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Here's my experience: I bought a verizon phone yesterday, sealed in the box. When I opened the box, it was saddening to see that the phone had the February patch (7.1.1) already installed (from the factory). The oem unlock option was completely grayed out but, for the fun of it, I tried to run the fastboot command to unlock it. Of course, it did not work.
Seeing that it was a lost cause, I updated the phone to the March release. Naturally, the "oem unlock" option remained greyed out after the reboot. I did try the fastoot unlock command and again, as expected, the phone gave me the error for an operation that was not allowed.
After all of this, I inserted my Google Project Fi sim in the phone and fully configured the service and installed all my apps. I went to sleep.
This morning, I went into the developer options again and to my surprise the "oem unlock" option was available!!!! I did move the slider, rebooted in bootloader mode, ran the fastboot command and the phone unlocked! Again, I'm on the March release (latest).
Did the Project Fi sim enabled the unlocking of the bootloader? Is a "verizon" pixel converted into a "google" one after a Project Fi configuration? (I know they're the same hardware model, of course). I hope my experience helps someone. If I could I would go through the same process again but I do not have any other pixel phone to try this on. Good luck!!!!
cabegol said:
Here's my experience:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you ever turn the phone on with a Verizon SIM card in it?
Did the phone ever connect to the Verizon network?
Was this phone purchased as an upgrade or new line on Verizon?
LoliSmith said:
Did you ever turn the phone on with a Verizon SIM card in it?
Did the phone ever connect to the Verizon network?
Was this phone purchased as an upgrade or new line on Verizon?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) No, I the VZW sim was removed prior to turn in it on.
2) No
3) Upgrade
I hope this helps. I wish someone with a Project Fi SIM could try this on a "non-virgin" VZW phone and see what happens.
cabegol said:
1) No, I the VZW sim was removed prior to turn in it on.
2) No
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think this is key!!!
cabegol said:
I hope this helps. I wish someone with a Project Fi SIM could try this on a "non-virgin" VZW phone and see what happens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Someone on reddit is going to try but someone on the Pixel XL XDA forum says they are on Project Fi with a Verizon Pixel and OEM unlocking is grayed out.
LoliSmith said:
I think this is key!!!
Someone on reddit is going to try but someone on the Pixel XL XDA forum says they are on Project Fi with a Verizon Pixel and OEM unlocking is grayed out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe I just got lucky...But I do agree, removing the SIM before turning on the phone may have been the cause.
cabegol said:
Maybe I just got lucky...But I do agree, removing the SIM before turning on the phone may have been the cause.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the Pixel XL forum, jcase stated that the phones have to connect to the google servers to be unlocked:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=71548073&postcount=49
My guess is if this is reproducible, that the first time the google servers see a Pixel activated if they see it with a Project Fi SIM in it, it enables the OEM unlocking somehow. Your MAC was connected to the internet when you were issuing the fastboot commands to unlock so the phone could have been connecting to Google through your MAC.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=71562112&postcount=47
There was no SIM in it when you were issuing the fastboot commands? Or was a Project Fi SIM in it when you were issuing the fastboot commands?
LoliSmith said:
On the Pixel XL forum, jcase stated that the phones have to connect to the google servers to be unlocked:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=71548073&postcount=49
My guess is if this is reproducible, that the first time the google servers see a Pixel activated if they see it with a Project Fi SIM in it, it enables the OEM unlocking somehow. Your MAC was connected to the internet when you were issuing the fastboot commands to unlock so the phone could have been connecting to Google through your MAC.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=71562112&postcount=47
There was no SIM in it when you were issuing the fastboot commands? Or was a Project Fi SIM in it when you were issuing the fastboot commands?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Project Fi SIM was in all the time while issuing commands.
cabegol said:
The Project Fi SIM was in all the time while issuing commands.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you upgrade to the March release? OTA or did you flash it?
LoliSmith said:
How did you upgrade to the March release? OTA or did you flash it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OTA, reboot and I did a reset after that.
LoliSmith said:
I think this is key!!!
Someone on reddit is going to try but someone on the Pixel XL XDA forum says they are on Project Fi with a Verizon Pixel and OEM unlocking is grayed out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, that reddit person is me.
Still grayed out.
Took out vzw sim, put fi sim in, rebooted. Fully activated on fi with her account.
Rebooted a few times. Tried to wipe cache in recovery. Durp, doesn't exist.
Out of ideas. Unless I can clear some google cache to re-fetch the OEM unlock data...
1 hour of Fi sim in the phone, no change. Still grayed out.
extremx said:
Hi, that reddit person is me.
Still grayed out.
Took out vzw sim, put fi sim in, rebooted. Fully activated on fi with her account.
Rebooted a few times. Tried to wipe cache in recovery. Durp, doesn't exist.
Out of ideas. Unless I can clear some google cache to re-fetch the OEM unlock data...
1 hour of Fi sim in the phone, no change. Still grayed out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like mentioned before I wonder if activating on Verizon triggers it to be locked. The only way to know for sure would be to get another person with a brand new unactivated Verizon pixel to test the same thing
I purchased Verizon Pixel on eBay few days ago and it came with inactivated Verizon sim. I don't have Project Fi sim to play with. I am using the phone with T-Mobile service. At the moment OEM Unlocking is grayed out.
cabegol said:
OTA, reboot and I did a reset after that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you did this:
1) Bought a brand new Pixel from Verizon on an upgrade;
2) Removed the Verizon SIM card without plugging in or turning on the phone;
3) Placed an active Google Fi SIM in the device;
4) Activated the device, it was running 7.1.1 out of the box - OEM unlocking was grayed out;
5) Attempted unsuccessfully to unlock the bootloader;
6) Took an OTA over the Google Fi network and factory reset the device.
