Magisk, the popular Android rooting and systemless customization tool, has added official support for Googlebook in its latest v31.1 beta release.
Announced by developer John Wu (@topjohnwu) and released via the beta channel, the update introduces dedicated Googlebook installation documentation. Additionally, to align with Googlebook OS's Headless System User Mode (HSUM), the update phases out interactive superuser (root) prompts and removes the built-in app-hiding feature.
Key Features Added for Googlebook
The Magisk app has been optimized for Googlebook and now offers automatic firmware download suggestions tailored for Google Pixel and Googlebook devices.
It also gains support for directly patching and writing recovery GPT images to USB drives connected to Googlebook devices.
Furthermore, image patching workflows have been unified across local files and remote URLs, handling raw images, OTA zips, factory image zips, Samsung Odin tar files, and recovery GPT images. During download and patching operations, real-time read/write progress and transfer speeds are displayed.
Root Permissions Shift to Pre-Grant Model
Due to adaptations for the multi-user Headless System User Mode (HSUM) in Googlebook OS, the classic interactive prompt asking to grant root access upon launching an app has been removed.
Instead of waiting for a pop-up when an app requests elevated privileges, users must now manually open the "Superuser" tab in the Magisk app and pre-grant access to target applications.
Along with this change, legacy settings such as re-authentication and specific access mode options have been cleaned up and removed.
App Hiding Feature Retired with a New Recommended Workflow
The feature that allowed users to hide the Magisk app by repackaging it with a random name has also been removed. This decision comes as hiding package identities on modern Android versions has become increasingly difficult against advanced detection mechanisms, while also conflicting with Googlebook OS design architecture.
Since interactive prompts are no longer used and the app does not need to run continuously in the background, official guidance now suggests simply uninstalling the Magisk app once configuration is complete as an effective way to remain hidden.
Other Fixes and Stable Rollout Plan
In addition to the headline changes, Magisk v31.1 includes the following updates and fixes:
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Dropped support for Android 6.0 (Android 7.0 or higher is now required)
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Added native signing support for ChromeOS boot images (eliminating the need for external futility binaries)
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Fixed AVB 1.0 ECDSA signature verification and signing
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Preserved SignerVer02 signatures on Samsung devices
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Enabled architecture-specific BCJ filters for XZ compression and improved zImage detection
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Supported native magiskboot builds on Linux and macOS hosts
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Resolved crashes related to database strings and daemon connections
Magisk v31.1 is currently available via the beta channel. If no major issues are found, a stable release is expected to follow shortly.