Despite launching in the US less than a month ago, the Snapdragon-equipped version of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 has already been rooted, according to a post on XDA-Developers over the weekend. As the author notes, Samsung’s phones are some of the riskiest Android devices to root because tripping the Knox security suite by modifying your device in an unintended fashion will void your warranty and permanently disable Samsung Pay.
The good news is that this root, called SamFAIL, won’t trigger Knox and hamstring your phone. The bad news is that there are a few side effects to rooting your Note 8 with SamFAIL (but none incredibly serious, thankfully).
Before you even think about rooting your Note 8, there are a few things you should know. First of all, SamFAIL won’t SIM unlock your phone or unlock the bootloader. All it does is grant root access, but this also means that it’s as easy as ever to go back to the phone’s natural state when and if you decide to do so. XDA also says that the phone will only charge to 80% once rooted, and because of limitations with the root, you won’t be able to use Magisk.
If none of that concerns you and you still want to root your Galaxy Note 8, just head to this page for a download link and instructions on how to root the Snapdragon model. There is also a separate page for the Exynos Galaxy Note 8 root, but be warned that this one will trip Knox, void your warranty and disable Samsung Pay and Secure Folder.
