How to Root (and Unroot) the Samsung Epic 4G (SPH-D700)

We know this device has been around for a long time but if you do own it still, wouldn’t you want something more from this yesteryear star?  If you answered yes, rooting it is the first step to get there and that’s what we’re going to show you in this guide below – rooting the Samsung Epic 4G so you use root-requiring apps and (after installing ClockworkMod Recovery) make/restore backups, flash custom ROMs, etc, that are based on newer Android versions than the ones it came with or got updated to.

I.  Before You Begin

1.  Make sure that you back up everything you feel is important before you start with the procedure.

2.  Charge your device to 75% or more before you begin.

3.  This procedure is designed to work with the Samsung Epic 4G running stock Gingerbread (Android 2.3.x).  If you are running anything lower than this, update your device to Gingerbread and come back here to try it again.

II.  Necessary Downloads

GingerBreak-v1.20.apk [File attached to this post]

III.  Rooting the Samsung Epic 4G

1.  Enable USB Debugging on your device.  To do this, go to Settings > Applications > Development and tick the USB Debugging checkbox.

2.  Enable installation of apps from unknown sources.  To do this, go to Settings > Applications and tick the Unknown Sources checkbox.

3.  Connect your device to your PC and copy GingerBreak-v1.20.apk to your device’s SD card (You could also download the apk file directly from your device’s browser and eliminate the need for a PC completely).

4.  Using a file manager, navigate to the location of GingerBreak-v1.20.apk and install it.

5.  Once installed, open up the app drawer and tap on the GingerBreak icon to open it.

6.  Tap on Root device.

7.  Wait for the app to do its thing and reboot your device on its own.

After your device reboots, it should be permanently rooted and have the Superuser app installed!

 IV.  Unrooting the Samsung Epic 4G

1.  Follow the same steps as in Section III until Step 5.

2.  Tap on UnRoot device.

V.  Flashing Custom Recovery (Optional)

If you would like to flash a custom recovery image in order to flash custom ROMs, head to the next procedure to learn how to do that.

If this procedure helped you please thank/donate to the original developers here.

If you need help with this procedure, please ask in the comments below or in the forum.

This is part of our Android How To’s. We have how to’s on rooting, loading ROMs, and tons of other tips and tricks for your specific device or for Android devices in general! For all of our Android How To’s, head here.

13 thoughts on “How to Root (and Unroot) the Samsung Epic 4G (SPH-D700)”

  1. Whenever I click ‘Root’ it just says “rooting…running exploit…This may take a few minutes! device will; reboot on success” for an hour but nothing ever happens.

  2. sound disappeared help probyval reflash did not help the phone was silent and everything is working fine

    1. Mahesh Makvana

      Sometimes it takes as long as several minutes to finish the rooting process. If it’s still stuck at this point even after about 10-15 minutes, simply uninstall the app, re-install it and then re-try rooting your device.

      I’m sure it’d work fine then!

      Thanks!

      1. Waited a half hour, backed out, pulled the battery, uninstalled the apk, re-installed it, ran it again. . .still nothing, after about 40 min. Has *anyone* gotten this to work? I’m on an Epic 4G, Gingerbread FC 09. Help!!!!!!!

  3. i tried today to root the phone. it just hangs with the same msg as the others with “rooting:, tried deleting the program and installaling and running again and same thing. waiting 1 hours and still “rooting” any ideas of what to try next?

  4. I have same issue as others. This does not work. Thank you for wasting my time. Perhaps you should actually try these techniques before you recommend them.

  5. Clearly wrote this without testing. Thanks so much for wasting a lot of people’s time. Worthless web page.

  6. My understanding, having tried it without success and then having googled it, is that this exploit likely *would* work on Epic 4Gs that are still running stock Android 2.1, but who would be running Android 2.1 anymore? My understanding is that it’s *not* expected to work on phones running 2.3.

  7. Obviously this procedure for GingerBreak v1.2 to do root device on Samsung Epic 4G doesn’t work. I have same result with Isaac’s comment along with others.

    At XDA Developers forum, the download links for Epic 4G root are no longer available. I really wanted to get rid of bloatwares! :/

  8. To clarify, this does NOT work on Android 2.3.3 or higher. It is designed for phones only running 2.3.2 and lower.

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