After Step 6, OEM unlocking was no longer grayed out and the Pixel could be unlocked.
It seems to me that the important part is that the device had never been turned on with the Verizon SIM in it and the first time the device communicated with the google servers was with an active Google Fi SIM in it.
---------- Post added at 01:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:08 AM ----------
Charkatak said:
I purchased Verizon Pixel on eBay few days ago and it came with inactivated Verizon sim. I don't have Project Fi sim to play with. I am using the phone with T-Mobile service. At the moment OEM Unlocking is grayed out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the key is that the first time the device communicates with the Google servers, an active Google Fi SIM needs to be in the device. What we need is what jcase said - a "virgin" Verizon Pixel that has never been turned on. Pop the SIM out of it, put an active Google Fi SIM in it and turn it on. Let it check for updates so that the first time the Google servers see the device, it has an active Google Fi SIM in it.
---------- Post added at 01:17 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:11 AM ----------
extremx said:
Hi, that reddit person is me.
Still grayed out.
Took out vzw sim, put fi sim in, rebooted. Fully activated on fi with her account.
Rebooted a few times. Tried to wipe cache in recovery. Durp, doesn't exist.
Out of ideas. Unless I can clear some google cache to re-fetch the OEM unlock data...
1 hour of Fi sim in the phone, no change. Still grayed out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I don't think that will work. I think if this works it is because the very first time the device communicates with the google servers there is an active Google Fi SIM in the device.
LoliSmith said:
So you did this:
1) Bought a brand new Pixel from Verizon on an upgrade;
2) Removed the Verizon SIM card without plugging in or turning on the phone;
3) Placed an active Google Fi SIM in the device;
4) Activated the device, it was running 7.1.1 out of the box - OEM unlocking was grayed out;
5) Attempted unsuccessfully to unlock the bootloader;
6) Took an OTA over the Google Fi network and factory reset the device.
After Step 6, OEM unlocking was no longer grayed out.
It seems to me that the important parrt is that the device had never been turned on with the Verizon SIM in it and the first time the device communicated with the google servers was with an active Google Fi SIM in it.
---------- Post added at 01:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:08 AM ----------
I think the key is that the first time the device communicates with the Google servers, an active Google Fi SIM needs to be in the device. What we need is what jcase said - a "virgin" Verizon Pixel that has never been turned on. Pop the SIM out of it, put an active Google Fi SIM in it and turn it on. Let it check for updates so that the first time the Google servers see the device, it has an active Google Fi SIM in it.
---------- Post added at 01:17 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:11 AM ----------
Yeah, I don't think that will work. I think if this works it is because the very first time the device communicates with the google servers there is an active Google Fi SIM in the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I got the phone, I didn't check the sim tray because I thought it is Google Edition(I asked the seller before purchasing) and the tray is empty. After connecting to WiFi and going through setup, I realized that there is a sim. After opening the tray, I saw Verizon sim, but it didn't have a service, it was new card. So you think that I am a bit late for making OEM unlocking available?
Charkatak said:
When I got the phone, I didn't check the sim tray because I thought it is Google Edition(I asked the seller before purchasing) and the tray is empty. After connecting to WiFi and going through setup, I realized that there is a sim. After opening the tray, I saw Verizon sim, but it didn't have a service, it was new card. So you think that I am a bit late for making OEM unlocking available?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are only 2 reports of Verizon Pixels having the OEM unlocking not grayed out that I have read:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel/help/phone-verizon-7-1-1-unlockable-t3577438
https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel/help/verizon-phone-7-1-1-unlocked-google-t3578129
We aren't sure if either of these are reproducible.
LoliSmith said:
There are only 2 reports of Verizon Pixels having the OEM unlocking not grayed out that I have read:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel/help/phone-verizon-7-1-1-unlockable-t3577438
https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel/help/verizon-phone-7-1-1-unlocked-google-t3578129
We aren't sure if either of these are reproducible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have seen/read those treads. I also tried resetting and setting up the device with T-Mobile and AT&T sim cards, but still OEM Unlocking was grayed out. If the first sim decides the faith of OEM Unlocking option, then most likely my device contacted Google servers with inactivated Verizon sim in it.
extremx said:
Hi, that reddit person is me.
Still grayed out.
Took out vzw sim, put fi sim in, rebooted. Fully activated on fi with her account.
Rebooted a few times. Tried to wipe cache in recovery. Durp, doesn't exist.
Out of ideas. Unless I can clear some google cache to re-fetch the OEM unlock data...
1 hour of Fi sim in the phone, no change. Still grayed out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only other thing you could try is to do a backup and then factory reset with the Google Fi SIM in the device. Then activate with the Google Fi SIM in the device. Then restore from your backup later.
---------- Post added at 02:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:04 AM ----------
Charkatak said:
I have seen/read those treads. I also tried resetting and setting up the device with T-Mobile and AT&T sim cards, but still OEM Unlocking was grayed out. If the first sim decides the faith of OEM Unlocking option, then most likely my device contacted Google servers with inactivated Verizon sim in it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We don't know. Mine has never had a SIM in it but it is unlocked using depixel8 and it has contacted the google servers over WiFi to download the OTAs (never installed them though).
