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Do not get a Samsung telescreen (or turn your phone into one)!
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<h1>Do not get a Samsung telescreen (or turn your phone into one)!</h1>
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<div id="article-date">2025-08-14</div>
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<a href="/index/copyright.html" class="tag">copyright</a>
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<a href="/index/free software.html" class="tag">free software</a>
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<p>One UI 8 permanently removes the option to unlock the bootloader on all devices
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and this is very likely just the first step towards an accentuated
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<em class="emphasis-1">enshittification</em> of the devices.
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</p><p>With the One UI 8 (Android 16) update for Samsung tele<s>phones</s>screens, it is
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no longer possible to install OSes ("custom ROMs") not signed by Samsung. Upon
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installation, UI 8 <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/tivoization.html">tivoises</a>
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the device and there's no way to restore. Samsung changed this silently without
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a press release or something, but there are many sources confirming it:
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</p><ul><li><p><a href="https://xdaforums.com/t/bootloader-unlocking-option-removed-from-one-ui-8-0.4751904/">XDA forum</a>
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</p></li><li><p><a href="https://sammyguru.com/breaking-samsung-removes-bootloader-unlocking-with-one-ui-8/">SammyGuru</a>
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</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/news/714902/samsung-one-ui-8-bootloader-unlocking-android-roms">The Verge</a>
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</p></li><li><p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44706409">Hacker News thread</a>
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</p></li></ul><p>This is a major injustice to users: offering a general-purpose computer but
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locking it down for profit. The USA models already had this for a few years, but
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I thought it is a part of the mobile network operator deals. Turns out I was
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wrong and it is simply because Samsung want to provide worse devices without a
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way to escape, it is just like the totalitarian states built highly fortified
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borders in order to prevent people from escaping so they can do anything they
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want. The difference is that there is an escape here, it is not buying Samsung
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and possibly refusing to update your existing one to UI 8.
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</p><p>Today you can no longer install an alternative OS on your phone, tomorrow that
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might mean Termux is illegal, or that EU Chat Control is enforced at the OS
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level with an AI keylogger, or that sideloading is disabled, or that the phone
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takes screenshots every 5 minutes. This practice — selling a general-purpose
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computer only to prevent users from running what they want on it — ought to be
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illegal.
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