How to Root Galaxy Express 3 J120A

Samsung Galaxy Express 3 J120A is the Galaxy J1 released under the umbrella of At&t. The phone is also known as Galaxy Express 3 GoPhone. It’s a low-end smartphone. The specifications are good to go with for starters. It has a 4.5-inch 480p display. It also has a 5 MP shooter (primary) and a 2 MP secondary shooter. A Quad-core CPU, 1 GB RAM, 8 GB internal storage with microSD support are powering up this phone. Amazingly, this phone runs on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out of the box.

For a low end device like Galaxy Express 3, custom ROMS, tweaks and anything that can unleash further potential of such devices is not less then the cream over a cake. Since these devices have a very limited capability of performing any tasks, modifying these can boost up the performance and battery life by a huge leap. The Galaxy Express 3 luckily can be rooted easily.

Galaxy Express 3 has been successfully rooted using a boot image and the Kingroot installer. SuperSU can be easily installed on the phone as well once you have rooted it using Kingroot. In case you are wondering what will you do next to the root access on your phone, you need to know that there is a lot that you can do. You can install plethora of applications which work only because of the root access on the phone. Galaxy Express 3’s CPU can be overclocked or underclocked depending on your need. Galaxy Express 3 can also get Xposed Framework in case you wish to add new features to the phone. Titanium Backup is your choice to go with to backup yoru applications with data. This is not it, the possibilities are unlimited. All you need to explore this vast world is the root access.

Rooting the phone will definitelyu tear apart its warranty. Also bear in mind that this procedure can brick your device. If you are planning to root the phone now, you have to understand that you are going to do it at your own risk. In case of a mishap, TechBeasts or the boot image developer cannot be held responsible. Assuming that you have a clear understanding of what we are going to do, let’s proceed with the method to root Galaxy Express 3 J120A.

Root Galaxy Express 3 J120A

Important prerequisites

This guide is applicable on Galaxy Express 3 J120A only. Do not try this method on any other device as you will result in bricking it because of invalid files.

Charge your phone up to 50% to avoid power issues during flashing process.

Enable USB deubgging from the developer options in your phone.

Enable OEM Unlocking on your phone from the developer options as well.

Backup all your important contacts, call logs, sms messages and media content.

Use your phone’s original data cable to connect it to your PC.

If you have Samsung Kies installed on your PC, turn it off while using Odin.

Disable Firewall/Antivirus in order to download the files properly.

Follow the rest of the method being very careful.

Required downloads:

1. Download and install Samsung USB drivers
2. Download and extract Odin 3.11.1 on your computer’s desktop
3. Download boot image for your phone: ENG_BOOT_J120A_PG1
4. Download KingRoot and Super SUME APK files. Extract the folder and copy the APKs to your phone’s internal storage.

How to flash boot image to make the phone root-able

1. Open Odin.exe from the extracted Odin files you downloaded on your computer’s desktop.
2. In Odin, click the “AP” tab in Odin and select the ENG_BOOT_J120A_PC1.tar for your device that you just downloaded above.
3. The only options checked in Odin should be Auto Reboot and  F.Reset Time. No other options should be ticked.
   
4. Now put your phone in download mode. Turn it off first. Now press and hold Volume Down + Home + Power buttons. As soon as it boots up, leave the keys. Once it shows warning, press Volume Up to continue.
5. Connect your phone to your PC while Odin is open.
6. Once your the ID:COM box turns blue in Odin after the successful connection, click the Start button.
7. It will flash the boot image file and reboot the phone now.

Install Kingroot

1. Now on your phone, go to settings > security > allow unknown sources.
2. Open a file manager and locate the copied Kingroot APK file.
3. Tap the Kingroot APK file and install it.
4. Once installed, open Kingroot from the app drawer.
5. Tap the Android Icon on the screen shown in Kingroot or if it’s already processing, let it do that.
6. Kingroot will start finding an exploit to root your device now. As soon as it finds an exploit, it will root and reboot your device.

Replace King User with SuperSU

1. Install Super SUME APK just the way you installed Kingroot.
2. Open Super SUME from the App Drawer now.
3. Follow the instructions on-screen to finish the Super SUME procedure.
4. Super SUME will begin to uninstall Kingroot in favour of SuperSU now.
5. After uninstalling KingRoot it will install SuperSU.
6. SuperSU will appear in app drawer after installion. That’s all.

Credits: Ashyx