Root Achieved for the OneTouch Idol 3

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The XDA community achieving root on a new device is always cause for a little celebration, and proud owners of the Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 will be able to do just that now that root access has been confirmed. The 5.5″ mid-range handset previously had its bootloader unlocked, but root access was proving tricky due to users having to call a dedicated port to enter fastboot mode. However, yesterday the process was announced and has now got its own thread, after a few month’s combined hard work by dedicated users.

Taking influence from an exploit found with a similar device, XDA forum members , DallasCZ, and successfully altered the steps to create a custom batch file and published the steps for other users to follow. DallasCZ has now combined all of the steps into a more simply explained method in a dedicated thread, perfect for those less confident with the process. The community has taken dumps of the boot and recovery images, and is now working on bringing TWRP to the phone to maximize safety whilst modifying the phone, and at this point care should be taken until that is achieved.

It should be noted that the batch file used was created for Windows PCs to begin with, and requires that the Idol 3’s specific drivers are installed prior to use – to do this easily you can connect the phone via “cdrom” mode, whereupon it will mount and make those drivers available to install. Senior member has also posted modified commands for those running Linux, with refining it and tuning for Macs, due to the similar nature of the shells, so the solution is now platform agnostic.

This exploit works on the latest version of the official software, and with either locked or unlocked users, so at the moment the only caveat is that it’s only officially confirmed to work on the 5.5″ version of the handset. This paves the way for custom ROMs and kernels to be created for the device which is great news for those who’ve been waiting to optimize the phone since it was released in March, so well done to all involved!

If you own a 5.5″ Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 and have experience with rooting, carefully check out the steps in threads linked above and let us know in the comments how you got on!