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A comment on Keep Android Open. Parent comment

Re:Keep Android Open by heavyset_go on Wednesday October 29, 2025 @03:38AM (#45743783)
Even phones from Motorola require you to literally ask permission to unlock your bootloader via a form on their website, which they then unlock remotely or you enter some generated code.

Other manufacturers do the same, where you have to wait a period of like 45 days before being able to unlock, and then have to ask permission on their website to unlock your bootloader.

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Re:Keep Android Open by munchlax on Wednesday October 29, 2025 @04:17AM (#45744084)
And good lock unlocking anything over 5 years old because the updated website doesn't support what you've got. Been there, it sucks.
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Re:Keep Android Open by codedokode on Wednesday October 29, 2025 @04:30AM (#45744172)
To be fair, for "anything over 5 years old" you can probably find a privilege escalation exploit.
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Re:Keep Android Open by NekkoDroid on Wednesday October 29, 2025 @07:01AM (#45745176)
Do tell me when you find one for unlocking the bootloader of an LG G6, been looking for one for a few years now :)
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Re:Keep Android Open by BenjiWiebe on Wednesday October 29, 2025 @08:30AM (#45745965)
A 1st gen Verizon Moto X bootloader unlock would be nice as well.
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Re:Keep Android Open by wiz21c on Wednesday October 29, 2025 @05:21AM (#45744481)
the question is not "being able to", the question is "being able to with a reasonable effort".

wandering the web to find an exploit is way beyond my spare time.

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Re:Keep Android Open by VagabundoP on Wednesday October 29, 2025 @06:09AM (#45744778)
That might get you root but not a bootloader unlock.
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Re:Keep Android Open by kube-system on Wednesday October 29, 2025 @09:26AM (#45746551)
There are privilege escalation CVEs in bootloader code too. I remember unlocking some very early locked bootloaders this way in the early days of android.
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Re:Keep Android Open by VagabundoP on Thursday October 30, 2025 @11:38AM (#45761239)
So much rarer now. Its getting more and more locked down unfortunately.
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Re:Keep Android Open by kube-system on Thursday October 30, 2025 @12:08PM (#45761593)
A lack of security vulnerabilities isn't really a matter of being "locked down" but rather "not broken"
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Re:Keep Android Open by ycombinatrix on Friday October 31, 2025 @09:00PM (#45778364)
Many of them are actually not bootloader locked.

iiuc the OG Verizon Pixel has an unlockable bootloader, but the operating system doesn't let you unlock it, meaning root access should allow unlocking the bootloader.

some devices have a legitimately locked bootloader, which means you're SOL.

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Re:Keep Android Open by ycombinatrix on Friday October 31, 2025 @08:58PM (#45778349)
iiuc that is because malicious actors were buying phones in bulk, flashing them with backdoored/malicious operating systems, then re-selling them to people.
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