Magisk v15 update has been released with a new modular design

If you’ve rooted your device in recent years, you’ve probably heard of Magisk. It serves a variety of functions, though its main selling point is the fact that it can hide root. That means Magisk allows you to use non-root-friendly apps or those that break SafetyNet such as Android Pay, many banking apps, and even Pokémon Go. It’s cleverly marketed as such, with the official Github page describing it as “A Magic Mask to Alter Android System Systemless-ly.”

The stable build of Magisk has now been officially updated to version 15.0.

The developer, topjohnwu, says there are two major changes from the last release (v14). The first big change is the shift to a modular design, as the developer feels that Android is becoming more of a modular platform, especially after the introduction of Google’s Project Treble. The main reason for this change is to remove all hints of the existence of Magisk on the device. In theory, Magisk should now have the same installation method, with the developer also noting that “every device shares the same setup.” This singular build format should allow Magisk to adapt based on device and software differences.

The second half of the update attempts to hide Magisk from all possible detection methods. Existing references to it have been removed. In theory, this should make it harder for it to be detected. Magisk has no doubt faced a cat-and-mouse battle with developers trying to block its root protection circumvention.

For developers, instead of specifying which “template” to use, this field has been renamed to “minMagisk” to reference the minimum version required to support a module. You can still use “template” in your module.prop if you wish (either term does the same thing). This is more of a name change than a functionality change.

topjohnwu has also created a submission server for Magisk modules. This should allow module requests to be processed “within seconds,” and saves time for everyone involved.

If you’re running the latest beta, the developer advises that you update, as the final release fixes “small but critical bugs” that were present in the last build.