OnePlus will limit bootloader unlocking
“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 🤦♂️
https://www.androidauthority.com/oneplus-bootloader-unlocking-restriction-coloros-16-3587810/Open linkView original on piefed.world256
Comments38
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
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.
For some devices
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
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.
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.
FFS. Who the hell is even left that allows unrestricted bootloader unlocks? Sony?
E: oh, Pixels too I guess
Fairphone?
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.
Boo
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.
I don't know much about hacking, but it's surprising to me that there's not a way to get around this. What stops people from developing a forced workaround? What would need to be done to develop one?
Edit: Answering my own question, sort of, it seems that a locked bootloader uses cryptographic keys stored on the device, so the problem becomes a typical key brute forcing scenario. What a mess. It's so annoying that there aren't more "touchscreen handheld computers" where you can just install whatever you want on them the same as building your own PC. I hate how everything like that is being chipped away over time.
Stuff like this seems promising though in a very far-out, push-comes-to-shove kind of way: https://www.synacktiv.com/en/publications/how-to-voltage-fault-injection#protect
They are going out of business and should be considered compromised by piracy. Buying a One Plus is supporting a global criminal organization.
Any citations? I haven't been paying attention to OnePlus specifically, but haven't heard about any of this.
The article... Locking the bootloader is ceasing to sell a product that can be owned. It is a rental controlled by someone else actively, not just passively through a proprietary orphan kernel. It is action taken to filter, manipulate, and exploit. That is actually a soft coup against democracy itself, if you grasp the role of informed autonomous citizens and the reason ignorance is never an excuse in a democracy. The mechanism of trust is a fascist tool that is diametrically opposed to a liberal democracy. Trust in the chain of information flowing to a citizen is to subjugate and steal the right of citizenship. This is fundamentally simple with enormous implications. The naive stupidity of people blind to this fundamental issue is truly sad. The transition to actively exploiting the device, is to surrender democracy to a traitorous pirate if you purchase one of these. It is not small thing to shrug off. This is a pivotal moment and issue that will create an unimaginatively dark dystopia. The problem with coups is only the speed at which they are executed. This is a foundational cornerstone taken slowly where people are far to stupid to see it and resist in time to make a difference.
That catastrophizing, incoherent, word salad, is some truly impressive nonsense.
You forgot your meds