Unlocking Samsung bootloader worth it? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 2 weeks ago by velvetbutterfly@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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Is it worth unlocking the bootloader on my phone? It's a Samsung with One UI 7.0 (I've been avoiding upgrading to 8.0 since they don't let you unlock it after that). I just want to avoid having Google Services and AI installed. I use my phone to take photos of my art / send it to friends on signal and hate the idea of it being scanned by AI. I use a camera and gallery from fdroid but somehow the default photos app still has access (I know because it makes GIFs of pictures I took even though I marked permissions as "not allowed"). I also would love to get rid of the default apps I don't use. While I can unlock the bootloader (for now), I can't install a custom ROM because there are none compatible with my phone, so will I just be forced into using 8.0 at some point anyway? :( ATP I'm pretty much ready to give up smartphones and get a digital camera for anything I don't feel comfortable feeding to tech companies.

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[-] lemmyreader@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 week ago

Besides having a go at removing apps you can install NetGuard https://f-droid.org/packages/eu.faircode.netguard and then block all apps including system apps from using network. From there allow only the apps like Signal you want to give network access to. Drawback is that NetGuard needs an internal VPN connection to work so you can't use a VPN services and NetGuard at the same time.

[-] kalpol@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago

Thats kind of a big downside

[-] selokichtli@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago

Can't you use AFWall+ as a traditional firewall anymore?

[-] lemmyreader@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago

Thanks. Requires root though. https://f-droid.org/en/packages/dev.ukanth.ufirewall

[-] selokichtli@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago

I thought that was the whole deal with unlocking the bootloader.

this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2025

49 points (100.0% liked)

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