@LoliSmith: you've precisely described the procedure I followed.
cabegol said:
The Project Fi SIM was in all the time while issuing commands.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is weird. I got my device in November and I've never activated it on VZW, only on Project Fi, although I did buy it from them. I have always had the option grayed out and I've taken all the OTA thru March. I don't know why or how your device got unlocked but if you do want an unlocked phone then you're in luck. If this was common it would be screamed all over the place but it's not. So obviously it's an extremely rare occurrence which is not reproducible. I've not seen one other person that did what you did successfully. There is a Reddit thread somewhere about this and I'd like to look at it. Perhaps I'm wrong in that others have done what you have but this is certainly not common.
I'll search for the Reddit thread but if someone has the link that would be helpful. NVM, I found it.
I had mine come with 7.1 as a RMA (Verizon model confirmed via CID). When i got it, before turning it on for the first time i put in my T Mob sim. When i turend it on, skipped account sign in, went to dev settings and OEM unlocking was able to be checked. Checked it, rebooted to BT then unlocked. Then manually flashed Feb Update (installed twrp and all that jazz for a few weeks) then when O came out, i manually flashed it.
I mean, I'm not complaining. But I was incredibly surprised! I bought the phone BRAND NEW AND SEALED, from the current sale on woot ($170), and yet was still intending on returning it after I realized I had bought a Verizon variant, albeit carrier unlocked. Yeah, it's only the 64gb version, but I literally just bought this for testing, and as a backup. Actually bought a P3 from a friend that was in decent condition. A really close, trusted friend too, but unfortunately it just happened that about a month later the battery started exhibiting the dreaded behavior indicating it was starting to fail, so I decided to pull the trigger on the sale, not realizing it was a Verizon model. I went into much more detail about it in my post on Slickdeals: https://slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=146850461&postcount=127
It's also pink, but I'm putting on the Mint colored Spigen Neo Hybrid case on it anyway
So anyway, from all my collective knowledge about Pixels, and plenty of knowledge about (and hate towards) certain US carriers locking down devices, I wasn't expecting to be able to bootloader unlock this phone. Luckily I decided to open the box anyway and see if the OEM unlocking toggle was greyed out (which is what I fully expected!)... And it wasn't!? I still expected something, anything, to go wrong, but no, it actually successfully unlocked the bootloader (proceeded to factory reset as usual, etc)!! Unfortunately, it seems that the eSIM is still locked up and disabled, but like I said, for my usages as a simple dev'ing, testing, and/or backup phone, the eSIM isn't really important to me.
Don't think it matters, but I did this immediately upon opening the brand new phone, and it was on firmware PQ3A.190505.002 (May 2019, Pie). I mentioned it in my SD post, but the IMEI does start with 35, and checking it through Verizon's prepaid check system also indicated it as Verizon branded. I know that historically (on older Pixels, not even the 3, iirc), there was a [anecdotal] workaround where some owners would pop out the VZW SIM card before ever turning on the phone and they could then unlock the bootloader. Crazier for me is that I didn't even bother pulling out the VZW SIM card the phone came with before turning it on.
The only thing I can think, is that (and my memory here is foggy about the anecdotal posts) maybe when people were buying the phones from Verizon, those phones were actually turned on with then-active SIM cards, thus allowing them to "phone home" and permanently lock up the bootloader, at some point before ultimately shipping to the buyers. However, as these brand new Pixel 3's being sold are just leftover old, albeit brand new and factory sealed, stock, they were never turned on, whether at all or with active VZW SIM cards, at any point. When I initially turned on this new phone earlier today, since I left in the VZW SIM card included with the phone, I got a message pop up saying something along the lines of "we couldn't activate the device" or whatever.
So anyway, I wanted to say all of this because I'm always fascinated by flukes like this, where someone (me in this case!) is able to bootloader unlock a phone that should otherwise be completely unable to do so... Also attaching screenshots to show that it is indeed a Verizon branded Pixel 3 with the bootloader now unlocked. Note that it now shows current April 2021 firmware installed, but like I mentioned before it shipped with May 2019 installed from the factory, and I updated the firmware after unlocking the bootloader immediately after opening. Is there any explanation to this? Did I just get incredibly lucky? Does my theory in the previous paragraph possibly make sense? Or is there already a known explanation somehow and I just was completely unaware (and if so please let me know)?
final note: pics look like phone's screen is fuzzy because I haven't even removed the factory plastic wrap yet, lol. amazon glass screen protectors come tomorrow!
EDIT: LMAO! The listing on Woot now says in big bold letters, "The bootloader is LOCKED on these phones". Pretty sure it didn't say that when I bought it, so must be a lot of people complaining about it and trying to return! Not sure how I was able to do it though still... even if I couldn't, I would have just cited the lack of eSIM as my reason for return. Fully Unlocked != eSIM Neutered, lol.
Should I buy one to try to get an OEM unlock version?
Hey, i5lee8bit
I was poking around and saw this. I ordered one of these from the woot sale. SHould be arriving in the next day or so. Mine is the 128 GB version.
I'm down to try your process and see if I am able to have success too.
What method did you use to unlock the bootloader?
aNewHoax said:
Hey, i5lee8bit
I was poking around and saw this. I ordered one of these from the woot sale. SHould be arriving in the next day or so. Mine is the 128 GB version.
I'm down to try your process and see if I am able to have success too.
