Samsung Removes OEM Unlocking from One UI 8!

Well, well, well, this came as a surprise. Right after users installed the One UI 8 update on their Galaxy Z Fold7 and Flip7, they went to Developer Options to enable the OEM Unlocking option and gain administrative access over their device. But much to their astonishment, the said option was nowhere to be found.

Initially, we dismissed such reports because it was few and far. Moreover, we thought the user might have brought the device from the US and was still looking for this feature [for the unaware, OEM Unlocking has not been present on Samsung devices in the US for ages].

Credits: Reditor dragosslash

But these reports kept increasing day by day, and then we finally decided to have a look at them. Guess what? Our worst fears came true. Samsung has indeed removed the OEM Unlocking option on One UI 8 on non-US devices as well!

• Dear Samsung, Let us use ‘Our’ Device the way we want to!
• Can We Bring Back the OEM Unlock on One UI 8?
• The Thin Line Between iOS and One UI is Further Diminishing?

Dear Samsung, Let us use ‘Our’ Device the way we want to!

Look, we get it. Unlocking the bootloader is risky as it makes our device more prone to attacks and eases the way for the entry of malware and other malicious actors. BUT THIS IS THE FREAKING DEVICE WE PAID FOR, AND WE KNOW THE CONSEQUENCES OF UNLOCKING OUR DEVICES. If you are so mcuh willing to interfere, then just warn us beforehand of the impacts of carrying out these tweaks and silently leave the scene, we can take forward from there.

Unfortunately, that isn’t the case with the majority of the OEMs. Recently, Xiaomi has made it next to impossible to unlock the bootloader on HyperOS [but atleast it hasn’t removed the ability to unlock the device]. And now, Samsung has taken it a step further and removed the ability altogether. So this begs the most important question- is there any workaround through which you can bring back the OEM Unlock on Samsung devices running One UI 8? Let’s find out.

Can We Bring Back the OEM Unlock on One UI 8?

Before we answer this question, let’s first understand the technicalities behind this. On devices that still have the OEM Unlocking, you’ll see the following four lines of code in the Settings menu [thanks to XDA Recognized Contributor salvo_giangri for these findings]

@Override

public boolean isAvailable() {

return !SystemProperties.get("ro.frp.pst").equals("") &&

!SystemProperties.get("ro.boot.other.locked").equals("1") &&

!KnoxGuardManager.getInstance().shouldBlockCustomRom() &&

mOemLockManager != null;

}

Out of this, let’s keep our focus on !SystemProperties.get(“ro.boot.other.locked”).equals(“1”), which checks whether the ro.boot.other.locked property is not set to 1. Up until now, this line was only present on those Samsung devices whose bootloaders cannot be unlocked [such as the US variant devices]. However, beginning with One UI 8, the androidboot.other.locked is now present on all devices that have installed the update.

Credit: XDA Senior Member Android Artisan

This not only means that the OEM Unlock toggle is not visible at all inside the Settings app, but it also means that the whole code that controls the bootloader unlocking has probably been entirely stripped off in the bootloader itself. As a result of this, there might not be any workaround that would help you bring back OEM Unlocking on One UI 8.

The users who are into unlocking bootloaders, rooting, and flashing custom ROMs are diminishing each year, thanks in part to Google’s strict checks like Play Integrity and the fact that OEMs themselves are adding most of the features to their OS skin that were earlier only possible via rooting. But all this still doesn’t justify the fact that you can remove the ability to unlock the bootloader just because you deemed it fit.

The Thin Line Between iOS and One UI is Further Diminishing?

And if you really like a closed ecosystem, then why not remove the ability to do sideloading and installing third-party APKs? Oh wait, did we just give them an idea to do that in One UI 9! Anyways, don’t feel surprised if you are not able to distinguish between One UI and iOS in the next few years in terms of freedom and privilege to carry out tweaks as we wish to.

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