General Bootloader unlocking option removed from One UI 8.0

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amakuramio

amakuramio

Senior Member
Nov 28, 2013
842
279
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
Samsung Korea (where the product comes from) is not very kind, one person tells me to f**k off and buy Apple, I say you are copying Apple yourselves, like a dog licking its owner
I didn't know Koreans were like this, I honestly feel disgusted using their phones now.
Google made them great and now they became big they just copy Apple, remove features every year and scorn people who have a genuine complaint
Screenshot_20250922_073803_Chrome.jpg
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H

Hendrix7

Senior Member
Nov 18, 2023
246
69
Yagzie said:
Well, i hope the same too. It is weird to see they did that without any public statement at all...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
blank948555 said:
Holy hell Samsung, we need freedom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Unfortunately, Samsung's executives have little reason to care about us power users anymore. We are a small fraction of their user base.

Normie users are happy when they get their daily dose of Instagram, WhatsApp (why I stopped using it), TikTok, and other stuff that ten year old phones can technically do but can't due to enforced updates (update culture) and planned obsolescence.

This isn't the early 2010s anymore. Samsung (and others) have at this point realized they hardly have to add anything anymore that sets them apart from its predecessors or other brands. They don't have to please their users anymore. There are no more big leaps forward like back when the Galaxy S3 was new. People who have money to spare just pay for the highest number.

Back in the early 2010s, "flagship" meant "most functional". But now, it is more of a fashion and luxury item, like an expensive ring. In fact, entry-level phones like the Galaxy A series have some features that flagships lack (MicroSD, headphone connector).

Understand that the average normie user does not think in terms of "8K 4320p" and "16GB RAM", but "good camera" and "fast".

[I hereby release this post into the public domain, CC0 1.0.]
 
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H

Hendrix7

Senior Member
Nov 18, 2023
246
69
amakuramio said:
Samsung Korea (where the product comes from) is not very kind, one person tells me to f**k off and buy Apple, I say you are copying Apple yourselves, like a dog licking its owner
I didn't know Koreans were like this, I honestly feel disgusted using their phones now.
Google made them great and now they became big they just copy Apple, remove features every year and scorn people who have a genuine complaint
View attachment 6271642View attachment 6271643View attachment 6271641
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Could you please post the link to that that Samsung Community thread? I would like to read more of it. I couldn't find it through search.
 
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  • 6
    Hem981
    Hem981
    Sad to see the current consumer rights state we are in 🙁
    Google with their developer verification, extending control far beyond the play store (yet to see how that plays out)
    Samsung removing bootloader unlock from all devices starting with One UI 8

    And all this for the supposed "security" we are going to get by not being able to use our devices. Heck they might even brick the whole device so that it's unbootable to make you "safe". Can't be safer than having a phone that doesn't boot.

    If it were anything about security (well, yeah to an extent it does make it a bit more secure), how are people accessing the same functionality of the apps which supposedly need google play integrity over it's website? Or from any computer for that matter?

    They are tightening their grips, so that even if you wanted to escape their corporate clutches, you cannot.
    All the goodwill Android had for being an open platform being eroded day by day.

    I might just stay on One UI 7 for as long as possible, before just rooting. Each new supposedly "major" update seems to be adding nothing but slop. More "AI", more bloatware, and too much more spying.
    View
    6
    Ziad_Sydek
    Ziad_Sydek
    That's messed up, I won't update to One Ui 8 - Android 16, Both Samsung & Google changes over Users' Rights is absurd
    1- A permanently Locked Bootloader
    2- Unknown Resources Apps Verification

    Both targets modifications & Users freedom over their devices Software, I bought a Device and I should be the one that Controls it, Not the manufacturer & Not Google, Android 16 is the most Android version I have ever hated, these changes are terrible, no matter the new features or support they will bring with Android 16, I hope more people to speak up, because this has to change, and a Locked Bootloader means
    • No Communities for your device
    • No support after the official support
    • Limited User Control
    • Unsupported Apps Once Official Support Ends
    • No Custom Roms, No Root, No Mods, No Customisation out of what the Manufacturer allows, nothing but ADB, but they might remove that as well
    • Android will be like IOS, no features until the manufacturer decides, no User Control, everything is Locked Down, and you have no control over what you own

    This is not about security, this is a war, about Control, & disrespect to users right over their hardware, also Planned Obsolescence move, You own the hardware you should own the control over what software it runs, not the manufacturer, this is like the Right to repair movement, but with Software, Apple limits both, but Android has always been different, like Windows & Linux & MacOS, but those are Computer Operating Systems, Also Android is the most used OS on the planet, with 40% market share & followed by Windows, this comes down to Android being Open Source, don't like that you can change it, hated your OEM Software Skin you can change it, want to try something different you can, Sideloading available, Mods & tweaks available, Customisation available.