What method did you use to unlock the bootloader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, I would remove the SIM card before you ever turn it on, just in case. I didn't bother and it still worked, but just in case that somehow allows it to "phone home" and lock itself up.
I just did "fastboot flashing unlock" from bootloader.
Just skip through setup, connect to wifi, enable developer options, and check (hopefully) OEM unlocking toggle is not greyed out. Enable the OEM unlock toggle, reboot to bootloader. While phone is booted to bootloader, connect to PC (or another Magisk rooted Android device with adb / fastboot module installed), and use command "fastboot flashing unlock" without quotes. Should hopefully prompt you to confirm unlock bootloader / wipe data.
To reboot to bootloader, either shut off and then power on while holding volume down, or enable adb debugging and send command "adb reboot bootloader" without quotes from command line / terminal.
I saw that deal you mentioned, haha. Are you a SD user / browser? I think the deal popped up this morning or something. If it's indeed brand new and sealed, hopefully it works! Best of luck, I hope you manage to get the bl unlocked!
Thanks for the direction. Haven't done a root on a phone in a long time.
Indeed, I am a Slicker ha. Over there I am @Skullk. The name was taken here so I used an alternate. Been a long time lurker on these forums.
This was the Slickdeal https://slickdeals.net/f/14972183-google-pixel-3-128gb-not-pink-199-99-with-free-shipping-on-woot
I received the phone yesterday. Made sure no SIM installed. Battery was completely dead, that makes sense though as these are some older stock.
Hope to have some time this weekend to give it a try. I'll report back with my findings.
Cheers!
Dude! It totally worked!!
I feel like we got something here. Maybe since the phones batteries were completely dead for a while in stock? Or just starting with a fresh phone on whatever exact version these are out of stock.
Are you sure theyre not Google phones
that were jus set up with Verizon in their former lives?
aNewHoax said:
Dude! It totally worked!!
I feel like we got something here. Maybe since the phones batteries were completely dead for a while in stock? Or just starting with a fresh phone on whatever exact version these are out of stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Woohoo! Back a while ago, when I was still on AT&T, I was researching Pixel 4 series and saw that bootloader was indeed unlockable once SIM is unlocked (like Apple, SIM unlock is controlled on Google's side servers, but once whitelisted, not only unlocks the SIM but also "flags" the OEM unlock toggle to be allowed as well - unfortunately not the case for Verizon Pixels). Unfortunately I had problems with AT&T and eventually bought a factory (Google store) Pixel 4 XL and switched to Xfinity Mobile. Anyway, during all that research, I also saw that some Verizon Pixel 4 / 4 XL phones (iirc) were able to be bootloader unlocked as well. There were a few theories, one of which (again, iirc) applied to older gen Pixels - this particular one being that as long as the phones were never turned on with a Verizon SIM inserted, they could be bootloader unlocked (some theories suggesting doing factory reset gymnastics and stuff). But this didn't work for everyone (actually, it didn't work for the overwhelming majority of people - a lot of people suspecting lies / hoax / misunderstanding). But now I'm starting to think this theory may hold some water, though. Perhaps when you buy phones from Verizon, they're doing something on their end that essentially processes your account info to the IMEI of the phone you bought, somewhere in the backends of their systems. That, or maybe they're doing something with the SIM cards to set up for your account and turning on the phone once before shipping to you (I have no idea, I've never been a VZW customer). Either way, the phone's IMEI gets to "phone home" to Verizon thus locking the bootloader.
But since we're buying these old stock, never touched, never processed / activated into their system, completely factory sealed Pixel 3 / 3 XL phones that are total virgins to Verizon's systems (other than being preinstalled with a VZW SIM card), maybe that's why we can unlock the bootloaders. I don't think it has anything to do with the exact firmware versions they shipped with. I believe I remember seeing people on SD having bootloader unlocked on various firmware levels. Hard to say which thread(s), because the deal popped up so many times in the last few months, but I definitely remember seeing scattered preloaded firmware versions being bootloader unlocked.
Another theory had to do with a mistake on Google's end. Some people got lucky, some people got EXTREMELY unlucky. Some phones were manufactured and branded for the wrong carrier. For example, a phone manufactured for Tracfone ended up being locked to Verizon (not sure of the specific carriers and whether vice versa but you get the idea). But some people would get a phone that should have been bootloader locked down (OEM unlock toggle disabled) but still be able to do so. Not sure if the latter is related at all to how we're able to unlock these, but I doubt it. These were very small batches that got mixed up in manufacturing. Right now, we're seeing definitely Verizon locked phones, old stock, that all seem to be able to be bootloader unlocked. I really do suspect that there is a "phone home" process when initially setting up the phone that seals the deal with ending up with a permanently unlockable bootloader.
Now, an interesting experiment (that I wouldn't wish for anyone to try to be honest, lol) would be to have someone buy one of these old stock, brand new Pixel 3 Verizon phones, and initially turn it on WITH AN ACTIVE VZW SIM CARD INSTALLED. See if that permanently locks the bootloader. If not, maybe Verizon's side only perma-locks these phones up to a certain date (like their activation server sends some sort of command to permanently lock the bootloader, but that behavior of their activation server is only active during a certain lifespan of the device)? Either way, it would be interesting if smarter people could somehow use this information to come up with an exploit to bypass the initial bootloader locking mechanism, whatever it may be, and allow bootloader locking on future Verizon Pixel variants (though you'd likely be screwed once it's perma-locked).
