A few months back, we gave you the news of Huawei’s decision to lock the bootloader on its upcoming phones. Following the negative reaction by developers, the Chinese company is now willing to ease these restrictions, but they are far from being nullified completely.
Announced via a post in XDA Developers, the Honor brand will now come with the option to unlock the bootloader and make modifications to the software. However, the option will only be granted to developers who are part of the XDA Forums. The Huawei brand won’t be affected by this decision and will continue blocking any modding attempts.
Further, the option will have to be requested by filling a form available on these forums. The access, if it is granted at all, is limited to a select number of developers and will be served out on a first-come-first-get basis. Hackers who are not associated with the forum should look elsewhere.
XDA Developers have been granted the rights due to their being “actively engaged in software development,” as well as the output they give for subsequent improvements in Honor products.
The announcement to shut down the program first came in May when Huawei first locked the bootloader “as a security measure and to avoid issues caused by ROM flashing.” XDA Forum’s efforts to reverse the decision by some extent still needs a pat on the back, though.
It is safe to assume that days of complete unlocking freedom are a thing of the past now unless you’re a developer on XDA.