The last move of Samsung He took the most experienced community in the mobile surprise. With the arrival of One UI 8the Korean company has decided to completely remove the Possibility to unlock the bootloader on your devicesa fundamental feature for those who love to personalize their smartphone, albeit in the last few were increasingly complicated. This change is already active on the new models Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 And Samsung Z Flip7 who arrive on the market with the One UI 8, as well as in the beta versions for the S25 series, and represents a significant change in company policy towards modding.

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The disappearance of the OEM Unlocking option

The bootloader unlocking function has always been accessible via the toggle “Oem Unlocking” in Developer options. This option it allowed to install custom Roma, get root permits or apply modified kernels to improve device performance. With One UI 8, this option has completely disappeared.

Initially, it could be thought that it was a temporary measure, perhaps linked to the fact that the Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 devices have just been launched, or that the beta for the S25 series was still being developed. However, an in -depth analysis of the firmware revealed that the situation is much more serious.

A user of the XDA forum examined the Stock Firmware system files of the Galaxy Z Flip 7, discovering substantial changes in the code. In particular, he identified a crucial fragment:

@Override
public boolean isAvailable() {
return !SystemProperties.get("ro.frp.pst").equals("") &&
!SystemProperties.get("ro.boot.other.locked").equals("1") &&
!KnoxGuardManager.getInstance().shouldBlockCustomRom() &&
mOemLockManager != null;
}

When the “ro.boot.other.locked” value is set to 0, the release is possible; When set to 1, the option is not available. With One UI 8, this value has been set to 1 per All devicesregardless of the Region.

Not only that, the analysis of the code revealed that Samsung has also completely eliminated the unlocking logic from the bootloader himself. In practice, the whole code relating to the unlocking function is removed during the compilation of the operating system.

This means that this is not a hidden option that could be reactivated with some trick or alternative solution. The bootloader no longer contains the code necessary to unlock, making it impossible for forcing any attempt, unless Samsung decides to update the bootloader by reintroducing this logic.

In the models sold in the United States, this limitation had already existed for some time, but now it has been extended to all international variants. The “Androidboot.other.ocked” setting is active in all devices that perform One UI 8, as confirmed by the analysis of Build Ayfk for the international model of the Galaxy Z Flip 7 (F761B).

Possible reasons behind this decision

Samsung has not yet made official statements about the reasons for this choice. We can hypothesize several reasons:

  • Safety: the release of the bootloader can introduce security vulnerability;
  • Requests of operators: especially in markets such as the US one;
  • Protection of the ecosystem: to maintain greater control over user experience;
  • Reduction of support costs: modified devices often generate more complex assistance requests.

Despite these possible justifications, for many this decision represents and will represent a significant limitation of the freedom to use its device.

What can be done to keep the release of the bootloader active

For those who consider the possibility of unlocking the bootloader fundamental, the options are limited: in fact maintain devices with previous versions of One UI, avoiding the update to One UI 8, or wait To see if Samsung will answer the question by unraveling doubts.

The situation could already evolve in the next few days, we will keep you updated.