On an alternate note, I absolutely hate that these carriers are screwing us, the end consumers and ultimate OWNERS of the device, for no damn legit reason. Ok, I can somewhat understand that they want to prevent modifications to the device to use their network (and by understand, I mean BARELY understand). But once the phone reaches end of life, ALLOW US TO UNLOCK THE DAMN BOOTLOADERS!! Otherwise, they should automatically chop off the sale price in half to whatever is the best current price from another vendor. F|_|CK Verizon and AT&T!
rocketrazr1999 said:
Are you sure theyre not Google phones
that were jus set up with Verizon in their former lives?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
100% definitely Verizon branded. They're factory sealed, and come with a preinstalled Verizon SIM card. Also the IMEI starts with 35, and (unfortunately) the eSIM is locked and unusable. Like I posted in the OP, the box shows it's a Verizon locked variant.
Worked for me!
Hi, I too bought pixel 3 64gb from woot last week, I started the setup as well without taking the included sim card out. After completing setup, I can verify that OEM unlocking is not grayed out.
I am very noob to custom roms, but definitely interested in trying out the custom rom when the official support ends, Is there anything else I should do before popping in my Visible sim card in it, so that the bootloader stays unlock.
Thanks, long story short this worked for me too.
I ordered my pixel 3 from woot on june 7th when it clearly said "The bootloader is LOCKED on these phones." and got it today. I removed the sim card before turning it on, skipped most of the setup including WIFI, enabled developer options, and the "OEM unlocking" option was greyed out . Then I found a post about it needing to have internet access to enable that option - sure enough I connected to wifi and the option was live! I guess I should have mimicked your procedure exactly.
I then followed the instructions from here: https://android.gadgethacks.com/how-to/unlock-bootloader-your-pixel-3-3-xl-beginners-guide-0189128/
and the rest of the process completed successfully.
So, you did not do any special thing but just enabled Developer Options and the bootloader unlock was not grey? But mine was grey when I enabled Developer Options.
aNewHoax said:
Dude! It totally worked!!
I feel like we got something here. Maybe since the phones batteries were completely dead for a while in stock? Or just starting with a fresh phone on whatever exact version these are out of stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You also did nothing special, but just enabled Developer Options and found that the bootloader unlock was not greyed out?
yourrealking said:
So, you did not do any special thing but just enabled Developer Options and the bootloader unlock was not grey? But mine was grey when I enabled Developer Options.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't do anything else. It was greyed out right after I enabled developer options but after I connected to WIFI for the first time and went back into that menu it was active.
yourrealking said:
You also did nothing special, but just enabled Developer Options and found that the bootloader unlock was not greyed out?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a little confusing, your question. Did you read the posts from the beginning? I mean the OP **specifies** exactly what he did... so when you say 'you did nothing special'... He says exactly what he did, would u call it 'special'?
it's impossible to answer your question, he did exactly what he said he did, what more do you want to know?
AsItLies said:
It's a little confusing, your question. Did you read the posts from the beginning? I mean the OP **specifies** exactly what he did... so when you say 'you did nothing special'... He says exactly what he did, would u call it 'special'?
it's impossible to answer your question, he did exactly what he said he did, what more do you want to know?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
His posts are long, so I am not sure I got it correctly or not, but it seems that all he did was just enabling developer mode and ran "fastboot flashing unlock" in the bootloader mode. But that is a regular method that Google should have disallowed to work on a bootloader-locked device, so I wondered if there were some other "special" hacking-ish thing he did.
I thought I had tried that, but it was a long time ago, so just to be sure, I did that again now, and all I got was
"FAILED (remote: 'flashing unlock is not allowed')
fastboot: error: Command failed
Thanks to the OP, think I got the last one from woot. Did exactly as this post described and sure enough, oem unlock not grayed out.
It seems, as others have said, that when vzw disables oem unlock is when they 'set the phone up' for you at the store, or maybe simply when it connects to the vzw network with their sim.
I've unlocked and fb flashed to latest A11 non - verizon firmware, relocked bootloader, and am still able to unlock if I want.
Google sure does make it a lot easier to flash new firmware using fastboot. Especially compared to LG and lgup (only on windows), and patched dll's so u can crossflash, and one dll version for this, and another for that... meh.
Google even gives you an shell script that works with Linux Awesome!
i5lee8bit said:
I mean, I'm not complaining. But I was incredibly surprised! I bought the phone BRAND NEW AND SEALED...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Registered just to thank you for this. Bought a Pixel 3 from a B+H sale for my wife (who was really looking forward to her new phone) - we're in Canada, so thought I was screwed. Took awhile to get the USB drivers set up properly, but she's now got her new phone.
Thank you! It worked for me too for two Pixel 3 phones, one from B&H (software version PD1A.180720.031) and one from Woot (software version PQ1A.181105.017.A1). Here are the steps I followed (with android platform tools including adb and fastboot already installed):
1. Removed verizon sim card (just in case) before powering on
2. Powered on and skipped through Google setup
3. Connected to my T-Mobile tethered wifi instead of Verizon Fios home wifi (just in case)
4. Enable developer options, wait for "OEM Unlocking" to become not-greyed-out (requires wifi)
5. Enable USB debugging in developer options
6. Issue `adb reboot bootloader` from PC (or shutdown and use hardware keys)
7. Issue `fastboot flashing unlock` from PC
8. execute `flash-all.sh` from the official stock pixel 3 factory image zip from here: <https://developers.google.com/android/images#blueline>
