Database Info

EE Galaxy S6

I have a few questions about this device, and although there may already be some answers out there, it's not immediately clear to me what they are. There are quite a lot of conflicting answers. My questions are:
Is the EE/International etc. Galaxy S6 bootloader locked?
If it is, can I unlock the bootloader in order to install TWRP and root the device?
What features do I lose if I trip Knox?
Will I still get OTA updates if I unlock bootloader and install TWRP?

Snake1616 said:
I have a few questions about this device, and although there may already be some answers out there, it's not immediately clear to me what they are. There are quite a lot of conflicting answers. My questions are:
Is the EE/International etc. Galaxy S6 bootloader locked?
If it is, can I unlock the bootloader in order to install TWRP and root the device?
What features do I lose if I trip Knox?
Will I still get OTA updates if I unlock bootloader and install TWRP?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Never heard of EE as a model indicator. If it's an international version, it will be carrier unlocked, bootloader unlocked, i don't believe so. Samsung doesn't seem to be very supportive in any way of custom fw/sw.
2. Root is dependent on the fw version, there are ways to root with and without tripping knox depending on your fw version
3. If you trip knox you lose your warranty and you lose Tap and pay or wireless pay or whatever you want to call it.
4. you'll still get OTA updates but flashing twrp will likely not allow you to install them as Stock recovery is needed to install the updates. You would likely lose root when installing updates aswell. the latest update 5.1.1 has a method for rooting without tripping knox however, by flashing a kernel. I believe if you flash twrp though, knox would be tripped.

Theft protection

Does android/S7 have anything equivalent to apples find my phone which effectively turns it into a brick when stolen? If so, how?

In the Google app settings there is a phone finding service you can activate, and some CSCs have "Find my mobile" which allows you to remote wipe / brick etc

but does this stop the device from being wiped if stolen and activating like apples activation lock does?

lofty5 said:
but does this stop the device from being wiped if stolen and activating like apples activation lock does?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, provided you keep the bootloader locked.
EDIT: Technical term is FRP(Factory reset protection), and it's tied to the Google account used to set up the device

This is what i was thinking, that the boot loader has to be locked in order to do this. would keeping the phone rooted be an option or make it insecure?
Could i do this on a region that isn't my csc without bricking the phone? I'm pretty sure that as long as the source files are stock samsung any region should work. Can download mode be protected?
I'm currently backing up my device after which i am enabling all the security options and am going to try to hack into the phone to see if its worth doing or not. If it can be broken easily id rather keep it unprotected for convenience, but if i can protect the phone I'd rather do this as i lost my phone a couple of years ago and there was no protection on it at all nor on the sd card, which sucked.

bump

Root almost always requires a modified boot image which will immediately be blocked by a relocked bootloader. So root and FRP cannot coexist as they counteract each other. FRP itself is not CSC locked, only the remote control features. There are ways around it but they are mostly only present in older firmware, which is blocked by bootloader downgrade fuses. So yeah, pretty unbreakable if the device remains full Knox stock.
Hint: anything confidential should never be stored on the external card, or should be encrypted if it is (eg. Turn on encryption in titanium backup). Internal memory is always encrypted on stock firmware.
Edit: Download would work as usual. So basically what would happen is if a malicious firmware was flashed the bootloader will block it at boot and trip the Knox fuse, essentially burning all data on the device. If the crooks are smart they can still make use of the device, but most aren't so you should be safe

I'm using Cerberus, it can disable the shutdown/reboot menu on the lockscreen.

CurtisMJ said:
Root almost always requires a modified boot image which will immediately be blocked by a relocked bootloader. So root and FRP cannot coexist as they counteract each other. FRP itself is not CSC locked, only the remote control features. There are ways around it but they are mostly only present in older firmware, which is blocked by bootloader downgrade fuses. So yeah, pretty unbreakable if the device remains full Knox stock.
Hint: anything confidential should never be stored on the external card, or should be encrypted if it is (eg. Turn on encryption in titanium backup). Internal memory is always encrypted on stock firmware.
Edit: Download would work as usual. So basically what would happen is if a malicious firmware was flashed the bootloader will block it at boot and trip the Knox fuse, essentially burning all data on the device. If the crooks are smart they can still make use of the device, but most aren't so you should be safe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had it rooted last night with magisk and boot loader locked, however it did refuse to boot due to modification and frp locked after a factory reset, but worked fine prior to this.
is it not worth doing if not fully knox stock?
I only really use root these days for titanium backup and perhaps ad blocking.
How difficult is it for a hacker to get back into the phone, I mean iPhones are practically impossible to get back into if on the latest firmware.

