It was recently confirmed that Google Glass runs Android which made many developers wonder if Glass could be rooted like Android smartphones and tablets. Rooting an Android device is similar to jailbreaking an iOS device because it allows access to areas of the operating system that Google and Apple would prefer users not touch.
Rooting Android smartphones and tablets can be a tricky feat to accomplish, but once you do, you can add custom ROMs to change the look and feel of the OS that the original manufacturer shipped with the device.
Google Glass runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and several developers have confirmed that Glass can be rooted. Jay Freeman, who is the founder of Cydia, the jailbreaking app repository iOS users use to download and install different apps and tweaks to make their devices do things Apple never intended, has already confirmed Google Glass is rootable. Liam McLoughlin is a hacker who also verified that Google Glass can be rooted and tweeted; "heh, fun. There's a 'debug mode' option on Glass that appears to enable ADB access. I got a shell on my Glass :D (no root yet!)" He later followed up with; "looks like root is easy too: reboot-bootloader gives you fastboot oem unlock. There is fun to be had here..."
Other developers have taken to social media to confirm that Google Glass is easy to root. The fact that Google Glass can be rooted should attract even more developers and users to the platform, because in its current form Google has completely locked down Glass and the types of apps that can run on the platform. Google Glass is expected to go on sale to the public in 2014. Google has limited who can use Google Glass; it has only released the wearable tech to contest winners and people hand-picked by Google to test out Glass.
Does the fact that Google Glass can be rooted make it a more attractive platform to you? Let us know in the comments.