a. This gets rid of Verizon's firmware completely
9. Wait for it to complete, reboot into bootloader
10. Issue `fastboot flashing lock` (erases user data) to re-lock bootloader
11. Booted normally and setup. OEM Unlocking is still available in developer options if I want it in the future.
johannish said:
Thank you! It worked for me too for two Pixel 3 phones, one from B&H (software version PD1A.180720.031) and one from Woot (software version PQ1A.181105.017.A1). Here are the steps I followed (with android platform tools including adb and fastboot already installed):
1. Removed verizon sim card (just in case) before powering on
2. Powered on and skipped through Google setup
3. Connected to my T-Mobile tethered wifi instead of Verizon Fios home wifi (just in case)
4. Enable developer options, wait for "OEM Unlocking" to become not-greyed-out (requires wifi)
5. Enable USB debugging in developer options
6. Issue `adb reboot bootloader` from PC (or shutdown and use hardware keys)
7. Issue `fastboot flashing unlock` from PC
8. execute `flash-all.sh` from the official stock pixel 3 factory image zip from here: <https://developers.google.com/android/images#blueline>
a. This gets rid of Verizon's firmware completely
9. Wait for it to complete, reboot into bootloader
10. Issue `fastboot flashing lock` (erases user data) to re-lock bootloader
11. Booted normally and setup. OEM Unlocking is still available in developer options if I want it in the future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So we don't need to download the blueline images that say Verizon and can just use the latest 11.0.0 (RQ3A.210705.001, Jul 2021) image instead?
I haven't done this forever, is there still a need for TWRP if we are sticking with the stock rom, unlocking the bootloader and installing Magisk?
I have a brand-new rooted and LineageOS modded Motorola One 5G Ace. Ever since the 3G shutoff, most of my family has been having problems with their phones - except for my son and his old Moto G4+ - his phone works perfectly. I expected the purchase of this phone, which was on the AT&T whitelist would solve the issues that I was having but that was not the case - this phone is still having the same problems. I even tried switching carriers (it would probably work if I went with AT&T directly but they're WAY too expensive) but it seems that no matter what I do, I can't call.
Now here is the interesting bit.
My carrier's access point gives me data but no phone.
Switching to any AT&T access point with the MMSC set to http://mmsc.mobile.att.net gives me phone, but no data. SMS is still available.
My carrier's tech support and I tried a lot of different things without success
Has anyone overcome this issue?
Sidenote - switching the MMSC to https://mmsc.mobile.att.net and the MMS port to 8080 works but data seems slower.
Shadeclan said:
I have a brand-new rooted and LineageOS modded Motorola One 5G Ace. Ever since the 3G shutoff, most of my family has been having problems with their phones - except for my son and his old Moto G4+ - his phone works perfectly. I expected the purchase of this phone, which was on the AT&T whitelist would solve the issues that I was having but that was not the case - this phone is still having the same problems. I even tried switching carriers (it would probably work if I went with AT&T directly but they're WAY too expensive) but it seems that no matter what I do, I can't call.
Now here is the interesting bit.
My carrier's access point gives me data but no phone.
Switching to any AT&T access point with the MMSC set to http://mmsc.mobile.att.net gives me phone, but no data. SMS is still available.
My carrier's tech support and I tried a lot of different things without success
Has anyone overcome this issue?
Sidenote - switching the MMSC to https://mmsc.mobile.att.net and the MMS port to 8080 works but data seems slower.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, so the answer seems to be the auto (PRL) selection in the "Set Preferred Network Type" list - except, on my phone, auto (PRL) doesn't show up for any entries other than GSM/WCDMA (dial *#*#4636#*#* and go to Phone Info). My son has LTE in his list. There must be a file somewhere on the phone with the preferred network types ...
you never mentioned where you got the phone (direct from att or 3rd party) or the precise model number.
was pondering getting this phone to help parents having to turn off LTE after the att 3g fiasco started, because att is their only coverage option
(stupid att refuses to enable VoLTE for many devices including their moto x4 devices, which would work fine on tmo if they had coverage, and running current LOS)
jmichael2497 said:
you never mentioned where you got the phone (direct from att or 3rd party) or the precise model number.
was pondering getting this phone to help parents having to turn off LTE after the att 3g fiasco started, because att is their only coverage option
(stupid att refuses to enable VoLTE for many devices including their moto x4 devices, which would work fine on tmo if they had coverage, and running current LOS)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry. Phone is an XT2113-2 purchased directly from Motorola. Also, I was mistaken - the preferred network type needs to be set to "GSM/WCDMA preferred". I set the phone to what I listed above but the phone reset itself to that setting and it works. I suspect that once AT&T straightens everything out, you'll need to switch it to something else if it's not done automatically.
I found this phone at the top of the AT&T Whitelist for Motorola phones, which is one of the reasons I bought it. I refuse to get a Samsung or any other phone where the company goes out of its way to prevent people from unlocking the bootloader.
Well, I came across this little tidbit on the AT&T Community Forums.
The pertinent post is this one by Centarus3200:
Type this code into your keypad.
*#*#4636#*#*
If under "phone information", VOLTE is grayed out and you can't turn it on, ATT has blocked your phone's IMEI from being provisioned for 4G voice calls.
You can try to convince advanced tech support to provision your phone for VOLTE, but they'll either stall you out on an endless circle (Edited per community guidelines) or basically tell you to go (Edited per community guidelines) an egg (meaning buy a new phone from them).
