Not even a brute force workaround may be sufficient to unlock the bootloader on Galaxy devices running One UI 8.
The evidence was discovered in a stable One UI 8 build on the Galaxy Z Flip 7 (pictured)
Samsung released its Android 16-based One UI 8 firmware with the launch of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7 earlier this month. Among the myriad of new additions, the South Korean tech giant is said to have quietly removed a few features too. According to a report, the OEM Unlocking setting is nowhere to be found in the One UI 8 stable build. This option enables Samsung users to flash and run custom ROMs on their Galaxy devices.
According to a SammyGuru report, Samsung has removed the OEM Unlocking toggle which was previously found in the developer options. This is said to be applicable on the stable One UI 8 build that was released with the seventh-generation Galaxy foldables, as well as the One UI 8 Beta update for the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
However, this isn't any glitch in the initial firmware releases. Developers on XDA forum reportedly unearthed evidence that Samsung has removed the toggle of the OEM Unlocking feature from the Android 16-based firmware's code altogether.
The SystemProperties.get("ro.boot.other.locked").equals("1") code snippet reportedly reveals the change in functionality. When the equals value is set to 0, the user can reportedly unlock the bootloader. It is not possible to do so when the value is set to 1. Up until now, the US variants of Samsung phones are said to have this value set to 1, whereas handsets available in all other markets could have the bootloader unlocked.
However, One UI 8's code reportedly has this value set to 1 as default for the international units too. This was observed by the publication in the AYFK build on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7.
This revelation suggests that Samsung has intentionally made the change and One UI 8 does have the OEM Unlocking option disabled for everyone. Since the bootloader does not have the code to unlock itself, users may not be able to access it until the company decides to add the logic back in. Further, the report suggests that even a brute force workaround may not unlock the bootloader on Galaxy devices running One UI 8.
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