<story><title>Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled</title><url>https://www.fitzsim.org/blog/?p=545</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>j1elo</author><text>Xiaomi does the same (or at least did until my latest phone change i.e. around 3 years ago). You must unlock the bootloader before being able to install a custom recovery image such as TWRP, which itself is used to install custom ROMs.&lt;p&gt;This unlock involves: creating a user account in the Xiaomi services website, logging into that account from your phone&amp;#x27;s system, then &lt;i&gt;having the phone logged in for at least 7 days&lt;/i&gt;, then using a Windows software which sends a request for unlocking, which they will grant (at least in my experience).&lt;p&gt;The most outrageous part of all this process (apart from the fact that it exists at all) is the 7 days of usage with the phone logged in. If you attempt an unlock earlier than that, the software will say: &amp;quot;You have to wait X days and Y hours before you can unlock this device.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: This Reddit wiki page explains the process. I&amp;#x27;m flabbergasted that it actually takes &lt;i&gt;720 hours&lt;/i&gt; aka 30 days:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reddit.com&amp;#x2F;r&amp;#x2F;Xiaomi&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;bootloader&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reddit.com&amp;#x2F;r&amp;#x2F;Xiaomi&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;bootloader&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>pbasista</author><text>&amp;gt; connect the device to the Internet before they are allowed to install the operating system they want&lt;p&gt;Phoning home before undertaking such an activity takes away the ownership rights from the customers. They do not actually own these devices even after they have purchased them.&lt;p&gt;The reason is that an important part of their ownership rights, i.e. the freedom to use the software of their choice, has been withheld from them. With a &lt;i&gt;promise&lt;/i&gt; that it will be given to them on request. Unless, of course, the manufacturer changes their mind.&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, there are cases when the manufacturer did not even make such a promise and disabled bootloader unlocking permanently with no way of enabling it again. On Pixel phones.&lt;p&gt;This used to happen (and perhaps still happens) to some Pixel phones purchased in the USA from Verizon. They have been known [0] for disabling the bootloader unlocking and for giving their customers no way to enable it. Not even after phoning home.&lt;p&gt;Some people claim [1] that they paid someone from China to unlock their Pixel 1 phone remotely using some shady approach. I assume that someone with inside information from Google has leaked some software and instructions for doing so. It is unclear whether later Pixel phones sold by Verizon with locked bootloaders could be unlocked in a similar way.&lt;p&gt;As a result, it seems like the only way to have a chance at unlocking such Pixel phones, which have been made by a US company and purchased from a US carrier, is to pay someone in China and hope for the best. It has gotten that far.&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;forum.xda-developers.com&amp;#x2F;t&amp;#x2F;how-to-unlock-bootloader-on-verizon-pixel-xl.3796030&amp;#x2F;page-73&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;forum.xda-developers.com&amp;#x2F;t&amp;#x2F;how-to-unlock-bootloader-...&lt;/a&gt;
[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;forum.xda-developers.com&amp;#x2F;t&amp;#x2F;how-to-unlock-bootloader-on-verizon-pixel-xl.3796030&amp;#x2F;page-73#post-88299591&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;forum.xda-developers.com&amp;#x2F;t&amp;#x2F;how-to-unlock-bootloader-...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>pessimizer</author><text>If laws let companies do this, they will. Eventually unlocking your phone will look like a &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Literacy_test&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Literacy_test&lt;/a&gt;. At 30 days, it has already passed the level of cancelling your subscription to The Economist and reached the obfuscation level of cancelling the average gym membership.&lt;p&gt;They&amp;#x27;ll just keep testing the limits until their analytics tell them that only 23 people made it through the process in the last year, then they&amp;#x27;ll shut it down for lack of use. Legally obligated, they&amp;#x27;ll replace the process with a promise that if you mail a newly purchased device to the company, they&amp;#x27;ll send you an unlocked version within about 3 months. Then, a year later, mail to that P.O. Box starts getting returned, and customer service claims that they&amp;#x27;re not aware of any mail-in program. The representative claims, honestly, that &amp;quot;we don&amp;#x27;t sell unlocked phones.&amp;quot; You get escalated to a supervisor, and insist that they&amp;#x27;re legally required to unlock your phone. The supervisor apologizes to you, promises to get to the bottom of the training oversight that led to the escalation, and insists that you mail the device &lt;i&gt;directly to his office&lt;/i&gt; and he will take care of you personally.&lt;p&gt;Only three people made it to the supervisor last year. Two of them never ended up sending in their phones, and for the one that did, the company accidentally sent another &lt;i&gt;locked&lt;/i&gt; phone back and the customer failed to follow up.</text></comment>