Unnoficially, ATT will NOT provision any unlocked phone for VOLTE. Period.
Yes, even if it's on their whitelist. They just wanted to screw you into a corner first with that lie.
There are several vendors selling unlocked phones for use with their networks. If these phones are able to achieve LTE / 5G coverage, it must be due to one of the following reasons:
Best case (and unlikeliest scenario) - the IMEI of all phones sold by the carrier has been registered with AT&T and will be allowed on their network - that would allow modding of the phone since the IMEI is not changed during modding.
The "unlocked" phone has been modified somehow to AT&T specs so that it will be allowed on the network. This would mean modding the phone would get rid of the modification so a modded phone would lose coverage.
Worst case - AT&T can detect the OS fingerprint of the phone. If this changes when the bootloader is unlocked, that would mean that AT&T can detect phones with unlocked bootloaders.
Sadly, I am returning my brand new phone to Motorola - I don't have the technical savvy to deal with this. It would require some wizard over at LineageOS to overcome this hurdle.
Shadeclan said:
Phone is an XT2113-2 purchased directly from Motorola. Also, I was mistaken - the preferred network type needs to be set to "GSM/WCDMA preferred".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for confirming.
i suspected that ATT would continue being excessively fascist, capitalist pigs, with their whitelist extortion racket of VoLTE certification fees from manufacturers...
no point in getting this 2021 bootloader unlockable device to use with LOS (since moto hasn't upgraded os from 10 for most variants) if my parents are stuck on 3.5G H+ mode anyway.
please file both an FCC and FTC complaint against ATT for their anti-consumer, anti-competitive, and anti-environment VoLTE whitelist policy hidden under the claims of "3g shutdown".
jmichael2497 said:
thanks for confirming.
i suspected that ATT would continue being excessively fascist, capitalist pigs, with their whitelist extortion racket of VoLTE certification fees from manufacturers...
no point in getting this 2021 bootloader unlockable device to use with LOS (since moto hasn't upgraded os from 10 for most variants) if my parents are stuck on 3.5G H+ mode anyway.
please file both an FCC and FTC complaint against ATT for their anti-consumer, anti-competitive, and anti-environment VoLTE whitelist policy hidden under the claims of "3g shutdown".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I wouldn't say capitalist. Capitalists would be interested in maximizing their profits and would avoid restrictions. Monopolists and mercantilists, certainly but capitalists get a bad rap.
I won't be filing a complaint. AT&T is a merchantilist concern in cahoots with the government agencies mentioned. Anything I do will be flatly ignored. The best approach is the market approach - circumvent their restrictions and make them look foolish.
ATT is apparently doing just fine on the capitalist front, my parents are pretty ready to just give up on android and keep saying let's just buy an iphone because never had calling problems with them, so... i'm sure plenty other folks stuck with ATT are just buying off their whitelist from ATT, more profit from lack of choices.
Here is the story so far ...
3G Shutdown - Consumer Cellular is bought out by AT&T so all their phones are locked now.
Purchased a Motorola One 5G Ace from Motorola, unlocked the bootloader and installed LineageOS.
Moved my service to Pure Talk - no 4G.
Tried to go to Mint Mobile but there is no real T-Mobile coverage in my town.
Gave up and sent back the Ace to Motorola. Decided to purchase a phone directly from the provider.
Did some research and found that the only company offering Motorola phones on the AT&T network is Patriot Mobile - Purchased a Moto G Play from them. Decided not to unlock the bootloader quite yet but got the unlock key from Motorola.
There was some issues with activating the phone so I put my Pure Talk SIM in the phone and was able to access the 4G network.
Made myself a developer on the phone and tried to turn on OEM Unlocking - not able to do it.
Today, I ironed out the issues with Patriot Mobile activated the service and put my Patriot Mobile SIM card in. Now I can turn on OEM Unlocking.
Observations: It appears that the provider SIM card is able to control whether or not OEM Unlocking can be turned on. It also appears that the provider SIM card can detect if OEM Unlocking is on or off and either send that info to the provider, limit band access or, possibly, penalize the user in other ways.
What to Do: I plan on leaving the OEM Unlocking switch in the ON position for a week and monitor for 4G coverage. If everything looks good, I will then unlock the bootloader and wait for another week. If that goes well, I will purchase another 5G Ace and see how that goes.
Shadeclan said:
Here is the story so far ...
3G Shutdown - Consumer Cellular is bought out by AT&T so all their phones are locked now.
Purchased a Motorola One 5G Ace from Motorola, unlocked the bootloader and installed LineageOS.
Moved my service to Pure Talk - no 4G.
Tried to go to Mint Mobile but there is no real T-Mobile coverage in my town.
Gave up and sent back the Ace to Motorola. Decided to purchase a phone directly from the provider.
Did some research and found that the only company offering Motorola phones on the AT&T network is Patriot Mobile - Purchased a Moto G Play from them. Decided not to unlock the bootloader quite yet but got the unlock key from Motorola.
There was some issues with activating the phone so I put my Pure Talk SIM in the phone and was able to access the 4G network.
Made myself a developer on the phone and tried to turn on OEM Unlocking - not able to do it.
Today, I ironed out the issues with Patriot Mobile activated the service and put my Patriot Mobile SIM card in. Now I can turn on OEM Unlocking.
Observations: It appears that the provider SIM card is able to control whether or not OEM Unlocking can be turned on. It also appears that the provider SIM card can detect if OEM Unlocking is on or off and either send that info to the provider, limit band access or, possibly, penalize the user in other ways.
