this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2023
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I live in Latin America and I found out here governements dont require Samsung to OEM lock bootloader for Samsung phones, so thecnically im able to boot a custom rom unto my phone. But Im curious if this still enables us Samsung users from Latin America to boot any privacy respecting android rom, since most of them doesnt support Samsung devices at least that's what they say on their web pages. So, do you guys think there's a solution for us?

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Lineage is a popular choice, see if your device is supported.

https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/#samsung

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Some devices have unofficial ports, so check your phone's XDA page

Or you can do what i did and opt for a GSI if your phone supports phh treble

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Yes it works nicely and I disagree with the above, think it looks fantastic

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I really don't like how they tried to make it look like an iPhone or whatever, otherwise I'd love to try it

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

Don't think you can unlock the bootloaders on Samsung devices, so not really possible

Most you can do to make it privacy friendlier (still not private) is to disable/uninstall app the bloat until you get to the minimum required apps, try to replace as many apps and you can with fdroid equivalents, and add an adblocking firewall. Settings your private DNS to dns.adguard-dns.com could probably help too.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

This is the option I can enable after activating developer options on my Samsung. It is in spanish, but it do mean that you are able to unlock the OEM bootloader, letting you access to boot roms, as far as I understand. Is it really impossible?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

It is very possible, samsung only locks down phones in northern america (where they're forced by the carriers)

You can use the leaked official tool (odin) or the foss reverse-engineered heimdall

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Thanks a lot, man

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I can and I did

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

iodéOS supports some of the older Samsung devices (9 and 10 S and Note series). Unfortunately there are not many options if you have a newer Samsung.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Could't find any custom roms but you could try this (originally made for a12 but should work for all A series phones)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

If you are able to OEM unlock, you probably can flash a ROM of your choosing. Now find a rom that is compatible with your device.

As other have said, calyx, or lineage are good options. but if there are unofficial they are likely to have security vulnerabilities. If thats not a deal breaker for you than try it out.

Ps make sure you have a usb 2.0 or newer. a cheap usb 1.0 will not work.

Get adb and fastboot.

Let me know how it goes!

[–] [email protected] -4 points 11 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] -3 points 11 months ago (2 children)

That's the point, fuck Samsung.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

CalyxOS only supports pixel, fairphone, and shift

Not even xiaomi which is widely considered moddable

There are many reasons to hate samsung, calyxOS lack of support is not one of them


Posted from my samsung phone running degoogled lineageOS

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Are you running Lineage on a Samsung? I have an a34 and I'm trying to find a custom ROM

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

This is not helpful to this discussion

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Calyx only runs on pixels if I'm not wrong