Blacky25 said:
I'm using Cerberus, it can disable the shutdown/reboot menu on the lockscreen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is your boot loader locked and rooted?

lofty5 said:
is your boot loader locked and rooted?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it is, I know it is also possible to delete everything but when I really loose my phone I will hope that people without the knowledge find my phone.

lofty5 said:
I had it rooted last night with magisk and boot loader locked, however it did refuse to boot due to modification and frp locked after a factory reset, but worked fine prior to this.
is it not worth doing if not fully knox stock?
I only really use root these days for titanium backup and perhaps ad blocking.
How difficult is it for a hacker to get back into the phone, I mean iPhones are practically impossible to get back into if on the latest firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
About as difficult as an iPhone to crack provided it's on latest firmware with a locked bootloader, even preventing reuse. FRP remains fully operational irregardless of Knox warranty status. It's possible to keep encryption while rooting (though this depends on strictly "close to stock" firmware, specifically by using a stock kernel binary. Ramdisk mods like Magisk or SuperSU are fine) to retain the data protection so thieves wont be able to deduce anything about you, but as long as the bootloader is unlocked a thief could always just wipe and reuse the device.

CurtisMJ said:
About as difficult as an iPhone to crack provided it's on latest firmware with a locked bootloader, even preventing reuse. FRP remains fully operational irregardless of Knox warranty status. It's possible to keep encryption while rooting (though this depends on strictly "close to stock" firmware, specifically by using a stock kernel binary. Ramdisk mods like Magisk or SuperSU are fine) to retain the data protection so thieves wont be able to deduce anything about you, but as long as the bootloader is unlocked a thief could always just wipe and reuse the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am now back to full stock with no root. It’s not the same now as when i first started rooting back on the arc s, back then you could literally do nothing without it, things so basic such as a firewall. I only at this minute have one issue.
How in god’s name do you do a full backup of apps WITH data. I have helium but it refuses to backup most of them, it’s not a big deal now as i have re-setup the programs it wasn't compatible with. However, it would be handy to know for future reference, is there anything that can do a full backup with app data that doesn’t require root? If not, never mind I guess.

lofty5 said:
How in god’s name do you do a full backup of apps WITH data. I have helium but it refuses to backup most of them, it’s not a big deal now as i have re-setup the programs it wasn't compatible with. However, it would be handy to know for future reference, is there anything that can do a full backup with app data that doesn’t require root? If not, never mind I guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not quite sure as I've always been rooted. Kies or Google Cloud Sync might be sufficient?

CurtisMJ said:
Not quite sure as I've always been rooted. Kies or Google Cloud Sync might be sufficient?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is the latest s7 fw protected against this attack?
https://forum.xda-developers.com/sa...galaxy-on5-metropcs-sm-g550t1-t3439557/page13
and root junkies hack?

lofty5 said:
is the latest s7 fw protected against this attack?
https://forum.xda-developers.com/sa...galaxy-on5-metropcs-sm-g550t1-t3439557/page13
and root junkies hack?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only one way to find out An easy way to test would be to see if the phone responds to the USB command to dial the number, so no need to reset to check.

Magisk v14 - does it offer root without tripping Knox?

Hi guys
Magisk v14 has been released and it now offers installation without using custom recovery and still avaialble to use OTA's - does this mean I can root with Magisk (which it says is done by ADB) without tripping Knox? Description is below
"New Installation Method
Nearly a month ago, I introduced a way to install Magisk through ADB. This is nice for devices with no custom recovery support, or for people like me who wants to preserve stock recovery to apply OTAs. To make things even easier, I have added this feature natively into Magisk Manager. In Magisk Manager you can provide your stock boot image (in both raw image format or tar-ed up ODIN flashable format), the app will then patch the provided image. Other required files and scripts are extracted within the app's data, and will be picked up automatically while booting up once with a magisk patched boot image. Check the new instructions in the OP for more info.
Once your device has Magisk installed, you can install Magisk modules through Magisk Manager without custom recoveries. The powerful systemless interface means that you can literally do anything to your device - of course systemless-ly!"

I'm also interested in this. Hope someone knows if we can finally get root without tripping Knox.

Exactly.... if so then it really is the best of all worlds in my eyes

No, absolutely not. It still mods the boot.img which requires an unlocked bootloader. As soon as you unlocked the bootloader and it detects anything custom (Does not matter how it got there, if it's there, it's there) it will trip the fuse.

