access on your LG G3. I will link the source of this exploit at the bottom of this article for you to reference. I would advise you to go there and download the latest version of Stump Root. I’ll do my best at keeping links up to date here, but I can’t monitor that thread every day. You can download the latest version there and then come back here to follow the step by step process. Also, if you notice one of the links below are out of date, please do not hesitate to contact me to let me know.

LG G3 Root Instructions

  1. Open the Settings Application on your LG G3
  2. Scroll Down to Security
  3. Activate the ‘Allow Unknown Sources’ Option
  4. Download Stump Root
  5. Download ES File Explorer
  6. Open ES File Explorer
  7. Browse to the Downloaded Stump Root APK File
  8. Tap the Stump Root APK and Install
  9. Open Stump Root Application
  10. Tap on the Grind Button
  11. Reboot Your LG G3 When Instructed
  12. Install SuperSU
  13. Open SuperSU and Follow Instructions
  14. Uninstall Stump Root

That is all you have to do! You have now obtained root access on your LG G3 and can start to tweak and customize it with various modifications. Some things I recommend would be debloating, removing Carrier IQ, changing the DPI, installing Xposed(and the G3 Tweaks module) and lots of other things. I have already written about some of these and I will be doing more too. Please do not forget to go back into the Settings of your LG G3 and to deactivate the Allow Unknown Sources option after you uninstall Stump Root. There’s hardly any reason to keep this option on.

I would love to hear what the first things you do on your rooted smartphone are. Scroll down and use the comments section to tell me all about it.

[Source: XDA-Developers]

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15 comments
    1. You are definitely right. Verizon(and LG) has patched this root method on newer versions of the update. Do you know which version of the firmware you are using so I can add a note into the article?

      In order for you to root the Verizon G3 now, you will have to downgrade to an older version of LG and Verizon’s firmware

  1. Hi, I’m French . I have the LG G3 d855 version of Android Lollipop is that this manipulation works under lollipop on my G3 ?

    1. Yes, this should work for all LG G3 variants. However, if you have updated to a certain version, then the root will not work. If this happens, you will need to downgrade first. I have a tutorial here on how to downgrade that you can use if you need

  2. Unfortunately no one told me you need to remove the sim card before flashing or you can damage it. Now while my phone is rooted and has TWRP and Supersu running on it and does make phone calls I can not upgrade back to the latest OTA because when I go into that section in settings it tells me my phone is not yet registered. Also my IMEI now shows 0000 0000 0000 0000.

    1. I’m not aware of this requirement. I have rooted, flashed TWRP and installed many custom ROMs and my T-Mobile SIM card works just like it always has :/

      You can’t accept an OTA update when you have rooted and installed a custom recovery(TWRP) anyway, or it will result in a bootloop.

      You should follow the downgrade guide that I have on this website in order to revert back to complete stock and then you can accept OTA updates

      1. I did use the guide on this page to go back to stock 10b from 12. I then rooted and installed TWRP but I am using a stock rom no? I did nothing more than add TWRP to the rooted stock rom. Are you saying if I do it again it will remove the root and TWRP and fix those 2 issues I have with IMEI and OTA? Why would TWRP stop OTA from working if I am using the stock 10b build still? Thanks for your help either way and yes I am a bit of a n00b with this stuff.

        1. BTW I read on XDA site that people after rooting the original 10b AFTER downgrading were able to use the OTA to go back to 12 while keeping the root.

          1. The whole OTA thing and accepting it while rooted depends on a lot of factors. How much changes you have made to the Android system(root, TWRP, root apps, etc). And it also depends on which carrier/model of the LG G3 you have.

            Some have reported success with accepting OTAs after they have rooted. Others have reported bootloops and some have reported simple errors messages.

            It’s definitely a risk to accept an OTA update while you are rooted and have TWRP installed and it is generally advised to not do this.

            Since you have TWRP, you can manually flash ROMs onto your device though. XDA should have a forum for your model and in that forum some one might have uploaded a pre-rooted updated stock ROM. Since you can’t root the LG G3 once it has been updated past a certain version, flashing these pre-rooted ROMs are generally best. I recommend CloudyG3 as it is stock ROM and the dev has just removed the bloatware

        2. If all you did was root and then install TWRP, then yes, you are still on stock ROM. Reverting back to the original firmware with the downgrade guide will keep you on stock and it will remove root and TWRP completely. It will be as if you pulled the phone out of the box and it was brand new.

          I’m not sure exactly what happened to your IMEI number. That doesn’t happen on me but I have seen others report it with custom ROMs(CloudyG3) on XDA

          Having root and TWRP prevents you from installing OTA updates properly because the update detects that changes have been made to the Android system. This can sometimes result in your smartphone going into a bootloop(aka unusable until you use the downgrade guide and go back to stock ROM). You will still get the OTA update notification but be careful installing it. One of two things can happen. 1 – It will try to install, reboot and then say it cannot install it. 2 – It will try to install, mess something up, and then result in a bootloop.

          If anything bad happens, you should always be able to boot up into Download Mode(like it says in the downgrade tutorial here), and you can always flash the original stock ROM to get things working again. You lose your data on the device, but at least the device still works.

          1. Will flashing back to the original stock rom and losing the root and TWRP fix my IMEI issues? The efs partition is supposedly what got damaged when I flashed. Will using your method and going back to a unrooted stock rom fix that partition and give me my IMEI back? Thanks for your help you seem to be the only person interested in giving me some advice about this.

          2. I wish I could confirm this for you. I never came across this issue so I am not aware of what the correct fix would be.

            If it is an issue with the EFS partition, then reverting back to stock(aka downgrading to the original firmware) should fix this issue. Downgrading with LG FlashTool will replace all of the partitions on the LG G3 with the ones that it originally came with.

            If I were you, I would create a thread in the questions/help section on XDA for the LG G3

            http://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-g3/help

            And ask, just to make sure. You might find someone that knows a quicker way around it or you might find someone that will confirm if reverting to original stock will fix the IMEI number.

            Either way, please come back and leave a comment to tell me how it works out for you. Knowing how you fixed it will allow me to help other people in the future who might come across the same issue you have

            And I am happy to help in any way that I can. Don’t ever hesitate making a comment to ask a question

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