The end of “unlocking” Samsung phones?

Samsung's One UI 8 update apparently prevents users from unlocking the bootloader and installing custom ROMs on their devices, as first reported by SammyGuru. Over the weekend, members of the XDA Developers forum noticed that Samsung had disabled this feature in regions outside the US, which has been locked in the US for years.

Unlocking the bootloader allows users to install unofficial software, custom ROMs, or make other system modifications to their devices. The new restrictions were discovered through an analysis of the code of the Settings app in One UI 8, which comes pre-installed on the newly released Galaxy Z Flip7 and Z Fold7.

As reported by SammyGuru and Android Authority, the line is present in the code:
androidboot.other.locked=1
A value of “1” means the bootloader is locked, which has long been the standard for devices sold in the US. Prior to One UI 8, this value was set to “0” for other regions, allowing users to unlock it. Users also noticed the same limitation in the One UI 8 beta builds for the upcoming Galaxy S25.