Say Goodbye To Your Custom ROMs As Samsung's One UI 8 Kills Bootloader Unlock (sammobile.com)
(Monday July 28, 2025 @05:30PM (BeauHD)
from the fun-while-it-lasted dept.)
- Reference: 0178495448
- News link: https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/25/07/28/2024254/say-goodbye-to-your-custom-roms-as-samsungs-one-ui-8-kills-bootloader-unlock
- Source link: https://www.sammobile.com/news/say-goodbye-to-your-custom-roms-as-one-ui-8-kills-bootloader-unlock/
Samsung's new One UI 8 update has [1]quietly disabled the ability to unlock the bootloader on all Galaxy devices globally , ending the custom ROM and kernel era for Android enthusiasts. While most users won't notice, the developer community sees this as a major blow to modding freedom -- one that could potentially raise regulatory concerns within the EU. SamMobile reports:
> A [2]new report highlights evidence found in the Galaxy S25 One UI 8 beta builds that the bootloader unlock option has been removed. A similar change has also been confirmed on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 which are running stable versions of One UI 8. A deep dive into the stable version's code has also confirmed that regardless of the region, the bootloader unlock option will not be available on devices running One UI 8. The enthusiast community won't like it.
>
> They won't be able to use custom ROMs to update devices when the official software support runs out or use custom kernels to extract more performance. However, with most Samsung phones now offering seven years of Android OS upgrades, one can argue that the utility of this capability is not as significant as it once was.
[1] https://www.sammobile.com/news/say-goodbye-to-your-custom-roms-as-one-ui-8-kills-bootloader-unlock/
[2] https://sammyguru.com/breaking-samsung-removes-bootloader-unlocking-with-one-ui-8/?utm_source=twitter
> A [2]new report highlights evidence found in the Galaxy S25 One UI 8 beta builds that the bootloader unlock option has been removed. A similar change has also been confirmed on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 which are running stable versions of One UI 8. A deep dive into the stable version's code has also confirmed that regardless of the region, the bootloader unlock option will not be available on devices running One UI 8. The enthusiast community won't like it.
>
> They won't be able to use custom ROMs to update devices when the official software support runs out or use custom kernels to extract more performance. However, with most Samsung phones now offering seven years of Android OS upgrades, one can argue that the utility of this capability is not as significant as it once was.
[1] https://www.sammobile.com/news/say-goodbye-to-your-custom-roms-as-one-ui-8-kills-bootloader-unlock/
[2] https://sammyguru.com/breaking-samsung-removes-bootloader-unlocking-with-one-ui-8/?utm_source=twitter
Goodbye! (Score:2)
by registrations_suck ( 1075251 )
Goodbye, custom ROMS! Goodbye!!!!
Too much bloat? (Score:2)
by viperidaenz ( 2515578 )
Every update makes old devices slower.
If more ROMs are made for more devices without the bloat, that will impact their future sales.
Jailbreak? (Score:2)
by SirSpanksALot ( 7630868 )
The only impact this will have is in how long you need to wait before you can do a custom rom. The bootloader will be jailbroken, just like every other widely used device.
Not only that (Score:2)
by bjoast ( 1310293 )
They've also destroyed the user interface. Prior to the latest update, the UI in my Samsung phone was actually pretty nice looking and pleasant to use. Now it's a piece of shit.
Hahahaha, no (Score:2)
by gweihir ( 88907 )
I am on a Fairphone. I can even get the build-package of the stock ROMs if I want.
Already switched (Score:2)
For "stock android" (no customization), I already switched to one plus devices, specifically one plus 13R
Re: (Score:2)
Do you load a custom rom then? I've got a 13r and doesn't it come stock with OnePlus' Android variant?
I thought the only out of box stock Android outside of the really cheap phones was the Google pixel line.
To be fair I mostly picked this phone up so that I could get the x75 modem. It works a heck of a lot better than my old Media tek based Motorola. The only downside is the performance is really not all that much better for what I do and it cost $500 instead of $130.
Still not having to walk to