But doesn't the g955f already have an unlocked bootloader.. hence why it was easier to root before the g955u?

Knox is secure. It is only secure because the phone is not modified.
If you could root the phone and still use Knox then you (or someone else) could hack Knox. Do you want that?

RR-99 said:
Knox is secure. It is only secure because the phone is not modified.
If you could root the phone and still use Knox then you (or someone else) could hack Knox. Do you want that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
[upvote]

meddylad said:
But doesn't the g955f already have an unlocked bootloader.. hence why it was easier to root before the g955u?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's bootloader doesn't work the same way a normal bootloader does. It still detects anything custom and will trip Knox if it does.
If you don't check the OEM Unlock option in settings, your phone will brick because the bootloader is locked. If you do check it, it's unlocked but still checks for custom firmware which then trips Knox.

Interceptor777 said:
It's bootloader doesn't work the same way a normal bootloader does. It still detects anything custom and will trip Knox if it does.
If you don't check the OEM Unlock option in settings, your phone will brick because the bootloader is locked. If you do check it, it's unlocked but still checks for custom firmware which then trips Knox.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
through "embedded flash"
can be ignored Knox

And I got my hopes up for being able to root this phone I'll be getting in my post this week... Well, two years without root on that one it'll be unless some genius finds a way.

Interceptor777 said:
It's bootloader doesn't work the same way a normal bootloader does. It still detects anything custom and will trip Knox if it does.
If you don't check the OEM Unlock option in settings, your phone will brick because the bootloader is locked. If you do check it, it's unlocked but still checks for custom firmware which then trips Knox.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The G955u doesn't trip Knox with root, but it's system level because of the locked bootloader. What it does break though is SafetyNet which kills Samsung Pay and such.

I really need the auto recording feature which is blocked in my country. So need to root this without tripping.

Oneplus 7 pro stock root

Hey everyone !
I'm looking for rooting my OP7 pro with Magisk but I know it will go from widevine L1 to L3 (not a big deal for Netflix but banking and password storing apps can be a problem).
So I've got 3 questions, we don't need to wipe the data before or after rooting the device ?
Do you have some problems with apps like keepass, banking (pay with your phone) or others ?
And last, is it possible to install OTAs after rooting the device without any problem (brick, bootloop or wiping all data) ?
I've already found some answers but I wanted to know more to decide if I'll root it, and which way I'll do it.
Thank you !

I've not rooted but from what I've learnt oem unlock will wipe your phone before root. Banking apps can be fooled with magisk modules. It's tricky to flash new updates & some of them results in bootloop.

thraes said:
So I've got 3 questions, we don't need to wipe the data before or after rooting the device ?
Do you have some problems with apps like keepass, banking (pay with your phone) or others ?
And last, is it possible to install OTAs after rooting the device without any problem (brick, bootloop or wiping all data) ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to unlock the bootloader in order to root. And the bootloader unlock process will wipe user data, by definition.
Banking apps will vary in what they look for (root, unlocked bootloader, etc.). Many will work as long as you use the Magisk Hide feature to hide root, as the previous reply mentioned. I've seen post regarding a few bank apps, which seem to be able to detect the bootloader is unlocked. So really no way around this (that particular bank app won't work) if you want to stay rooted. You should NOT lock the bootloader on a rooted device (phone will not boot afterwards). Having an unlocked bootloader and root go hand in hand.
I've updated by OTA several times while rooted, and no issues, and data retained. Some folks have had trouble, probably due to the Slot A/B partitioning on the phone. It does make updating with root a bit trickier (as previous response stated), as you need to install TWRP and Magisk root to the slots in a particular way. There is a guide how to do it, which I've followed and it's worked every time.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-7-pro/how-to/successfully-upgraded-to-9-5-7-t3937414
That being said, I always backup any important data to my computer (or other off-phone means, such as cloud) before doing an update. Just in case something does go wrong.

More styles for EdgeLighting

Hi, i am looking more styles for EdgeLighting. before, we could use EdgeLighting+ but now its not working on android 12.
there is an app called muviz edge that contains excellent styles but app does not work properly. so i am looking for a better app for replacing edgelighting+ with beautiful styles.
can we install S21 or something else edge lighting app on our A51?
do you have any recommended app?