    What Samsung does Right Now, will cause other OEMS to follow, which ends all users' control over the device's Software, Android will be Closed Source, wild Right but it's not about the Bootloader Unlock toggle, it's a change Google has been following for years now with AOSP, also the Official support what happens after it end, guess what with a locked Device you won't get Unofficial Support for your device, meaning no security patches, No OS Upgrade Nothing, just your latest yet old OEM Software, also you will lose support to many apps & games, you won't even able to browse the web, Idk about you but I don't want to live in a world where we own nothing, because software controls the hardware, but with Locked Software, you dont even own the control over your hardware.

    For Simple Users That means

    ● "You bought your phone, but you only rented the software. Now the landlord is changing the locks."

    ● "Your new phone has an expiration date. And only Samsung gets to decide what it is."

    ● "Think your phone is yours? Try changing anything. Surprise: you can't."

    ● "They sold you a computer for your pocket. Then they permanently locked it down. Feel cheated?"

    ● "Your freedom to fix your own stuff is being deleted in a software update."

    A bit Longer Explanations

    ● "You know how Apple got in huge trouble for slowing down old iPhones? This is worse. They're building a wall inside your phone so that nobody—not even you—can keep it running smoothly and securely after they decide to stop supporting it. They're forcing it to become trash."

    ● "It's like buying a car where the manufacturer welds the hood shut. Only they are allowed to change the oil or fix anything. After a few years, they stop offering service, and your perfectly good car gets scrapped because you're forbidden from maintaining it yourself."

    ● "They're taking the 'Android' out of Android. It's becoming more like iOS, where you have to ask for permission to do anything with the device you paid for."

    The Core Of It

    1. It's About Money: "They're doing this so you're forced to buy a new phone every few years."

    2. It's About Control:
    "You paid $1,000 for a device you don't actually Own."

    3. It's About E-Waste:
    "This is terrible for the planet. It turns perfectly good hardware into e-waste."

    4. It's Deceptive:
    "They're not advertising it as a 'locked-down' device, but that's what it is."

    What Can We Do About it, Actually we can do so much, Vote with your Wallet, they want control over what you own, then they can have their devices to themselves, buy from those who respect Your Control over what you have, some will argue saying Privacy first but how could you have privacy when you could not have control (e.g. GrapheneOS), Not all OEMs will block the Bootloader or Sideloading, and those deserve your money.
    View
    5
    4
    424778940
    usually on modern socs secure boot goes like following
    1. enable secure boot module by set the related efuse (note: enable do not means enforce)
    2. write secure boot related keys and configs to efuse area or flash protected by efuse
    3. test run to verify secure boot works correctly
    4. enforce secure boot by set the related efuse, after this, nothing could be changed

    when secure boot actaully boots, it start from ROM, then ROM load the FBL (first stage bootloader), then FBL loads SBL, etc.

    ROM im talking about is something like "Qualcomm 9008" that you may heard used for unbricking, usually gives you a way to download SIGNED "ram code", when unbricking, usually send a special FBL, then that will enables storage write

    FBL you may never see it as it is usually for initializing all things that is required BEFORE the screen could be used, like basic soc clock/ram/power switch/etc

    SBL is the "bootloader" we are talking about, it is the SAMSUNG logo (before animation), it is the "Download Mode", it is the "knox triped" text display

    in this boot process, security is ensured by the trust chain, because ROM is fused while making the soc, it is read only, then FBL is trusted under secure boot signature check in ROM, and the SBL is verified by FBL, so on and so on

    the "unlock" we are talking about is NOT turn off the secure boot, that is IMPOSSIBLE, at least on production device.
    it is acutally just tell the SBL to boot to next stage (boot.img/recovery.img, basically linux/android kernel with ramfs) without signature check, the secure boot is NEVER turned off, and valid signature for FBL/SBL is REQUIRED AT ALL TIME

    you could test this by try odin a sbl with modified bytes, it will fail

    ---

    regarding samsung security check like knox and roll back protection, they are seprate from secure boot usually
    knox and roll back protection likely using customer efuse area, those efuse soc won't care but developer could use to store custom flag and data.
    knox also related to TEE, but that is another huge topic
    View
    4
    D3c3mb3rR@in
    D3c3mb3rR@in
    TypicalGellert said:
    Side loading yes, Google is killing that too.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    That's why i'm buying a phone that already comes with GrapheneOS or any option, FOSS is no longer an option, it's turning into the freedom. Android is now becoming more and more closed. I agree with @IsHacker
    View
    3
    amakuramio
    amakuramio
    KotTHECat said:
    What was they supposed to do in that case?
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    Note 20 Ultra, S21 Ultra support S Pen Pro. S25 ultra deliberately stripped off support for it.
    Why? Because they want us to buy watches. They are a corrupt, greedy company now
    Next phone will not be a Samsung
    View
  • 31
    salvo_giangri
    It looks like Samsung has silently removed the option to unlock the bootloader from One UI 8.0 onwards as it has been reported by some users in the forum (here, here). By reversing the Settings app code we can take a deeper look about how and when the OEM Unlock toggle is shown:

