The T-Mobile LG G5 bootloader is unlockable after-all

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Security on our smartphones has been a very important topic in the past year or so. With the emergence of the Stage Fright issue and the emergence of mobile payments, security has been a top priority of smartphone manufacturers. The unfortunate part is that the developmental side of Android might be taking a hit because of it. Recently it was found that the Galaxy S7/S7 edge Snapdragon 820 variant has the bootloader locked, with no way at the moment to unlock it. It was feared the T-Mobile LG G5 variant might have the same issue.

When I received my LG G5 from T-Mobile yesterday, one of the first things I tried was to boot into the bootloader and see if it was truly locked. To my surprise, there were instructions on how to unlock it. I wasn’t feeling very dangerous with my brand-new LG G5, but a user on Reddit, who goes by spanky34 was. He was daring enough to run the commands, and to our surprise it worked.

T-Mobile LG G5 bootloader adb

Not only was spanky34 able to unlock the bootloader on his brand-new T-Mobile LG G5, he was able to boot up into Android, then re-lock it. Nothing bad happenedĀ at all. So whether this was T-Mobile’s response to the backlash of the S7/S7 edge or it was already going to happen, it is great news for the developmental community.

So now that the LG G5 bootloader is unlockable for at least the T-Mobile variant, will that influence your purchase? I know it has renewed my faith in LG and I am looking forward to some AOSP ROMs to play around with.

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About Author

I skateboard, listen to metal, write on my website FWNED, autocross, and love messing with new phones. Currently I'm using a Pixel XL running Pure Nexus with ElementalX as my daily driver.