Funny thing is, your phone already has all the edge lighting effects built in, the only problem is that there is a specific file called floating_feature that's missing one text line that would make all those extra edge lighting effects appear
So to answer your question, to get more styles for edge lighting you need to root your phone and edit the following file:
system/etc/floating_feature.xml
And add the following line inside the features:
<SEC_FLOATING_FEATURE_SYSTEMUI_CONFIG_EDGELIGHTING_FRAME_EFFECT>frame_effect</SEC_FLOATING_FEATURE_SYSTEMUI_CONFIG_EDGELIGHTING_FRAME_EFFECT>
Save, reboot and your phone should now have all the effects available that Samsung enables on their flagship phones.
And before you ask, no, there is no way to do this without root.

Tnx, but with root, secure folder will be disabled. and i cant root my phone.
in android 10 We could install edgelighting+ that installs additional styles. (without root).
so Did EdgeLighting+ somehow edit this file?

mahdi72 said:
Tnx, but with root, secure folder will be disabled. and i cant root my phone.
in android 10 We could install edgelighting+ that installs additional styles. (without root).
so Did EdgeLighting+ somehow edit this file?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no clue. But as you said, edge lighting+ no longer works so on newer Android versions, rooting is your only choice.

ShaDisNX255 said:
I have no clue. But as you said, edge lighting+ no longer works so on newer Android versions, rooting is your only choice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can i Edit Stock Rom in Linux (add Floating_Feature, remove apps, add new apps) and flash it in my A51 phone?
Do I need root to install this modified rom?

mahdi72 said:
Can i Edit Stock Rom in Linux (add Floating_Feature, remove apps, add new apps) and flash it in my A51 phone?
Do I need root to install this modified rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You will need to root, yes. Since you will edit it, it will lose Samsung's trusted signature and will therefore count as a custom ROM

ShaDisNX255 said:
You will need to root, yes. Since you will edit it, it will lose Samsung's trusted signature and will therefore count as a custom ROM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I have researched, it does not seem to require root, but we have to open the bootloader or OEM Option in Developer Mode.
People are also talking about a tool called Odin Patched, which can bypass some verifications.
Is it possible to flash only the edited CSC file with this tool? Sorry to take up your time

mahdi72 said:
As far as I have researched, it does not seem to require root, but we have to open the bootloader or OEM Option in Developer Mode.
People are also talking about a tool called Odin Patched, which can bypass some verifications.
Is it possible to flash only the edited CSC file with this tool? Sorry to take up your time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey no worries, XDA is meant for a place to learn and I'm happy to try and help/educate in any way I can.
Opening the bootloader is step 1 in getting root access. You may think that root is the equivalent of installing Magisk and that's what root is but it's a lot more than that. By installing something custom you've in some way obtained root access by editing your stock ROM.
But anyway, going back to your original question/answer, the patched Odin can only bypass some verifications on Odin's side but it can't bypass the verification that the phone does itself. The patched Odin is mainly for installing U firmware on U1 variants and vice-versa, something that you can't do on the original Odin. It can't really bypass checking the validity of Samsung's signature on stock firmware. Even if it could bypass that check, the phone also checks the firmware it's being installed so it will detect it as a custom fw file
So, long story short, if you edit stock FW with any tool it will break Samsung's trusted signature and both phone and Odin will pick it up as a custom firmware (i.e. custom ROM) and you will only be able to install it by unlocking the bootloader. Flashing anything custom will break/trip Knox and it will be broken forever
Let me know if you have any more questions I can help you with.

ShaDisNX255 said:
Hey no worries, XDA is meant for a place to learn and I'm happy to try and help/educate in any way I can.
Opening the bootloader is step 1 in getting root access. You may think that root is the equivalent of installing Magisk and that's what root is but it's a lot more than that. By installing something custom you've in some way obtained root access by editing your stock ROM.
But anyway, going back to your original question/answer, the patched Odin can only bypass some verifications on Odin's side but it can't bypass the verification that the phone does itself. The patched Odin is mainly for installing U firmware on U1 variants and vice-versa, something that you can't do on the original Odin. It can't really bypass checking the validity of Samsung's signature on stock firmware. Even if it could bypass that check, the phone also checks the firmware it's being installed so it will detect it as a custom fw file
So, long story short, if you edit stock FW with any tool it will break Samsung's trusted signature and both phone and Odin will pick it up as a custom firmware (i.e. custom ROM) and you will only be able to install it by unlocking the bootloader. Flashing anything custom will break/trip Knox and it will be broken forever
Let me know if you have any more questions I can help you with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, now many things are clear.
I want to know if unlocking the bootloader is worth it?
I have no problem with the warranty, I have the phone for more than 2 years and Samsung has no after sales service in our country. But for me, the use of banking app, Secure Folder, Samsung Pass are very important.
Is there a way to make all these apps work without problems by unlocking the bootloader?
Surely the OTA updates will also fail with this work, right?
can i unlock bootloader, flash edited files and relock bootloader?

