The contentious subject of whether rooting the Android operating system should, in fact, be legal or illegal, morally acceptable or completely unethical, has almost sorted itself out naturally no thanks to Android developers.

With new applications like Android Pay now available, there’s never been a more important time to preach security than now.

When you had a rooted Android operating system in years past, it meant you always had it: there was no on or off switch for you to toggle when you needed it. About the only thing you could do was root, unroot, and then take the necessary time to get root access again—a feat much too complicated and long for most people to endure. . . .

Rooting Android was something that people enjoyed because of the extra apps it allowed but also because it was fun. When you make people go to great lengths for it though that fun quickly dwindles.

Chainfire knew this . . . he also knew that recent developments in Android security was always going to continue making getting root access, and keeping root access, difficult to achieve. He then sold his achievements, namely SuperSU and CF-Auto-Root to other developers, and has left the game of rooting Android.

All hope is not lost forever though because there is a new tool, one called Magisk, that knows how to be a systemless root still and how to allow for root apps that force root access to be gone such as the likes of Android Pay and Netflix. Magisk accomplishes this by offering a toggle to turn off the root access when you need to use Android Pay and then a toggle to turn it back on again once you’re shopping spree is complete.

How to Download Magisk to Root Android 7.1 (Nougat)

Use the links below to download the versions of Magisk that work with Android 7.1 Nougat:

Note: Use the latest version possible. And if that does not work, downgrade to the one previous until one works for your device.

How to Install Magisk

There are two general methods for installing Magisk. Most people install it via the TWRP custom recovery image. However, there is also a method to install Magisk without TWRP.