What is Cydia Impactor? Cydia Impactor is a GUI (Graphical User Interface) application created by Cydia founder Saurik. It is a piece of software that works with Android devices such as Samsung Galaxy Gear, LG G3, Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone and others. Just like Cydia for iOS, the main feature of Cydia Impactor is to allow an Android user to gain the root access on most of the Android devices including Android smartphones, tablets, Glass and TV. In other words, Cydia Impactor can be considered as the Cydia for Android. If there is a need for you to root your Android, you may follow the step by step guide here to root it right away with Cydia Impactor.
How to Root Android Using Cydia Impactor
There are a few ways to root an Android device using Cydia Impactor. You can either do this with Windows OS, Mac OS X, or Linux (It works for both Linux 32-bit and Linux 64-bit).
Step 1: The first thing to do? Download Cydia Impactor according to the operating system you are using on your computer. Click here to download Cydia Impactor for Windows and click here to download Mac OS X version. You will need to download the Linux version if you are running Ubuntu Linux OS.
Step 2: Extract the zip file you downloaded in Step 1 if you are doing this on Windows platform. Double click the Impactor.exe file. On the other hand, if you are doing this on a Mac OS X, for example, MacBook Air, you have to double-click the Impactor_0.9.14.dmg file to extract the application. Drag the Cydia Impactor icon to the Applications folder on your computer then Cydia Impactor is installed to your Mac OS X.
Step 3: Now there is some work to be done on your Android phones or tablets. It is a must to enable USB Debugging on your Android device. Go to Settings -> Developers Option -> USB Debugging (Debug mode when USB is connected), check on the checkbox. If you don’t see Developer Options, you will need to activate it at Settings -> About Phone -> Built Number. Tap on it a few times until it is appear.
Step 4: Launch Cydia Impactor and connect your Android device to your computer using a USB cable. If your computer is unable to locate the USB driver, you can go to USB -> Driver Scan to install a driver for your Android device automatically. It is unnecessary to download Android SDK in this situation.
Step 5: Select # drop SuperSU su to /system/xbin/su from the dropdown list and start the rooting process by clicking the Start button in Cydia Impactor.
Step 6: Wait for a minute and Cydia Impactor will root your Android device and install SuperSU binary automatically. You may now disconnect your Android device from your computer and restart your Android device.
Step 7: Enable the internet connection in your Android. Access to Google Play Store and search for SuperSU (Chainfire). Open SuperSU once you installed it. Bingo! Your Android device is rooted if SuperSU works flawlessly. Alternatively, you can also download another app called Root Checker to make sure your Android is 100% rooted.
How to Update Cydia Impactor
Open Cydia Impactor in your computer. Go to the Impactor menu inside the application and find the tab that write “Check for Updates”. Click on the Update button and let the application do the rest. Usually Cydia Impactor will prompt you a message to update the application if there is a newer version launched. All you need to do is one click to the Update button. That’s it. For those who use Cydia on iOS, check out the top 10 best Cydia Apps of all time.
Cydia Impactor No Device Found Solutions
Well, things could be easier if an Android user is able to download Cydia Impactor APK file to their Android and root it with one tap. However, Cydia Impactor is only available as an application. Therefore, you can’t download Cydia Impactor APK and install it directly to your Android to root it. Although it sounds very beautiful, we still need more time to see the improvements. Also, there won’t be any Cydia sources available for Android users for now.
Back to the reality, you need to follow the 7-step howto guide above to root an Android device with Cydia Impactor. During the rooting process, there is a possibility to see a few common problems such as “Cydia Impactor no device found”, “No Such Device”, “Bridge Not Running” and “Error Error Error”. The solutions to No Device Found or No Such Device are very simple. It is either you missed Step 3 (Enable USB Debugging) or you didn’t install the driver of your Android (Read again Step 4). Other than that, Cydia Impactor should work flawlessly on many Android devices. In the past weeks, we have tested Cydia Impactor on a few popular Android devices such as ZTE AWE, Samsung Galaxy S3, Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One M8, LG G2, Motorola Google Nexus 6 and HTC One Max. Except Motorola Atrix 4D 4.1.1 and HTC One 4.2.2, they work immaculately.
Have you followed the guide above to root your Android device with Cydia Impactor? If so, you are welcome to share your experience, problems, or even thoughts here.