I recently found out that a locked device (aka a carrier lock) is actually locked in two very different ways.
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the sim lock, which prevents you from using a sim card from a different carrier. This usually has some sort of policy regarding how and when to unlock the device (for Verizon it is if the device goes for 60 days without connecting to the Verizon network, might also need to be fully paid off as well)
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Bootloader lock, this locks the bootloader and therefore disables any way of flashing anything (rom, root, etc) This is not something that will automatically be unlocked as far as I can tell and only the carrier can modify it. Most carriers seem to have the basic decency to unlock the device if you request it from their support, but be warned that there is no guarantee. What is guaranteed, is that Verizon will tell you to fuck right off and will never unlock your device.
The point of this post is to bring awareness to this issue, it is on me that I didn’t properly research this and just assumed that carrier lock means just a sim lock, but this sucked.
I bought a pixel 8 which was sim-unlocked but sadly, as I discovered, its bootloader was locked and the “oem unlock” option was grayed-out. This is because it was a Verizon model that was out of the network but still, a Verizon model…
As of right now there are no known exploits against this device / Android version, and so, there is no known way to bypass this.
I literally argued, begged, and threatened Verizon. And their official stand is that they don’t allow bootloader unlocks, they don’t have the ability to do them (A lie) and that it will degrade my experience (Idiots)
So I started doing anything I could think of. I tried old exploits that were patched (unsurprisingly they failed), I tried sideloading other versions of stock android (worked but didn’t affect the bootloader), I even setup mitm wifi hotspot that has a transparent tls inspection (see PolarProxy) but it seems that the OS does not trust any “user” CAs and so it tries to connect to android.googleapis.com, sees that the CA is not a system CA and aborts the bootloader check, which keeps it grayed-out. My idea was to spoof a valid response but apparently Android has good security practices (who knew)
Short of reversing the OS/Bootloader, it seems there is nothing to do.
So this is my warning to you, don’t buy carrier models, but if you do, make sure the oem unlock option works, but if you don’t, absolutely never buy a Verizon model.
ETA: I bought second-hand under the impression that it was an unlocked device, I thought that by checking sim compatibility I verified that it was, I was wrong.
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F you Verizon indeed. I’ll never support Verizon in any way if I can help it.
Way back when I bought a used BlackBerry on eBay when I was in my teens, I tried calling Verizon hoping they could assist with an unlock.
The person on the phone attempted to shame me and said I was “stealing their proprietary software”, they went so far as to use a tone with me.
F Verizon
Thanks for the reminder! I was a big fan of when Apple broke this open by using its market position to insist on unlocked, unmodified phones. Ever since we’ve had the choice, I’ve never again bought a phone from a phone company nor locked. They do make it seem tempting though
Is carrier locking an America-only thing? I have never seen this in India, and have never heard of this in any European country either.
Canada used to allow it but they ruled it illegal about 10ish years ago.
Carrier lock exist to prevent people from just deciding to not paying their installment plan on their phone and move to another carrier. (Some people can’t afford to buy their phone outright, I guess… I’m not sure 🤷♂️)
Also, some carrier-locked version of phones are cheaper than the unlocked versions. You can get a cheap $50 prepaid Samsung or Motorola phone that would be locked to a carrier (these are basically in every Walmart, Target, practically every store that sells a variety of stuff), but the unlocked version would cost like $150-$200.
Bestbuy also sometime have deals where the locked version is like $100-$200 cheaper.
The carrier gives a significant discount which they expect to make up over years if subscriptions
My question is that is this a USA only thing? Or is it practised in other nations as well?
As far as I know, its USA only. I’ve never heard of any other country also having this. I know Europe outright outlaws carrier-locking.
The thing that annoys me is the way virtually all of these phone models have minor variants that go undocumented in the store pages. I ordered my last phone online, after first searching to make sure it was a model that was supported by the roms I like. The store page advertised it as unlocked, and that it supports GSM. Both of these things are true, and yet it turned out to be a “Verizon” model variant (believe it supports both GSM and whatever Verizon’s networks are called these days, cdsm). It sucks because this small variation casts doubt and may reduce which roms I can install (haven’t gotten around to flashing one yet). And the other annoyance is that even though it does work fine with my carrier, I still get an annoying notification every time I reboot my phone that complains about the SIM not being a Verizon one even though it works just fine.
This, unfortunately, has been a thing for over a decade. I was excited to discover that Samsung Galaxy S3 (i9300) is/was one of the better-supported phones for custom ROMs… until I realized that the one I have is a Sprint / Virgin Mobile version (d2spr), which looks the same but uses a different SoC entirely.