    Java: 
    @Override
public boolean isAvailable() {
    return !SystemProperties.get("ro.frp.pst").equals("") &&
        !SystemProperties.get("ro.boot.other.locked").equals("1") &&
        !KnoxGuardManager.getInstance().shouldBlockCustomRom() &&
        mOemLockManager != null;
}

    - !SystemProperties.get("ro.frp.pst").equals("") checks whether the ro.frp.pst property is not empty. This property contains the path to the persistent data partition used by FRP/OEM Unlock to store its status, and is normally set to /dev/block/persistent.
    - !SystemProperties.get("ro.boot.other.locked").equals("1") checks whether the ro.boot.other.locked property is not set to 1. We're gonna look at this one in a moment.
    - !KnoxGuardManager.getInstance().shouldBlockCustomRom() checks whether the device is not KnoxGuard locked. The KnoxGuard status can be seen in Download mode and is considered to be locked with these values: Prenormal, Active, Locked.
    - mOemLockManager != null check whether the OEM Lock system service is available. This code is the same as the one in AOSP (here), where the ro.oem_unlock_supported property is checked.

    Let's get back to the ro.boot.other.locked property: previously this one would only be present on Samsung devices without the ability to unlock the bootloader such as US devices. This prop is passed to the userspace by the bootloader itself using the Linux kernel cmdline (or Android bootconfig on more recent devices), we can have a better look at this inside the Exynos bootloader source code that leaked in 2022:




    In this little snippet of code we can also see every kind of code related to the unlocking of the bootloader gets stripped off entirely in the bootloader binary once it is compiled. Unfortunately, it turns out that non-US devices running One UI 8.0 have now this androidboot.other.locked property set in cmdline (F761BXXU1AYFK below):



    This not only means that the OEM Unlock toggle is not visible at all inside the Settings app, it also means that the whole code which controls the bootloader unlocking has probably been entirely stripped off in the bootloader itself, meaning that a workaround to this is not possible in the worst case.

    I'm opening this thread so we can all have a place to discuss about this and inform everyone who is either planning to buy a new Samsung device shipping with Android 16 or update their device once One UI 8.0 drops to acknowledge this.
    View
    12
    L
    Lavaix
    Other manufacturers will follow suite. This is plain stupid and restrictive. What will be next? Sideloading?

    When we pay for a device, we should be able to do ANYTHING with it.
    View
    7
    jrkruse
    Its class action lawsuit time. Samsung has essentially render thousands if not millions users that has already tripped knox they have made those phones basically worthless. What good is a locked phone with tripped knox with many of those devices costing over $1000 dollars.
    View
    7
    Lost-Entrepreneur439
    I've seen this coming for a while now. With Knox and the removal of bootloader unlocking on American devices like 10 years ago, I knew it was only a matter of time before Samsung nuked it entirely. I've been trying to tell people for years to quit buying Samsungs if they need an unlockable bootloader, I suspect Xiaomi is going to follow suit soon

    if you want unlockable bootloaders, dont get a Samsung, go with a Pixel, Xperia, OnePlus or Nothing.
    View
    6
    4
    424778940
    Lost-Entrepreneur439 said:
    I've seen this coming for a while now. With Knox and the removal of bootloader unlocking on American devices like 10 years ago, I knew it was only a matter of time before Samsung nuked it entirely. I've been trying to tell people for years to quit buying Samsungs if they need an unlockable bootloader, I suspect Xiaomi is going to follow suit soon

    if you want unlockable bootloaders, dont get a Samsung, go with a Pixel, Xperia, OnePlus or Nothing.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    XiaoMi in China is already requiring users to pass almost impossible tasks to get unlocked.
    Basically you have to first reach almost the maximum user level in their fourm, imagine how long it will take, then you get to what being called 小米高考(XiaoMi SAT for US guys understand lol), but harder than actual SAT as each question is very complex and time limited under a minute, with highly randomized question database.
    In other words, they just don't want you pass it at all.

    To make things worse, you cannot logout your XiaoMi account once unlocked, if you do, your account will banned forever, and your XiaoMi account is regisetred with gov ID and phone number, they will know who you are for sure.

    Therefore, people developing odd ways to unlock their phone lol. For example, going to customer service, asking for a firmware downgrade, customer service will unlock your bootloader, downgrade it, lock it back. But people who just want unlock will watch closely on device screen, as soon as it shows unlocked just unplug the phone and run. (customer service will try whatever they could trace them down as they get fined for about $300 USD for the incident)
    YES, IM NOT KIDING. THIS IS REAL (Ignore the stupid music)

    全网首发秒解澎湃BL教程 【小米降级直接跑】_哔哩哔哩_bilibili

    小米之家店员给客户降级直接走了 还没回锁, 视频播放量 256108、弹幕量 78、点赞数...
    www.bilibili.com www.bilibili.com

    So, don't rely on any Chinese brand, they all blocking unlock BL in China long ago
    View

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