How to Root Samsung Galaxy A21s and Unlock Bootloader

Samsung released a new A-series phone just about a month ago and it is named Galaxy A21s. It is a mid-range phone that comes with great hardware that makes it one of the best at its price range. Galaxy A21s runs on Android based OneUI which is Samsung’s own custom UI. It already comes with a lot of premium features but you can get more features and control by rooting your phone. Here you will know How to Root Galaxy A21s along with a guide on how to unlock bootloader on Samsung A21s.

Samsung Galaxy A21s runs on Android 10 out of the box and it is more likely to receive Android 11 soon after its stable release. It packs with some high performance hardware like the Exynos 850 processor along with Mali-G52 GPU. Yes, you may miss the Snapdragon performance but Exynos is also a good chipset. And now here’s its spotlight feature that is quad rear camera setup and a single 13MP punch-hole front camera.

Samsung phones do get some custom development like Custom ROMs, Custom Recovery, but it all depends on device popularity and developers’ interest. And so if you don’t know that the Galaxy A21s will receive custom development then you can root your device for advanced features. You can also flash custom ROMs along with root for an amazing experience and latest updates. But rooting is only possible if the bootloader unlocked so we will also share how to unlock bootloader on Galaxy A21s.

How to Root Samsung Galaxy A21s

Samsung phones have a specific flash tool which makes rooting and flashing easier on Samsung phones. Although it’s not an official phone but specially developed for Galaxy phones. Before the release of OneUI rooting Samsung phones were easier but OneUI is a bit complex to root. But it is possible to root with a few steps like using the Odin tool or using a custom recovery. In both methods, we need Magisk to root Galaxy A21s.

Rooting brings some advanced features like support for custom fonts, custom boot animation & third party themes. And apart from that the root feature also allows us to play with various Xposed Modules. Here in this guide, we will use the Odin tool & Magisk. As you know rooting Galaxy A21s requires an unlocked bootloader so we will start with that.

Samsung Galaxy A21s Unlock Bootloader

This is the first step that every Android user has to follow if they are planning to root their phones. By default, all Android phones come with the locked bootloader unless you are buying specifically unlocked phones. If the bootloader locked then you can not root or modify your phones like flashing ROMs and GSI. Luckily Samsung allows us to unlock bootloader and it is quite easy. So let’s see how you can unlock bootloader of Galaxy A21s in the following guide.

  1. Unlocking the bootloader on Galaxy A21s will reset your phone so make sure to first take backup of your device.
  2. After taking backup, open Settings on your phone and go to About Phone > Software Information.
  3. In the Software Information, look for Build Number and tap about 7-8 times on it to enable developer options. It will show ‘You are now a developer’.
  4. Go back to the main Settings and then go to Additional Settings > Developer Options.
  5. Now enable OEM unlocking and USB debugging in the Developer Options. Unlock bootloader on Samsung Galaxy Phones
  6. Once you have enabled the OEM Unlocking and USB Debugging power off your device. Press and hold Volume Up + Volume Down and connect your phone to your PC.
  7. It will show a Warning screen on your phone, and now you can release both buttons. Now press the Volume Up button once, and Galaxy A21s will boot into Download mode.
  8. Long press the Volume Up button when the device is in Download Mode and now the unlock bootloader on Samsung A21s will start and wipe all data.
  9. Reboot your phone and make sure that OEM unlocking is greyed out in Developer options. If not, then wait for a few days and repeat the steps.

After unlocking the bootloader of Galaxy A21s you are all set to root your device. The only obstacle for rooting is the bootloader and now that you have unlocked the bootloader you can begin with the guide given below. But before that make sure to go through the rooting requirements.

Prerequisites

Steps to Root Samsung A21s with Magisk

We can root Galaxy A21s with two different methods. But as of now, the custom recovery is not available for A21s so we will use the Odin tool to flash patched AP file. It means you need to download the firmware to grab the AP file. You can use tools like Samfirm or Frija to download firmware.

  1. First extract the Galaxy A21s Firmware on your computer and check for the AP file (file starting with AP). It will be in the tar format. Also, extract the Odin tool zip file on your PC.
  2. Now copy the AP file from the extracted folder to your phone storage. 
  3. Install Magisk Manager (canary build recommended) on your Galaxy A21s. Skip this step if the app is already installed on your device.
  4. After installing the Magisk Manager app open it and click on Install > Install. How to Root Samsung Galaxy Phones
  5. A pop up will appear with a few options, so choose ‘Select and Patch a File’. How to Root Samsung Galaxy Phones
  6. Browse and select the AP tar file and wait for the patching process. It can take a few seconds to patch the file.
  7. After patching the output file will be saved in the Download folder with the name magisk_patched.tar.
  8. Copy the magisk_patched.tar file to your PC and extract it.
  9. Now copy Meta-data folder, boot.img, recovery.img, and vbmeta.img file to a different location and compress these files in one TAR file. Remember extracting it must directly give these four files, not inside any folder.
  10. Open the Odin Flash Tool on your PC. And Make sure to untick the Auto-Reboot option in the Options tab in the Odin tool. Check the below screenshot for reference. How to Root Samsung Galaxy Phones
  11. On the right side of the tool, click on the AP and load the magisk_patched.tar file (The one that you compressed manually).
  12. Then Boot your Galaxy A21s into Download Mode. You can follow steps 6 & 7 from the unlock bootloader section to boot into download mode.
  13. Once your Galaxy A21s boots into Download Mode, connect it to your computer. The Odin tool will detect your phone, and it will show blue color in the first stack above ID: COM.
  14. After completing all the previous steps, click on the Start button. It will start flashing the patched Magisk file to your phone.
  15. It will give a Pass message on completion and then you can disconnect your phone.
  16. Now boot your phone into stock recovery (do not boot the phone into the system).
  17. From recovery wipe data by selecting Wipe Data/Factory Reset option.
  18. Now reboot your phone into the system and again install Magisk Manager. Open Magisk Manager and it will show installed status which means the Samsung Galaxy A21s is rooted.

Now you can enjoy all the root features that give a significant boost to your device performance. You can now block ads that usually appear on OneUI. Also, rooting allows us to remove or uninstall pre-installed apps that we don’t use. It will keep your phone clean and will increase the device performance.

So there you have it the complete guide on how to root Samsung A21s using the patched AP file. And if you have any related questions, then let us know in the comment section below.

Also Check:

Explore Stories

AUTHOR.

Photo of author

Ashutosh singh

Computer Science graduate and tech enthusiast. Love testing new tech gadgets ever since my first windows phone from Samsung. Working as a technical writer for more than five years, and I believe I have also developed good SEO skills. In my spare time, I like watching movies, and playing games.

2 thoughts on “How to Root Samsung Galaxy A21s and Unlock Bootloader”

Leave a Comment