It wouldn’t be so bad if 3rd party sellers would just be more consistently clear about which models and variants they’re selling.
Verizon will tell you to fuck right off and will never unlock your device.
Will never unlock their device.
ITT Verizon just became apple
This is old news.
Verizon devices have been bootlocked since about 2011.
The OG Droid was unlocked, everything after that was bootloader locked.
Doesn’t Verizon still use cdma networks too? Iirc they have different tranciever hardware than the standard GSM phones.Nevermind looked it up and they switched to GSM a few years ago.
Yup, there were a couple times people managed to find cracks. But other than that.
You’ll be shocked to find out there is no Santa.
I recall that they wouldn’t even let you bring your own unlocked device for a while - they remember us rooting to get free tethering when they wanted an extra $30/mo for that, greedy fucksticks
I have a Pixel 8a from Verizon, as someone else here said, they sometimes have crazy deals. This was a free one (through bill credits) for us. It was right after Google released that version and before 9. I quickly discovered that even with Google’s beta program which you can FREELY USE and all it requires you to do is connect your phone via usb through the web and it patches your phone via Google’s site to install it. I’m a beta testing type of person, so I was all in, until I discovered there was no way no how because of the bootloader.
Then, on top of that the, GraphineOS is not able to be installed with it locked as well. I haven’t approached Verizon about unlocking the bootloader. I’ve heard some success stories on XDA I think it was about people getting theirs unlocked through them. (Probably if you get a tech who’s in a good mood helps).
As far as I know Verizon is main carrier doing this. They’ve always been an absolutely horrible company.
I’m sorry you had to go through this but only ever by devices from the manufacturer and make sure that you buy them at full price and that they are not tied to a carrier when you buy them and you’ll be all right.
Well the pixel 8 will be supported for quite a while, for now you’ve tried all the things you can but if you prevent it from updating maybe they’ll publically patch an exploit you can use to gain root. I think Verizon in particular does this because they eat a lot of the cost for the phone and lock you into using their network, they want that cost recouped but since they’re not legally required to unlock it after they recoup their cost they will do nothing. They should legally be required to allow bootloader unlocking after they stop supporting it but regulators are too busy inventing reasons for us poors to hate eachother.
Why would you buy through a carrier anyway? Especially because if it’s cheaper than from the manufacturer, it means that YOU are the product too. In the end, the carrier version is also much more bloated. Which in some countries/providers (eg. Etisalat) actually includes Pegasus in the official provider app.
Is it just much less common to buy a carrier device here, in germany, or do you need to be in the brainrotted part of GenZ or something for that?
If you are from Germany out of all places you should understand why one would get a device from a carrier. The price difference is insane and in Germany the devices don’t come with a Sim lock or carrier specific firmware
US providers can sometimes have pretty crazy discounts.
What I want to know is why can’t phone manufacturers stand up to these mobile providers? Apple doesn’t let carriers do this crap. You buy an iPhone from whatever carrier and it’s identical to retail (can be locked to a network, if you’re doing payments though even SIM locking is becoming less common)
Why would manufacturers “stand up” to them?
They sold the phone to them. End of story.
Same reason Apple did, makes their devices feel cheap and shitty. Possibly losing return customers.
In netherlands a sim lock is not allowed for years. Nokia had never sim locks on their phones. As far as I know, bootloader locks are done by the manufaturer not by the provider. Edit down -> done
sim locks are not legal in the US either as long as the phone is in good standing and not owed money.
Basically once the phone is fully paid off the carrier has to unlock it within like 60 days or so.
Sadly this protection doesn’t cover prepaid devices, nor boot loader locks, only carrier/sim locks
The manufacturer can also lock the bootloader, but carriers in the US are a special kind of fucky.
As far as I know, bootloader locks are done by the manufaturer not by the provider.
Verizon requires the phones they sell to NOT have the ability to unlock the bootloader. That’s why there are separate factory images for Verizon Pixels.
I think the point is, if you could flash an OS, you could theoretically bypass sim locking.
Is your device already sim unlocked? Is so, you just connect to the internet with developer menu turned on, then wait (anywhere from hours to days, like let this happen in the background, it doesn’t have to stay on the screen) and hope the option becomes selectable. And reboot once a day to see if the menu option changes. I had a sim locked device that had the option suddebly become available for some reason.
It’s simply a ‘known issue’ which OP unfortunately discovered first-hand, that Verizon specific models have a modified OS that cannot ever be bootloader unlocked (without exploits) - regardless of SIM lock. It really is their corporate policy. And why I buy my devices directly from the OEM even though I could in theory get a discount from Verizon (happens to be my carrier… For now.)
