this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2023
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Android

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[–] penquin@lemm.ee 46 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I mean, why would I ever unlock the bootloader if I'm going to keep the stock OS? People don't just unlock the bootloader and leave it there sitting doing nothing πŸ˜‚

[–] anonymous_bot@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well depends on why you're unlocking the bootloader. Some people just want root but not necessarily a custom ROM. Though for some phones a custom ROM may be more appealing than others.

[–] Jailbrick3d@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

i mean in this case, if you're planning to root you'd much rather use a custom OS that will still give you OS updates

or, just buy a different android and avoid the bs entirely

[–] kokesh@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Magisk, Revanced using root to simply replace stock YouTube app without having to deal with MicroG, tuning kernel to achieve Moah powa babeh, better battery, etc.

[–] krimsonbun@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

soo basically encouraging people that just unlock the bootloader to do this to install a different OS?

[–] kokesh@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

It is OS endorsed by Xiaomi. Plus I've paid for the device, so it is up to me what I do with it.

[–] miss_brainfart@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

Would using root to remove an app remove everything? Because if not, why not simply use adb to uninstall an app like YouTube, for example?

[–] bitwolf@lemmy.one 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Since you cannot unlock the bootloader without going into the OS now, I prefer to leave it unlocked but stock.

That way, if the device ever cannot boot, I can at least Adb pull my data off the device from fastboot.

[–] FutileRecipe@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I prefer to leave it unlocked

That's makes it much less secure and is a wide attack surface.

https://grapheneos.org/install/web#locking-the-bootloader

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[–] thisisnotcoincedence@lemmy.dbzer0.com 39 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's possible that rooting your phone impedes the ability for the Chinese spyware to work properly.

[–] Maoo@hexbear.net 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The only spyware you should be concerned about is that from your own country. That's the country that can actually do things against you with the information. What are you worried about "China" doing with your chats or metadata on which apps are open?

[–] sickpusy@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Word. All this China is a big brother fails account for the fact that most states today are big brothers. It's only a matter of degree.

[–] chaircat@lemdro.id 1 points 1 year ago

It's worse than that. All this China big brother talk is just a variant of xenophobia. It's a talking point they've been trained to slam their foreign "enemies" about without ever thinking about it at all of what the actual harm they're concerned about would look like.

[–] henfredemars@infosec.pub 31 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

Overlooking the title, the real news to me in this article is the rapidly increasing difficulty of getting permission from that vendor to unlock your bootloader in the first place.

And why should you need permission to do this?

[–] NightOwl@lemmy.one 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's so weird that Google's phone has been the most accessible for unlocking your phone. Oneplus used to be good too, but then they became bad in that area too and now custom rom scene seems dead for newer Oneplus phones.

Oneplus used to be good too,

On that note, Xiaomi also used to be good. In fact, xiaomi's initial popularity is for the ease of unlocking and rooting. Once it gain popularity, it started to lock down, much like the path OnePlus is on.

[–] chloektboehnchen@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh, did they? Easily unlocking the bootloader was exactly what I chose my OnePlus 6t for. Sad to see how fast they dropped that.

[–] Jailbrick3d@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

they were godsends back in the OnePlus 6/7 days because their phones and custom OS was meant to be more root friendly than the rest. it was what sold me and a buddy of mine on them in the first place

sadly, it's gone south now but it was fun back when it happened

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I wish flashing custom ROMs was like flashing custom firmware to routers. With most routers you can return it back to stock and no one will know the difference.

[–] henfredemars@infosec.pub 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Is this not the case with the pixel?

[–] jacktherippah@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

It is the case for a Pixel. Flash stock, relock and no one will know you've messed with your device.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Once its unlocked it trips a fuse on a hardware level.

A pixel is better but not perfect

[–] anonymous_bot@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think that's Samsung. The Pixels don't have a fuse AFAIK.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I've never owned a Samsung device. I just know that unlocking a pixel voids the warranty

[–] anonymous_bot@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

No it doesn't. Also you can just relock the bootloader. Google doesn't care.

[–] TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Not enforceable in Europe. The OEM would have to explicitly prove that the bootloader unlock is what caused the issue that brought about the warranty claim.

