- cross-posted to:
- privacy@lemmy.ml
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I find this blurb on Pixels interesting:
OTAConfigNoZeroTouchPrebuilt is an app on Pixels that checks for a carrier lock. When a Pixel first connects to the internet, this system app will immediately check if the device is carrier locked. If it’s not or is locked to a carrier that doesn’t restrict unlocking, it will retrieve a token from Google’s servers which will allow bootloader unlocks. If the token cannot be received, then the bootloader cannot be unlocked. This means if Google’s servers ever go down, you will not be able to unlock your Pixel’s bootloader, as it won’t have the token.
Mostly because unlocking the bootloader and rooting my Pixel 9 Pro was the very first thing I did to it. I skipped through all of the setup steps.
Does this still apply after installing GrapheneOS and locking the bootloader again?
I think it does not apply since the verified boot key is replaced.
This thread seems to back this theory up: https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/444-how-do-i-unlock-the-bootloader-in-grapheneos/3
The GrapheneOS factory images flash a non-stock Android Verified Boot key which needs to be erased to fully revert back to a stock device state. Before flashing the stock factory images and before locking the bootloader, you should erase the custom Android Verified Boot key to untrust it
Would love if someone could fully confirm, though.
Thanks for sleuthing. Appreciated.
Are we sure about the Fairphone? I set one up with LineageOS the other day and had no issues, nor did I have to register anywhere, as far as I can remember.
On Fairphone, for every OEM unlock you need a working internet connection, and for the first OEM unlock you need to get an activation code from Fairphone using your phones IMEI/serial number. So I’d say this classification is correct. I also have a Fairphone and everything worked without problems, but it is still 100% controlled by Fairphone even on already sold devices.
See https://www.fairphone.com/de/bootloader-unlocking-code-for-fairphone
I must be misremembering then! Thanks for the correction.
tbf, I’m not sure about older Fairphones (I have a FP5 and I needed to do that)
There is a bypass to do it offline
https://www.datenrei.ch/blog/2024/05/25/fp-oem-unlock-all.html
Still deserves the spot on the list though
They also have anti rollback, You cannot lock the bootloater if current rom security version is older than the one it had before.
They do warn of this but still bad as it makes the phone a brick if you do lock it.
considering that fairphone decided to include an unnecessary option on their site to “request for an unlocking code” even tho their devices can be easily unlocked via dev mode. I kinda understand the thought of the github author/s that it would just take a board meeting and deciding to enshittify their product, the possibility of it is super low but not zero.
fantastic resource, thanks for sharing!
Mentioning Apple just seems redundant? iPhones don’t have custom firmware, at least not current ones. I think you could install Android on a 3GS, but it wouldn’t be current.
No one’s buying an iPhone to unlock the bootloader, they’re doing it because it’s what others have, they use other Apple tech, or they want a decade of updates (that lose features).
They don’t have custom firmware because it’s locked down, not because of their product line’s existence.
If iPhones were as easy to mod as Pixels, then the sheer amount of potential users would probably mean a custom firmware would be swiftly developed.
So yeah, we should name and shame them, even if Apple has no interest in opening the gates.
iOS itself is closed source so unlockable bootloader wouldn’t make modding it much easier. Custom Android roms are based on AOSP which is easy to modify and can be used with existing properietary drivers extracted from official firmware. Alternative OSes for Android phones exist but their users are tiny minority even in custom ROM community. Porting a Linux-based OS to an iPhone and making it fully functional would be a humongous task.
Wouldn’t both the Asahi Linux project and the prior examples of android managing to be ran on iPhone 5 models and below be solid examples to the contrary?
Huh, I went into this thinking of Pokémon fanroms
