Andy Rubin’s Essential phone is focused towards providing the best Android experience for both developers and enthusiasts. Keeping this theme in mind, you can officially unlock bootloader on the Essential phone by following the guide detailed ahead. Essential phone has received a good feedback from customers and hopefully, the brand will be back with another revised edition. Until then, read the steps below to unlock bootloader on the Essential phone. The procedure itself is quite simple. Also, once done, the immediate benefit to you would be the ability to flash custom system files and packages. Read ahead to find out how to unlock bootloader on Essential phone.
Unlocking the bootloader opens up the phone to mods and ROMs. And in the case of Essential phone, Beta builds as well especially the new Android 8.0 Oreo Beta. Further, one of the prerequisites of root is having an unlocked bootloader. Read below to find out how to unlock bootloader on Essential phone.
Disclaimer: All the tools, mods or ROMs mentioned below belong to their respective owners/developers. We (TeamAndroid.com) or the developers are not to be held responsible if you damage or brick your device. We don’t have you on gun point to try out this tutorial 😉
There are tons of useful articles and how-to guides on Team Android for the , but we think you might be interested in the following posts:
- Install Android 8.0 Oreo Beta: How To Install Android 8.0 Oreo Beta on Essential phone
- Install Android 8.0 Oreo on PC: How to Try and Install Android 8.0 Oreo on Computer.
- Custom ROMs: For a complete collection of custom ROMs on Team Android, visit our Custom ROM section!
If you plan on rooting this phone or are still confused for why to root Essential phone, read: Benefits of Rooting Your Android Device.
Essential phone USB Drivers
You will need to connect your Android phone with the computer. For that, please make sure you have installed the USB drivers for properly. If not, you can download the latest official drivers from our Android USB Drivers section here:
Download Essential phone USB drivers!
Backup and Other Important Tips
Done with the USB drivers? Perfect. The tutorial is on the next page, but first, please take a look at the following tips and important points you need to take care of. These are important, as we don’t want anyone losing their personal data or apps.
Always backup your important data that you might need after you install a new custom ROM, an official software update or anything else. Make a backup for just in case, you never know when anything might go wrong. Read: How to Backup Android Apps, Text Messages, WhatsApp, Call History.
If you already have a custom recovery (ClockworkMod, TWRP etc.) installed on your phone, we strongly recommend a backup using that as it creates a complete image of your existing phone set up. [Tutorial: How to Backup Android Phone using TWRP]
A few more optional tips that you should remember:
1. Having problems connecting your Android phone to the computer? You need to enable USB debugging mode. See here: How to Enable USB Debugging — for Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean, KitKat, Lollipop, Marshmallow, Nougat and Oreo.
2. Make sure your Android device is charged up to 80-85% battery level. This might help you: How to Check Battery Percentage. Why? Because, if your phone goes off suddenly while installing a custom ROM, flashing an official firmware update or installing mods etc. — your phone might get bricked or go dead permanently. No one wants that, right?
3. Most of the tutorials and how-to guides on Team Android are for factory unlocked Android phones and tablets. We recommend not to try our guides if your phone is locked to a carrier, unless we have specified the carrier name or device model.
If you are a developer and would want to unlock the bootloader, we recommend doing that before you set up the Google Play Store, install apps or anything because the security feature in Android clears out everything from your phone when unlocking bootloader of the phone.
Now, let’s proceed with the tutorial below to unlock Essential phone bootloader.
How to Unlock Bootloader
We have put together a detailed step-by-step instructions guide on how to unlock bootloader on Essential phone. If you are used to unlocking bootloaders on any previous Android devices, then this should not be dissimilar.
Please read every line carefully and make sure you read the tutorial once before actually performing it on your Android device.
To Remember:
- This unlocking bootloader tutorial is only for Essential phone. Please don’t try this on any other variants of the phone.
- This tutorial has been performed on Windows, but anyone familiar with Fastboot on Mac or Linux can perform this as well with the same commands.
- Make sure you backup all your data in your phone before proceeding as it will erase all data.
- You will void your warranty by unlocking the bootloader.
Requirements:
- Essential phone
- USB cable
- USB drivers installed on your computer.
- USB Debugging should be enabled. Read: How To Enable USB Debugging on Android Phones.
NOTE: As mentioned above, you have to enable USB Debugging mode on your Essential phone before proceeding. If you need help, please read our tutorial: How to Enable USB Debugging Mode on Android.
Step 1 – Download Android SDK from the Android Developers website and install. Also set it up with downloading platform-tools and USB drivers package in SDK. See: How to Set up ADB and Fastboot on Windows.
OR
Step 1 – Download ADB / Fastboot – Android SDK Platform Tools separate package and install on your computer. Download from the following links depending on your OS and extract it anywhere in your computer.
- Windows: Download platform-tools-latest-windows.zip
- MacOS: Download platform-tools-latest-darwin.zip
- Linux: Download platform-tools-latest-linux.zip
Step 2 – Go to Settings, then About Phone and then scroll down to Build Number. Tap the build number section multiple times until you get a pop-up saying “You are now a developer!”
Step 3 – In the main settings menu, you should now have a new section called Developer Options under System. In this section, select OEM Unlocking and turn it on.
Step 4 – Power off your Essential phone. While holding down the Volume Down key, connect it to your computer. Your phone should enter fastboot mode.
Step 5 – Navigate to the directory where ADB / Fastboot (i.e. Step 1) is installed in your computer. For Windows: After opening that folder, open Command Prompt (Shift + Right-click > Open Command Prompt). For Mac and Linux: Use Terminal to navigate to the ADB / Fastboot directory.
