How to Unlock Bootloader of Oneplus 7/7Pro

Oneplus launched Oneplus 7 and Oneplus 7 Pro in early 2019. Both the phone features Snapdragon 855 with 128 GB of storage. The 7 Pro offers a QHD screen along with 90hz of refresh rate, while the Oneplus 7 has a 1090P AMOLED display. The 7 Pro also features a pop-up selfie camera. Both the devices are currently running on Oxygen OS 10 based on Android 10. Oxygen OS has a lot of potentials when it comes to rooting and unlocking the bootloader. It supports custom Kernel as well as system-wide root on stock firmware. For that, you first need to unlock the bootloader of your device. So if you want to learn How to unlock Bootloader of Oneplus 7/7Pro then continue reading it and by the end of the article, you ‘ll be having your phone unlocked.

What is Bootloader?

According to Google “A bootloader is a vendor-proprietary image responsible for bringing up the kernel on a device. It guards the device state and is responsible for initializing the Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) and binding its root of trust”. Confused? So am I! let us leave all this aside.

In simpler terms, a Bootloader is a software that runs every time your phone boots (start). It contains a set of instructions that tells the device which program to load at what instance. It also decides whether to boot your device to ‘Android OS’ or to the ‘recovery mode’. Consider it a gateway, leading towards a road having all directions in technical jargon. hence, if you aren’t comfortable with the technical terms, you may get ‘lost’ in the way (if that happens, just remember us!).

Downsides of Unlocking the Bootloader

The biggest downside of unlocking the bootloader is that the warranty of your device would be void. But why do the manufacturers do this? The answer is simple. All the OEMs ship their devices with a locked bootloader so that the users could only use the stock OS that comes pre-installed.

The device vendors do not want the users to try out the customized version of the OS as they are launched by third-party sources such as LineageOS or Resurrection Remix. The manufacturers are in no way related to these creators, hence they distance themselves by voiding the warranty of the device.

How to Unlock the Bootloader of Oneplus 7/7Pro

In order to unlock the bootloader of your device, follow the below-mentioned points. Make sure not to skip any one of them.

Prerequisites

• Your entire data would be wiped off. So before beginning with the process, make sure to make a complete backup of your device.
• Enable USB Debugging and OEM Unlocking: Go to Settings > About Phone > Tap on ‘Build Number’ 7 times > Go back to ‘Settings’ > Head over to ‘Developer Options’ > Enable ‘OEM Unlocking’ > Also enable ‘USB Debugging’ from there only. You may also read our guide on how to enable it.
• Download ADB and Fastboot Tools for executing various commands.

Steps to Unlock Bootloader of Android Devices

1. Connect your device to PC via USB cable.
2. Navigate to the folder where you have installed Android SDK and Platform Tools.
3. Inside the folder, while pressing the ‘Shift’ key, right-click on an empty location.
4. Select ‘Open PowerShell window here’.
   
5. Type the below code to boot your device to fastboot/bootloader mode:

   adb reboot bootloader

6. Now type the below code to unlock the bootloader of your Android device. Executing the below code will also wipe off all the data from your device.

   fastboot oem unlock

7. If you get a confirmation message on your phone’s screen, reply in affirmative (‘Yes’, ‘I agree’, Unlock the Bootloader’, etc).
8. Reboot the device by typing the below code:

   fastboot reboot

That’s it. You have successfully unlocked your device’s bootloader. The first boot may take a little longer than usual. That is completely normal. With an unlocked bootloader, go ahead and try rooting your device, flashing various custom ROMs and installing tons of amazing mods, including GCam.