mahdi72 said:
But for me, the use of banking app, Secure Folder, Samsung Pass are very important.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some banking apps are harder to trick than others. I have no problems hiding root from my banking app but I've seen others struggle to hide from theirs, can't really comment on it. Secure Folder has a fix in Android 12 so it should be able to be fixed. Samsung Pass is something that still has no fix as far as I know so if you decide to root/blow knox fuse, this will never work again even if you lock your bootloader again. I've made my change to Google Pass which works with root so Samsung Pass isn't important to me anymore.
mahdi72 said:
Surely the OTA updates will also fail with this work, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is correct, OTA updates stop working when you unlock your bootloader but if you re-lock your bootloader, you may get OTA updates again.
mahdi72 said:
can i unlock bootloader, flash edited files and relock bootloader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, this will lock your phone. Once you edit anything with root or install a custom fw (rom) then it will always count as custom for the phone. If you lock your bootloader while you have custom fw installed, your phone will be stuck in download mode telling you that your phone has custom fw and will refuse to boot until you flash stock fw.

Thank you very much for your very detailed explanation
So, for this part, I need Magisk, which probably Hide all banking apps in Iran
ShaDisNX255 said:
Some banking apps are harder to trick than others. I have no problems hiding root from my banking app but I've seen others struggle to hide from theirs, can't really comment on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
According to your explanation, This is my decision: I can unlock the bootloader and flash the modified ROM (I can apply the necessary fixes for Secure Folder and other changes to the ROM (Can i?)). The only thing I miss is the Samsung Pass feature, which I can replace with Google Pass, OTA updates can be ignored and do not have much priority for me.
The only important thing is the banking apps.
When the bootloader is unlocked, is the root status rooted or un-rooted? Because I feel that some banking apps only check root access and have nothing to do with bootloader (At least in Iran).
If the root status has not changed after Unlocking the bootloader (I think the root status changes after installing Magisk or SU) I think that I can do the above steps and reach my goal

mahdi72 said:
This is my decision: I can unlock the bootloader and flash the modified ROM (I can apply the necessary fixes for Secure Folder and other changes to the ROM (Can i?))
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can, yeah.
mahdi72 said:
When the bootloader is unlocked, is the root status rooted or un-rooted?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With unlock bootloader alone it's still un-rooted
mahdi72 said:
When the bootloader is unlocked, is the root status rooted or un-rooted? Because I feel that some banking apps only check root access and have nothing to do with bootloader (At least in Iran).
If the root status has not changed after Unlocking the bootloader (I think the root status changes after installing Magisk or SU) I think that I can do the above steps and reach my goal
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is where it can get a little tricky and depends on each app because it's not a standard. If your banking app checks if your bootloader is unlocked then you pretty much need Magisk to hide your bootloader unlocked. Without Magisk, any app will be able to check that you have an unlocked bootloader
If your bank app checks to see if you have Magisk only then you can certainly avoid having to flash Magisk if you're not going to use it anyway
If your bank apps checks safetynet then you will again need to flash Magisk and flash a patch to pass safetynet tests
Again, it's not a standard so it all depends on the bank app in question. You can certainly try to unlock your bootloader and stay in stock and check if your bank apps detects your unlocked bootloader. Just unlocking bootloader shouldn't blow knox yet.

ShaDisNX255 said:
You can, yeah.
With unlock bootloader alone it's still un-rooted
This is where it can get a little tricky and depends on each app because it's not a standard. If your banking app checks if your bootloader is unlocked then you pretty much need Magisk to hide your bootloader unlocked. Without Magisk, any app will be able to check that you have an unlocked bootloader
If your bank app checks to see if you have Magisk only then you can certainly avoid having to flash Magisk if you're not going to use it anyway
If your bank apps checks safetynet then you will again need to flash Magisk and flash a patch to pass safetynet tests
Again, it's not a standard so it all depends on the bank app in question. You can certainly try to unlock your bootloader and stay in stock and check if your bank apps detects your unlocked bootloader. Just unlocking bootloader shouldn't blow knox yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you so much Now everything became clear to me