Realme X owners can easily unlock bootloader of their phone through this detailed step-by-step tutorial. The Realme brand has been a great new addition to the Android market space. Utilizing Oppo’s resources, Realme has provided consumers with great budget phones over the past couple of years. However, recently, expanding into a slightly more expensive price-bracket, the brand has announced Realme X. This phone doesn’t succeed any previous iteration rather is a new class from Realme. Featuring a pop-up camera, the phone has a seamless front. If you have purchased yours, this guide will explain how to unlock Realme X bootloader which will then allow you to flash TWRP custom recovery, root package and other third-party mods.
Realme’s unlock procedure is a bit different from other brands. Rather than just using fastboot, Realme requires you to first get approval for your device which can be gained via a special APK — referred to as Dept Test. Don’t fret if this sounds complicated as not only we have listed the complete procedure broken down into simple steps, but we have also linked all the files you would be needing to download in this singular post.
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 Realme X phone, but we think you might be interested in the following posts:
- Install Android 10: How to Install Android 10 on Computer.
- Custom ROMs: For a complete collection of custom ROMs on Team Android, visit our Custom ROM section!
Realme X 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 Realme X properly. If not, you can download the latest official drivers from our Android USB Drivers section here:
Download Realme X 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 Android Oreo, Pie smartphones.
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?
4. 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.
5. [IMPORTANT] Copy all the backup files from your SD card to your computer as internal memory will be wiped clean while unlocking the bootloader.
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 a phone.
Now, let’s proceed with the tutorial below to unlock Realme X bootloader.
How to Unlock Bootloader on Realme X
We have put together a detailed step-by-step instructions guide on how to unlock bootloader on Realme X. If you are used to unlocking bootloaders on any previous Nexus devices, then this should not be any different for you.
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 Realme X. 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.
- 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:
- Realme X
- USB cable
- Android SDK with drivers (tutorial link given below)
Step 1 – Go to Settings of your phone then About and then find the IMEI. You should now provide this IMEI and sign up for the in-depth test via this form. Once fille, the review will take approx 1-7 days. If your smartphone model and version are approved, you will receive an OTA package that supports the in-depth test. You should install that OTA.
Step 2 – Download and install the Unlock Tool app on your phone. If you don’t know how to install an APK, read our guide on how to install Android APK manually.
Download App: Realme-X-Bootload-Unlock-tool.apk
Step 3 – Now open the app and click “Start applying”.
Step 4 – Go through the disclaimer, tick the checkbox, and submit your application.
Step 5 – After approximately 1 hour of submission, the unlock tool will show the status of unlocking. If it is successful, proceed ahead.
NOTE: In some scenarios, you might need to exit out of the application, re-open it and check Status Query.
Step 6 – You can now click “Start the in-depth test” and press and hold the power key to reboot the device. You will then enter the fastboot mode.
Step 7 – Download Android SDK from the Android Developers website and install. Also set it up with downloading platform-tools and USB drivers package in SDK. Tutorial given here: How to Set up ADB and Fastboot on Windows or on Mac.
or
Step 7 – 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-windows-latest.zip
- MacOS: Download platform-tools-darwin-latest.zip
- Linux: Download platform-tools-linux-latest.zip
Step 8 – If you already have Android SDK, then you can just download Fastboot and extract it in android-sdk-windows\platform-tools directory. Create directory if not already there.
Step 9 – Now enter the following command, after connecting your phone, in command prompt.
fastboot flashing unlock
