Ahead of the release of the Google Pixel phones, it was revealed that the Pixel phones bought from Verizon would have their bootloaders locked, whereas those bought directly from Google would not. This is a big deal for those who prefer to tinker around with their phones, and a locked bootloader will obviously stop that from happening.
However according to a tweet by @firewaterdevs, it would seem that they have successfully managed to unlocked the bootloader of the Pixel phones on Verizon’s network. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it seems that it is unclear if the developers have any plans to release it to the public. However given that they have been successful, it is possible that other developers could figure it out as well and release it themselves, but so far @firewaterdevs appears to be the first and only developers who have succeeded.
This is pretty good news because while purchasing a phone without being tied down to a carrier is great, sometimes to help save money, or at least not have to pay so much money upfront, purchasing via a carrier and locking oneself to a contract is one of the few options available. At least now that we know that it is “easy” to unlock the bootloader of Verizon’s Pixel phones, tinkerers will now have more options where they can purchase their phone from.
Filed in . Read more about Android, Google, Google Pixel, Rooting and Verizon.