“OnePlus has announced a new system that limits who can unlock the bootloader on their phones. Stating reasons such as “data security” and an enhanced “system stability” […]. OnePlus has introduced a new procedure where anyone wanting to unlock the bootloader on their devices must first fill out an online request form for “Deep Testing””.
Even if it is for one region, it is still enshitification preventing phones to have custom ROM 🤦♂️
They lived long enough to become the villain
They got purchased by Oppo
They were always an oppo spinoff, and after capturing their customer base they got spun back in. I hate corporations.
I will limit my purchases of OnePlus equipment.
I can’t go below zero
You can prevent friends and family, therefore having a negative impact equivalent to less than 0
Fucking fantastic. /s. This is probably the first step to killing bootloader unlocking entirely and that could be a real problem because to the best of my knowledge that would leave Google and maybe Fairphone as the only two possibilities in existence until Graphene launches a device
Motorola still allows unlocks, but they don’t have re-locking capabilities under custom keys.
Motorola does conditional bootloader unlocks, you need to have your device connected to the internet for roughly 7 days after you bought it, in order to have the “OEM unlocking” option available. Then you have to request a bootloader unlock key through their website which requires a Lenovo ID account.
I’m not saying it’s impossible, but at any of those steps they can make shit worse (like Xiaomi did).
To my knowledge the only brand which lets you unlock your bootloader without a fuss is Nothing. Sony and Fairphone are on close second but there you still need to request a bootloader unlock key.
Oh yeah, I forgot about them. Question is, how well does custom ROMs work with media tech chips? Because from what I understand, a lot of Motorola’s are now using media tech. And I have not seen many custom ROMs work with them.
Google don’t restrict unlocking the boot loader. I just checked on my Pixel 9 Pro Fold and the OEM unlocking toggle is still there. The only barrier is enabling developer options by repeatedly tapping the build number in settings/about phone, just like it always has been
You can only relock the bootloader with a signed OS image loaded
- “requirements are only applicable to users in China”
- “restrictions will not apply to previous versions of ColorOS” (<16)
- “unlocking the bootloader won’t void the phone’s warranty”
While not ideal, it’s also not the end of the world.
It’s the camel’s nose under the tent.
Hopefully this is as far as it goes and not something they will continually restrict each year. This feels similar to the Xiaomi situation which seems to have had the same problems in China, and they have gradually restricted unlocking more and more.
Adding OnePlus to my blacklist, next to Samsung.
Any others I need to add?
Xiaomi recently blocked bootloader unlocking and even before that it was a convolute process were you made a request using a app of theirs and had to wait one week before the phone was unlocked.
Xiaomi recently blocked bootloader unlocking
Agreed on the process being convoluted.
plus, app is poorly translated, half baked pile of garbaage that some time just didn’t work
so Your one week could easly turn in to 3, or if You’re unlucky, like me - 6 weeks
- Asus disabled the option to unlock the bootloader.
- Huawei
Boooooo, not cool!!
this is garbage and backwards
Is Daddy Google making them do this under the excuse of “data security”? It’s a bit sus that they’ve all “decided” to do it of their own volition.
Plus Google has locked a bunch of stuff out of the open source versions now, so it’s likely only a matter of time before it’s effectively useless.
FFS. Who the hell is even left that allows unrestricted bootloader unlocks? Sony?
E: oh, Pixels too I guess
Fairphone?
I had the 5 but really everything after 1 was aafter they had become just as bullshit as the competition
I switched to Nord after running my 3T down and I’m really happy, I got a great upgrade in hardware AND no shitty curved screen for 1/3rd of the price.
I kinda want a phone in the exact shape of the oneplus one but with current wifi and recent ish processor. When I got the 5 I gave the 1 to my brother who proceeded to drop it at work and run over it with a forklift. The screen cracked and the wood back plate broke but the phone still worked. Some months later he got the 5t and ran over that too but it was decimated.
We should use the term “licensing” a phone over “buying”. Because this shit ain’t buying if I am, the device owner, can’t do shit they want to their phone cuz random big companies needs to protect the apps (aka spyware) from users.
The CCP does not want people running things like GrapheneOS, so this is not surprising.
Boo
I just stopped buying Android devices. Now I inherit old ones that other people would have thrown out. They are ok if you didn’t pay for it.
As someone who just tried daily driving a non-unlocked phone for the first time in 10+ years, I’m interested in seeing some development in the direction of sandboxing. Not sure how stuff works in GrapheneOS for example (haven’t tried it) and haven’t delved into too much details of AOSP either, but I think it makes sense - make sure that system and sensitive apps are not possible to tamper with even if you want to, and run everything else in a separate space that you can have root access to. Would be nice, although realistically I don’t see this happening outside of some developer-focused device.
But yeah, even if I don’t want to unlock, I’d prefer having the peace of mind that I can if I decide to. Haven’t tried OnePlus so far, and this here makes is much less likely that I would in the future.
Definitely check out GrapheneOS. It pretty much addresses what you’re asking about, aside from root access.
One of the reasons for me to try staying stock/non-rooted was finance/banking apps, Google Wallet and so on - if it ever worked while rooted, it was a cat and mouse game on each update. GrapheneOS doesn’t work for that. Also, it being limited to only Pixel phones is not ideal. But yes, my old (and still working) phone is a Pixel, so I might give it a try just out of curiosity.
