Unlocked Bootloader Phones

[Tiana Dubree]

Thereare some rumors about a bricked phone after relocking bootloader, so this information might be quite an important thing to add in every(!) installation guide. As I see now, in FP3 and FP4, relocking is explained.

For example with my S10, it is not really funny to switch on - a lot of warning symbols and an extra confirmation that this device is NOT SURE (what an irony), and relocking would be quite interesting for me - but is it possible? Who knows?

I purchased my fairphone and was excited to get degoogled. I was extra happy to hear eos provides a perfect system for that, including already microg. Easy installer says everything is fine and not worry about the unlocked bootloader, this is OK. As I dont know better.

Please create a new topic, if you fail to relock your FP4, since this is not at all related to this topic. If you fail relocking it, even if you exactly follow the explained steps, there is something wrong and that needs to be changed, either with your phone (pretty unlikely), with the guide (likely) or with your drivers/tools/routines (very likely).

The easiest way to flash a Google Pixel phone is to usw Googles extreamly easy web installer at

I wish /e/ could also develop such an noob aware web installer. No user interaction needed besides enabling USB debug at the beginning and that unlocking the bootloader at the phones fastboot screen.

Great user experience to reinstall Pixels stock ROM again.

That's not necessarily true. Like I said before, the ATT version has been unlocked, rooted, and custom roms installed. Which of course is not the Chinese version. The carrier is responsible for the firmware that comes out on the carrier locked phones which the carrier can allow for them to be unlocked in the firmware. Even the non carrier locked samsungs can be unlocked. The answer is not that I should go buy a pixel. The answer should be that it's my device and I should have to go buy a different one just to do what I want with what I paid for already. Be sides, these are the same companies that talk so much about protecting the environment. How much more environmentally friendly could you be to allow oem unlock so that phones that could still be used past the time the company stop doing updates don't end up as e-waste? Simply it's about the money. Samsung, among others, are notorious for sending updates to hinder devices to for you to upgrade. I don't see this any differently as they can say it's "for your good" Tmo is not going to say too much about it as it would mean they would keep making money on you having to upgrade.

As I pointed since the S6 with the release of Samsung Pay the Snapdragon version has NEVER been officially unlock ANYWHERE other than China. XDA will even verify this. What you may be finding about AT&T and unlocked bootloaders is from the S5 and below.

The install instructions for the 2020 and for the 2021 Teracube 2e leave the bootloader unlocked.

For comparison: The install instructions for the Fairphone 3/3+ and for the Fairphone 4 lock the bootloader at the end.

The 2020 model 2e guides are over here the 2021 model emerald guides are here

Note the emerald guide with lock bootloader instructions has not been published as yet.

Will inform users when the guide is published.

I fully understand not offering me a warrenty with the phone, which I am fine about as due to the nature of the phone I can replace parts as and when I need, but to refuse even this basic request especially when its entirely their system flagging the error is very frustrating.

I have purchased second hand andriod phones forever now and installed Linageos/Cyangen mod (now linage os) and have never had an issue unlocking a bootloader, its usally just an automated services on a website.

As a reminder for everyone reading along: Buying second hand devices, while of course applaudable from a re-use / device longevity perspective, always carries the risk of potentially buying a stolen device. So, even when purchasing from official marketplace websites, please always ask for the original invoice, also in order to be able to exercise your warranty rights in the future.

for example, T-Mobile Pixels are standard Pixels but are locked until you pay off your subsidized phone by having your plan for a certain number of months (not a high amount), and then you can request to lift the locking

this approach is taken to have standard hardware, firmware and software across all of them despite having locked carrier ones, and without needing to statically provision them as locked in the factory

The reason Pixels are mentioned at all in this post is because they are the only phones which allow safely unlocking the bootloader, putting them ahead of every other phone on the market in respecting the user. All phones should allow users to safely unlock the bootloader. Google should still do better.

Bootloader unlocking is the process of disabling the bootloader security that makes secure boot possible. It can make advanced customizations possible, such as installing a custom firmware. On smartphones this can be a custom Android distribution or another mobile operating system. Some bootloaders are not locked at all, others can be unlocked using a standard command, others need assistance from the manufacturer. Some do not include an unlocking method and can only be unlocked through a software exploit.

Unlocking the bootloader usually voids any warranties and may make the device susceptible to data theft.[1] On Chromebooks, enabling developer mode makes the system less secure than a standard laptop running Linux.[2] Unlocking the bootloader may lead to data loss on Android and ChromeOS devices, as some data is impossible to back up without root permission. This will also lead to certain security apps not working, such as Samsung Knox which the counter would be stuck at "0x1."

If you are getting "Handshake failed" on MTKCilent, then SLA/DAA need to be disabled, or it is probably that's sign of preloader being patched, not only happened to OPPO devices, it is also happened to other phone brand.

In 2011, Sony Ericsson released an online bootloader unlocking tool.[10] Sony requires the IMEI number to be filled in on their website.[11] For the Asus Transformer Prime TF201, Asus has released a special bootloader unlock tool.[12]

In 2012, Motorola released a limited tool for unlocking bootloaders.[13] They require accepting terms and conditions and creating an account before the bootloader can be unlocked for your Motorola device.[14]

Bootloaders can be unlocked using an exploit or using a way that the vendor supplied. The latter method usually requires wiping all data on the device.[15] In addition, some manufacturers prohibit unlocking on carrier locked phones. Although Samsung phones and cellular tablets sold in the US and Canada do not allow bootloader unlocks regardless of carrier status, a service has allowed users on an earlier version to unlock their US/Canadian Samsung phone(s) and/or tablet(s)[16][17]

In 2018, a developer from XDA Developers launched a service which allowed users to unlock the bootloader of some Nokia smartphone models.[18] Similarly, another developer from XDA Developers launched a service to allow users to unlock the bootloaders of Samsung Galaxy S20 and Samsung Galaxy S21 Phones.

Huawei announced plans to allow users to unlock the bootloader of the Mate 30 series, but later retracted that.[19] Huawei has stopped providing bootloader unlock codes since 2018.[20] A bootloader exploit named checkm30 has been developed for HiSilicon based Huawei phones.[21][non-primary source needed]

When the bootloader of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 was unlocked, the camera became less functional. This could be restored by re-locking the bootloader.[22] This issue was later fixed by Samsung.[23] For the Samsung Galaxy S22 series, unlocking the bootloader has no effect on the camera.[24]

The WPInternals tool is able to unlock bootloaders of all Nokia Lumia phones running Windows Phone, but not phones like the Alcatel Idol 4 or HP Elite x3.[25][26] Version 1.0 was released in November 2015.[27] In October 2018, the tool was released as open source software when the main developer Ren Lergner (also known as HeathCliff74) stepped down.[28]

The boot ROM protection on iOS devices with an A11 processor or older can be bypassed with a hardware exploit known as checkm8, which makes it possible to run other operating systems including Linux.[30]

The equivalent of bootloader unlocking is called developer mode in Chromebooks.[32] Chromebooks use custom bootloaders that can be modified or overwritten by removing a Write-protect screw.[33] Some models lack a screw and instead may or may not require disabling the onboard Cr50 chip.[1]

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