How to Unlock Your Android Phone’s Bootloader

It is strongly advised to backup your device completely including the apps, messages, contacts, and internal storage. While enabling OEM unlocking itself would harm your data. It’s likely that you’ll proceed further to unlock the phone’s bootloader. Which will result in a complete data wipe. You can follow our guide on how to backup Android devices.

Step 2: Enable Developer Options on Android

Like we mentioned, the toggle is hidden by default under the “Developer options” menu. In order to enable OEM unlocking, you will first need to reveal/enable Developer Options in the phone’s settings.

1. Go to the app drawer and open “Settings”.Scroll down and find the “System” section. If you’re using a device with Android Nougat or below, look directly for “About phone”.

2. Tap on the “About phone” section. You shall then see the device information like Android version, security patch level, etc.

3. Find “Build number”.

4. Tap 7 times on “Build number” rapidly. If you have a PIN/Password set, you will be prompted to enter it.

5. Post that, you shall see a toast notification towards the bottom of the screen, saying – “You’re now a developer!”.

6. Go back to the “System” section. On Android Nougat and below, simply go back to the main settings.

7. You shall see a new section named “Developer options”.

8. You can now follow the instructions below to enable OEM unlocking on Android.

Step 3: Enable OEM Unlocking (OEM Unlock) on Android

1. Go to “Settings” and tap on “System”.

2. Select “Developer options”.

3. Scroll down through the options and find the “OEM unlocking”.

4. Simply tap on the toggle next to it. Again, if you have a password/PIN set, you will be asked to enter it.

5. You shall be prompted to confirm the process, so press “ENABLE”.

6. So, you have been able to successfully enable OEM unlocking on Android. 

You may further go ahead and unlock the bootloader using the fastboot command.

1. Head to the Android SDK download page and scroll down to “SDK Tools Only”. Download the ZIP file for your platform and unzip it wherever you want to store the ADB files.
2. Start the SDK Manager and deselect everything except “Android SDK Platform-tools”. If you are using a Nexus phone, you can also select “Google USB Driver” to download Google’s drivers.
3. After it’s finished installing, you can close the SDK manager.
4. Install the USB drivers for your phone.
5. Reboot your computer if prompted.
6. Turn on your phone and plug it into your computer using a USB cable. Open the platform-tools folder in your Android SDK folder and Shift+Right Click on an empty area. Choose “Open a Command Prompt Here”, and run the following command: adb devices
7. If it shows a serial number, your device is recognized and you can continue with the process. Otherwise, ensure you’ve performed the above steps correctly.

Step 2: Enable Developer Options on Android

Step 3- Enable USB Debugging

Next, you’ll need to enable a few options on your phone.

1. Head back to the main Settings page, and you should see a new option near the bottom called “Developer Options”. Open that, and enable “OEM Unlocking”, if the option exists (if it doesn’t, no worries–it’s only necessary on some phones).
2. Next, enable “USB Debugging”. Enter your password or PIN when prompted, if applicable.
3. Once that’s done, connect your phone to your computer. You should see a popup entitled “Allow USB Debugging?” on your phone. Check the “Always allow from this computer” box and tap OK.

Step 3- Get an Unlock Key (for Non-Nexus Phones)

Head to your manufacturer’s bootloader unlocking page (for example, this page for Motorola phones or this page for HTC phones), choose your device (if prompted), and log in or create an account.

1. The rest of this step is a bit different depending on your phone, but the manufacturer’s site should walk you through the process. It will go something like this: 
2. First, turn off your phone and boot into fastboot mode. This is a bit different on every phone, but on most modern devices, you can get there by holding the “Power” and “Volume Down” buttons for 10 seconds. Release them, and you should be in fastboot mode. (HTC users will need to select “Fastboot” with the Volume Down key and press power to select it first.) You can usually find more information on your specific phone with a quick Google search, so feel free to do that now before continuing.
3. Connect your phone to your PC with a USB cable. Your phone should indicate that the device is connected. On your computer, open the platform-tools folder in your Android SDK folder and Shift+Right Click on an empty area. Choose “Open a Command Prompt Here”, and use that Command Prompt window to retrieve your unlock key as described by your manufacturer. (For example, Motorola phones will run the fastboot oem get_unlock_data command, while HTC phones will run the fastboot oem get_identifier_token command.)
4. The Command Prompt will spit out a token in the form of a very long string of characters. Select it, copy it, and paste it into the applicable box on your manufacturer’s website–make sure there are no spaces!–and submit the form. If your device is unlockable, you’ll receive an email with a key or file that you’ll use in the next step.
5. If your device is not unlockable, you’ll get a message stating so. If you want to root your device or flash a ROM, you’ll need to use a more unofficial method, which you can usually find on a site like XDA Developers.

Step 4- Unlock Your Phone

Now you’re ready to actually perform the unlock. If your phone is still in fastboot mode, run the command below. If not, turn off your phone and hold the “Power” and “Volume Down” buttons for 10 seconds. Release them, and you should be in fastboot mode. (HTC users will need to select “Fastboot” with the Volume Down key and press power to select it first.) 

1. Connect your phone to your PC with a USB cable.
2. On your computer, open the platform-tools folder in your Android SDK folder and Shift+Right Click on an empty area. Choose “Open a Command Prompt Here”.
3. To unlock your device, you’ll need to run one simple command. For most Nexus devices, this command is:fastboot oem unlock
4. If you have a newer Nexus, such as the Nexus 5X or 6P, the command will be slightly different: fastboot flashing unlock
5. If you have a non-Nexus device, your manufacturer will tell you what command to run. Motorola devices, for example, need to run fastboot oem unlock UNIQUE_KEY, using the unique key from the email you received. HTC devices will run fastboot oem unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin using the Unlock_code.bin file you received from HTC.
6. After running the command, your phone may ask if you are sure you want to unlock. Use the volume keys to confirm