The South-Korean tech giant Samsung has recently launched its latest flagship S20 series devices such as Samsung Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20 Plus, and Galaxy S20 Ultra. Both the Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S20 Plus devices offer stunning displays along with flagship specifications and other features. Now, if you’re using the Galaxy S20/S20+ models and want to unlock the bootloader, this guide is only for you. Here we’ve provided the simple guide to Unlock Bootloader on Samsung Galaxy S20 and S20 Plus.
Talking about the bootloader unlocking, most of the developers and advanced Android users try to customize their Android devices quite heavily. So, in order to customize Android devices, you will need to unlock the device bootloader at first as it’s the starting process. Once you’ve done bootloader unlocking, you can easily install a custom recovery, custom firmware, enable root access, install custom modules, and more. Now, you may ask about the Bootloader. Don’t worry. Here it is.
What is Bootloader on Android?
A Bootloader is a system code that runs on a device when you turn on the device especially on each and every electronic device that runs on an operating system like phone, computer, etc. Before loading the operating system, the bootloader decides whether to boot the device into the system or stock recovery mode. Due to the security purposes, all manufacturers launch their devices with a locked bootloader to stick on the stock ROM and stock recovery.
But in order to install any third-party file on your Android device, you will need to unlock the bootloader at first and yes it’s mandatory. Unlocking the Bootloader allows you to install custom Firmware or Custom Recovery or Root or Modules on your Android device easily. However, keep in mind that most of the OEMs don’t allow unlocking the bootloader officially. So, it will void the device warranty and deletes all the internal data as well. Now, let’s take a quick look at the device overview below.
Samsung Galaxy S20 and S20 Plus Specifications
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus comes with a 6.7-inches Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with 1440×3200 pixels resolution, a 20:9 aspect ratio, 525 ppi pixel density, Corning Gorilla Glass 6, HDR10+, Always-on display, a 120Hz@FHD, and a 60Hz@QHD refresh rate. It’s powered by a Snapdragon 865 SoC (USA), Exynos 990 SoC (Global), paired with an 8GB RAM, 128GB of internal storage.
The handset sports a quad rear camera setup of 12MP (wide, f/1.8) + 64MP (telephoto, f/2.0) + 12MP (ultrawide, f/2.2) + 0.3MP TOF 3D (depth, f/1.0) lens with Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS, 3x hybrid optical zoom, Super Steady video mode, an LED flash, Auto-HDR, Panorama, Gyro-EIS, etc. While the front packs a 10MP (wide, f/2.2) selfie camera with Dual Pixel PDAF, Dual video call, Auto-HDR, etc.
It has a 4,500mAh battery with 25W fast charging support. In terms of the connectivity options, it features Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax (dual-band), Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, NFC, BDS, GALILEO, FM Radio, USB 3.2 Type-C port, USB OTG, etc. While the device packs an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner, an ambient light, an accelerometer, gyro, proximity, barometer, compass sensor.
On the other side, the Samsung Galaxy S20 features almost similar specifications except for a 6.2-inch display (563 ppi density), triple rear cameras without TOF 3D, and a 4000mAh battery.
Steps to Unlock Bootloader on Samsung Galaxy S20 and S20 Plus
First of all, Enable Developer Mode on the Galaxy S20 and S20 Plus.
Launch the Settings application
Scroll down and tap on the Developer Options menu.
Toggle the OEM Unlock option on
Confirm by tapping the enable option.
Power off your device. Press Bixby + Volume Down and plug in your device to a PC to boot into download mode
Long press volume up to unlock the bootloader. This will wipe your data and automatically reboot.
Just when you think the bootloader is unlocked, surprise surprise, it is actually not! Samsung introduced inVaultKeeper the system, meaning the bootloader will reject any unofficial partitions before explicitlyVaultKeeper allows it.
Go through the initial setup. Skip through all the steps since data will be wiped again later when we are installing Magisk. Connect the device to the internet in the setup, though!
Enable developer options, and confirm that the OEM unlocking option exists and grayed out! The VaultKeeper service will unleash the bootloader after it proves that the user has the OEM unlocking option enabled. This step is to make sure the service gets the correct info, and also double-check that our device is in a correct state
Your bootloader now accepts unofficial images in download mode, a.k.a actual bootloader unlocked :D. Follow on to read the rest of this guide.
That’s it! You have unlocked the bootloader on your Galaxy S20 and S20 Plus.
Warning!
Note:
- Go through the initial setup. Skip through all the steps since data will be wiped again later when we are installing Magisk. Connect the device to the internet in the setup, though!
- Enable developer options, and confirm that the OEM unlocking option exists and grayed out! The VaultKeeper service will unleash the bootloader after it proves that the user has the OEM unlocking option enabled. This step is to make sure the service gets the correct info, and also double-check that our device is in a correct state
- Your bootloader now accepts unofficial images in download mode, a.k.a actual bootloader unlocked :D. Follow on to read the rest of this guide.
So, guys, this is how you can unlock the bootloader on your Samsung Galaxy S20 and S20 Plus. After unlocking the bootloader, you can flash custom ROM, install TWRP, or any other task you want. If you are facing difficulty in any step, then let us know via the comment box below. We will be happy to help you out.
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