<story><title>Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled</title><url>https://www.fitzsim.org/blog/?p=545</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>j1elo</author><text>Xiaomi does the same (or at least did until my latest phone change i.e. around 3 years ago). You must unlock the bootloader before being able to install a custom recovery image such as TWRP, which itself is used to install custom ROMs.&lt;p&gt;This unlock involves: creating a user account in the Xiaomi services website, logging into that account from your phone&amp;#x27;s system, then &lt;i&gt;having the phone logged in for at least 7 days&lt;/i&gt;, then using a Windows software which sends a request for unlocking, which they will grant (at least in my experience).&lt;p&gt;The most outrageous part of all this process (apart from the fact that it exists at all) is the 7 days of usage with the phone logged in. If you attempt an unlock earlier than that, the software will say: &amp;quot;You have to wait X days and Y hours before you can unlock this device.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: This Reddit wiki page explains the process. I&amp;#x27;m flabbergasted that it actually takes &lt;i&gt;720 hours&lt;/i&gt; aka 30 days:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reddit.com&amp;#x2F;r&amp;#x2F;Xiaomi&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;bootloader&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reddit.com&amp;#x2F;r&amp;#x2F;Xiaomi&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;bootloader&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>pbasista</author><text>&amp;gt; connect the device to the Internet before they are allowed to install the operating system they want&lt;p&gt;Phoning home before undertaking such an activity takes away the ownership rights from the customers. They do not actually own these devices even after they have purchased them.&lt;p&gt;The reason is that an important part of their ownership rights, i.e. the freedom to use the software of their choice, has been withheld from them. With a &lt;i&gt;promise&lt;/i&gt; that it will be given to them on request. Unless, of course, the manufacturer changes their mind.&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, there are cases when the manufacturer did not even make such a promise and disabled bootloader unlocking permanently with no way of enabling it again. On Pixel phones.&lt;p&gt;This used to happen (and perhaps still happens) to some Pixel phones purchased in the USA from Verizon. They have been known [0] for disabling the bootloader unlocking and for giving their customers no way to enable it. Not even after phoning home.&lt;p&gt;Some people claim [1] that they paid someone from China to unlock their Pixel 1 phone remotely using some shady approach. I assume that someone with inside information from Google has leaked some software and instructions for doing so. It is unclear whether later Pixel phones sold by Verizon with locked bootloaders could be unlocked in a similar way.&lt;p&gt;As a result, it seems like the only way to have a chance at unlocking such Pixel phones, which have been made by a US company and purchased from a US carrier, is to pay someone in China and hope for the best. It has gotten that far.&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;forum.xda-developers.com&amp;#x2F;t&amp;#x2F;how-to-unlock-bootloader-on-verizon-pixel-xl.3796030&amp;#x2F;page-73&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;forum.xda-developers.com&amp;#x2F;t&amp;#x2F;how-to-unlock-bootloader-...&lt;/a&gt;
[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;forum.xda-developers.com&amp;#x2F;t&amp;#x2F;how-to-unlock-bootloader-on-verizon-pixel-xl.3796030&amp;#x2F;page-73#post-88299591&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;forum.xda-developers.com&amp;#x2F;t&amp;#x2F;how-to-unlock-bootloader-...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>preisschild</author><text>Yeah, I bought a Pocophone F1 when it came out, expecting to instantly install LineageOS, but then I found out that I have to wait a full week and set up a Windows VM.&lt;p&gt;The phone per-se wasn&amp;#x27;t bad, but that was my last purchase from Xiaomi.&lt;p&gt;Replaced the Pocophone with a Google Pixel 5A and I will stick to Google Pixel because GrapheneOS is great.</text></comment>