What to Do: I plan on leaving the OEM Unlocking switch in the ON position for a week and monitor for 4G coverage. If everything looks good, I will then unlock the bootloader and wait for another week. If that goes well, I will purchase another 5G Ace and see how that goes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I unlocked the bootloader without loss of service today. I'll be reordering my Moto One 5G Ace today along with a phone for my daughter. Looks like Patriot Mobile is going to let people on the AT&T network with unlocked phones. I sent an email to the company CEO and thanked him.
Shadeclan said:
I unlocked the bootloader without loss of service today. I'll be reordering my Moto One 5G Ace today along with a phone for my daughter. Looks like Patriot Mobile is going to let people on the AT&T network with unlocked phones. I sent an email to the company CEO and thanked him.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Downloaded the recovery files today with the Motorola recovery tool and tried using Magisk to modify the boot image - it failed. I may try to load Magisk from recovery. There is no "official" TWRP recovery but both /e/ foundation and LineageOS have their own recoveries that can be flashed or run from fastboot.
Update 20220614 15:01 EST: I successfully rooted the phone through /e/ foundation recovery using Magisk 25.0. TopJohnWu has rewritten the whole thing V25 is currently in beta but I read through the notes and I felt more confident with this version. After root, I was able to get 5G data and send and receive phone calls just fine. Next step is to load /e/ ROM onto the phone. I am confident that I can recover using the Motorola recovery tool if things go south.
The TWRP on the Telegram channel works. I am using it.
RETIEF said:
The TWRP on the Telegram channel works. I am using it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Were you able to load it under a custom ROM? That was my issue - couldn't get TWRP to load regardless of whether I had flashed it to recovery or booted into it via fastboot.
Shadeclan said:
Were you able to load it under a custom ROM? That was my issue - couldn't get TWRP to load regardless of whether I had flashed it to recovery or booted into it via fastboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I flashed it with fastboot to recovery_a and recovery_b. I then rebooted to system, then turned the phone off, rebooted to fastboot, selected recovery and it booted.
RETIEF said:
I flashed it with fastboot to recovery_a and recovery_b. I then rebooted to system, then turned the phone off, rebooted to fastboot, selected recovery and it booted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this the syntax? fastboot flash recovery_a twrp.img ?
Shadeclan said:
Is this the syntax? fastboot flash recovery_a twrp.img ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. Assuming you have renamed the downloaded file "twrp.img".
RETIEF said:
Yes. Assuming you have renamed the downloaded file "twrp.img".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A link to the TWRP you are using? I do believe there's a beta version somewhere here on the forum ... Aaah. It's for the kiev -3. I have a XT2113-2 - probably explains why it won't work on my phone.
Shadeclan said:
A link to the TWRP you are using? I do believe there's a beta version somewhere here on the forum ... Aaah. It's for the kiev -3. I have a XT2113-2 - probably explains why it won't work on my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
kiev-twrp-3.6.0_11.0_RC-1.4.img | by SyberHexen for Moto One 5g Ace
Download GApps, Roms, Kernels, Themes, Firmware, and more. Free file hosting for all Android developers.
androidfilehost.com
I have the Xt2113-2.
I have successfully installed /e/ foundation ROM on my Moto
RETIEF said:
I have the Xt2113-2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will grab it right away - many thanks.
Phone is bought from best buy unlocked. Image shows my issue after typing in *#*#4636#*#*
I was literally just about to post this too (tho i have an unlocked variant), of course my cable decided to crap out today so I was going to just run the hotspot, well the 5g in my aera is garbage so I was going to force LTE and lo an behold I find that I'm locked in to 5g for some god forsaken reason!!!
I am so done with Motorola, so i just decided to flash a custom rom (pixel experience plus) for the phone. Let me know if you need help in flashing that.
So I unlocked the sim via the T-Mobile pixel 6 unlock method. Able to use dual sim functionality with Google Fi e-sim.
Now the phone updates to the unlocked version firmware. OEM carrier lock is still grayed out ( toggle not available) but everything works. Just giving an update for everyone
Are carriers selling these at a massive discount? I guess I don't understand buying one from a carrier vs straight from Google.
2 dollars per month. I know I have to keep ATT. But I travel to the Bahamas every month and it is the only carrier that works on the island I frequent. So I said why not just do it that way
Ahhh, forgot about the financing/rental/lease options carriers offer. I havent been on a "premium" carrier in like a decade.
Downloading the 13beta to see if I can fix the greyed out OEM unlock. If not I will revert and try Verizon rom I think. Unless you have any other suggestions
jcircello said:
Downloading the 13beta to see if I can fix the greyed out OEM unlock. If not I will revert and try Verizon rom I think. Unless you have any other suggestions
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assume at some point along the way you factory reset? Have you flashed the B1 build yet?
Reverted back to Android 12. Currently on build
SD2A.220601.003.B1 still greyed out OEM unlock.
jcircello said:
Reverted back to Android 12. Currently on build
SD2A.220601.003.B1 still greyed out OEM unlock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Factory reset ever/recently?
I did and tried the steps outlined in the other post. Setup without network or sim. Then. Connect and put in sim, enable developer options and toggle OEM unlock while it says preparing ... Stayed greyed out the whole time. I thought maybe since it changed to unlocked version firmware that I had a chance to root. Maybe someday
Maybe try reaching out to AT&T