How to Root the Samsung Galaxy S5 Active

THIS METHOD NO LONGER WORKS, CLICK HERE FOR THE NEW METHOD.

Have you just got a shiny new Samsung Galaxy S5 Active from AT&T and you’d like to root it? Great! This guide should help you do that. While there’re a lot of features in the Galaxy S5 Active that can be used without root, rooting opens up a number of other ways for you to customize your device. Here’s how you can root your device:

Rooting is the process of gaining administrative rights on your Android device.  Once we root our Android device, we can then make changes to it to customize it well beyond what it normally can do.

Once you have root access on your Samsung Galaxy S5 Active, you’ll be able to:

  • Remove apps that were preinstalled by your carrier/manufacturer from your device.
  • Free up storage space (because of the above benefit).
  • Increase battery life (apps that might have been running constantly can be removed).
  • Increase performance (after removing apps that are always running, the device will be less bogged down and run smoother).
  • Update to a new version of Android (by flashing a custom recovery/ROM, see the end of this procedure for more info on that).
  • Tons of other customizations when you use your new found administrative rights to flash a custom ROM (again, see the end of this procedure for more info on that).

Interested? Here’s how to root your Samsung Galaxy S5 Active:

I. Before You Begin

1. This will void the warranty of your device. You’re doing this procedure at your own risk. We aren’t responsible for the consequences of this procedure.

2. You don’t need a PC to do this procedure.

II. Rooting the Samsung Galaxy S5 Active

1. Open a web browser on your device and head over to the Towelroot website.

2. Tap on the big Lambda icon. An app should begin downloading on your device.

3. Enable Unknown sources on your device by going to Menu > Settings > Security > Unknown sources.

4. Open File Manager and tap on Towelroot and it’ll install on your device.

5. Launch Towelroot from your App Drawer.

6. Tap on make it ra1n.

7. It should begin rooting your device.

8. When it’s done, head over to the Google Play store and download and install SuperSU on your device.

9. You’re done!

Congrats! Your Samsung Galaxy S5 Active is now rooted. To confirm the root-access, simply download one of the Root Checker apps available in Google Play and it should tell you your root status.

You can click here to find all of the Samsung Galaxy S5 Active How To’s.

You can also find all of the Samsung Galaxy S5 Active ROMs we have here.

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24 thoughts on “How to Root the Samsung Galaxy S5 Active”

      1. Samsung put out an update that killed it. I had root, then foolishly unrooted to download the update OTA which fixed the exploit that allowed towelroot to work in the first place. Do not install this new update if you want to remain rooted through towelroot.

          1. i have an S5 active, model G870A, kernel dated July 25, 2014 and towelroot did not work. would love to be able to root it!

          2. Mines the 5900v Verizon s5 and it won’t wood through towelroot trying to figure how to do the click the “welcome the towelroot v3” and then opens a bar code cause it said my phone isn’t currently support ed

          3. This is for the Galaxy S5 Active. If you’ve a Galaxy S5 from Verizon, please search our site for a procedure specific to your device and you should be able to root your device. Thanks!

        1. I too had root (via towelroot), but then I got a forced update that killed it, now I can’t use towelroot anymore and my phone is un-rooted.

    1. Hi Jeff,

      Apparently the exploit that Towelroot uses to gain root on the device has been patched in the latest update. You should be able to root your device if you’re on an older version of firmware. Thanks!

  1. I have also tried this method with no luck at all! When taping the make it rain button it says “this phone currently is not supported”. Att Samsung Galaxy S5 Active. Also when trying to open SuperSU i get the message There is no SU binary installed and SuperSU cannot install it. This is a problem! If you just upgraded to Android 4.3, you need to manually re-root- consult the relevant forums for your device!

  2. Go to google, type in XDA devolpers. Go to forums and click on the service provider for your galaxy.
    You will find a link that shows you how to
    1. Download and flash a kernal to your phone that works for towelroot
    2. Flash firmware to update your phone to the latest OTA release without unrooting.
    3. Be patient and treat your phone like a tool rather than a pos iphone

        1. No i havent tried it… not to sure on how to go about it. I just got this samsung galaxy S5 Active about 2 weeks ago, but a day or 2 after i got it.. it automatically searched for an Att Software update and started downloading and installed it. so im currently running Android version: 4.4.2 and Kernel version: 3.4.0-2304514
          dpi@SWDD5506 #1 Fri July 25 19:09:29 KST 2014

  3. Does anyone know if there is a root for the newer software update? Just got my phone a couple weeks ago and it automatically updated it so I’m not able to do anything.

    1. Hi Matt,

      This method used to work but apparently the new software update broke the exploit which caused the procedure to fail.

      I’ll see if a root method is available for your phone.

      Thanks!

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