ASUS is apparently killing the ability to root Zenfones (Update: Maybe not?)
www.androidauthority.com
ASUS is reportedly telling customers they can no longer unlock the bootloader on their phones, including the Zenfone 9 and Zenfone 10.

Update from Asus

The service team reply misunderstood the situation. Unlock tool is unavailable at this moment but we are allowing the possibility to unlock, please stay tuned.

**TL;DR

  • ASUS has apparently withdrawn the ability to unlock the bootloader on its phones.
  • As per the company’s technical support team, Zenfone 10 and Zenfone 9 users won’t be able to root their phones.
    • ayaya@lemdro.idEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      I was genuinely thinking about going with an ASUS phone next because of the unlockable bootloader, this really sucks to see.

  • bitwolf@lemmy.oneEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    Very easy way to remove an almost perfect phone from my list of upgrade considerations.

  • HiddenLayer5@lemmy.mlEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    Which means, legally, you can no longer own even the hardware of a Zenfone you bought, you now only license it. Since their OEM software is proprietary and in nearly every software’s TOS they can revoke your license to it at any time for any reason, which would effectively brick the phone if bootloader unlocking is not possible.

  • SeaJ@lemm.eeOPEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Considering their crappy major release and security update support, rooting and flashing custom images is basically a requirement.

  • dsmk@lemmy.zipEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Some here are mixing bootloader unlocking with rooting. They’re not the same thing.

    Asus broke bootloader unlocking, so you can only use the original ROM in the original state. You can’t install a custom ROM or flash something like Magisk to root your device.

    You can unlock without rooting or without installing a custom ROM. You can install a custom ROM without rooting. You can use stock and root. And you can use a custom ROM and root. But all this is only possible if you can unlock the device’s bootloader.

    • HiddenLayer5@lemmy.mlEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Also, something I don’t see people discuss enough: for security, you also need to be able to re-lock the bootloader after installing a custom ROM. Otherwise anyone can inject code into the system partition if they have physical access to your device, which would also compromise your encrypted storage. So if there’s no way to reverse the bootloader unlocking, that’s also bad.

  • Xperr7@kbin.social
    1·
    1 year ago

    Oh, fuck off. I’m not one to root my phone, but you own the damn thing. Once it’s in your hands, the maker should have no right to tell you what to do with it.

  • Dizzy Devil Ducky@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    The problem with companies trying to stop this is the fact that there will be at least one person/team who will find a way to bypass this.

    No amount of corporate software devs/engineers can stop the might of a determined team on the internet from achieving their goals when it comes to this kinda stuff.

    Edit:

    Don’t know whether the bootloader locking is actually coming or not because I saw a different post saying it was a misunderstanding.

    • SeaJ@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      The updated response from Asus:

      The service team reply misunderstood the situation. Unlock tool is unavailable at this moment but we are allowing the possibility to unlock, please stay tuned.

      So the server is down and will be back up. But that is not exactly the most reassuring response. It kind of seems like they are planning on removing it later or majorly altering it.