[–] FutileRecipe@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I just know that unlocking a pixel voids the warranty

And how do you "just know" that? Any sources? Everything I've read and even done with my Pixel says otherwise, though I do return to stock and relock before returning.

https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/94497368/will-unlocking-bootloader-custom-rom-void-my-pixel-warranty

https://android.gadgethacks.com/news/psa-unlocking-your-pixels-bootloader-does-not-void-your-warranty-0175739/

[–] portside@monyet.cc 7 points 1 year ago

Yeah, I've been waiting since a week to unlock my bootloader. I still have to wait 4 more days to be able to unlock. Once it's done I'm going to Lineage OS.

Xiaomi phones have a good hardware to price ratio. I've got a headphone jack, dual SIM, and a dedicated memory card slot.

[–] schizoidman@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Many years back if I am not mistaken the bootloader came unlocked. That led to some resellers flashing their bloatware on to the phones.

[–] Schmuppes@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

I got my Redmi Note 11 one and a half years ago. The waiting time for their shitty tool to unlock the bootloader after a week wasn't the biggest obstacle for me. What really pisses me off is that they violated their obligations to upload the kernel sources and therefore significantly delayed custom ROM development. While being a cheap and popular device, it hasn't received Lineage OS support and probably never will. That ship has sailed because Xiaomi just doesn't give a fuck about what their end of the deal is if they want to use a decent FOSS based OS on their phones instead of spending huge amounts of money and time to build their own ecosystem.

[–] chaircat@lemdro.id 1 points 1 year ago

And why should you need permission to do this?

Xiaomi historically had a problem with resellers installing malware in custom ROM on their phones, so they started putting up more and more obstacles to unlocking the bootloader over time, while still providing an avenue for legitimate customers to unlock.

I don't know what spurred the current action though.

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[–] Veraxus@kbin.social 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Whatever happened to Android being FOSS?

[–] moitoi@feddit.de 11 points 1 year ago

You're confusing Android and AOSP.

[–] moitoi@feddit.de 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is a lost for people wanting to use the Xiaomi version of Android. They are locked.

For people who buy these phones specially to unlock the bootloader and install a custom ROM, it doesn't change much.

[–] Melco@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

How do you figure? The actual article states that only Chinese users with a certain post rating on their forums will be eligible to apply for an unlock of their phones.

Users outside of China will not be able to unlock at all.

This changed everything!

[–] spiderman@ani.social 15 points 1 year ago

as if they give updates to my one year old android. they never did.

[–] netchami@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 year ago

No one should be using their Chinese spyware OS anyway.

[–] TheBlue22@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thats cool, I don't use chinese spyware phones anyways

[–] sparky@lemmy.federate.cc 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Tbh I wonder if flashing an aosp rom changes that at all

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[–] schizoidman@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago

Don't people usually flash a custom rom when they unlock their bootloader? Somehow if you are still on the stock rom can't you just flash the update since you have already unlocked the bootloader?

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The whole point of unlocking the bootloader on a Xiaomi phone is to replace the shit Xiaomi ROM with something better, at which point you don't care about updates for the Xiaomi one anymore.

Also considering the huge barriers they put to try and dissuade people from unlocking the bootloader on their phones - the "have the phone register itself in our system and then wait 168h (1 week) before you can unlock the bootloader" is especially entertaining - I don't think there are that many people out there unlocking the bootloader on their Xiaomi phone just for fun.

[–] kokesh@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Great. Had 2 Xiaomi phones now, as I love the hardware and ability to quite easily unlock in order to install Xiaomi.eu and Magisk. If this is no longer possible, my next phone won't be Xiaomi.

[–] nudnyekscentryk@szmer.info 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This only applies if you stay on stock rom. Xiaomi.eu will update normally as it is a custom rom (despite being officially endorsed by Xiaomi).

[–] kokesh@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Let's hope. I've lived my OnePlus3 (specially with GCam), but they became more expensive. I go for the flagship every 3 years, so I need a great phone, unlockable and hit costing so much.

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[–] csolisr@communities.azkware.net 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

At least it seems like you can still do a backup, re-lock the bootloader, apply for an upgrade, then unlock the bootloader again and restore the backup - right?

[–] alonely0@programming.dev 3 points 1 year ago

Just sideload the ota, no need to go through so much trouble.

[–] tslnox@reddthat.com 2 points 1 year ago

Maybe they will also make the waiting period more painful... That sucks.

??? wouldn't you install a custom ROM?

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