T-Mobile un-rootable

[fajrero]

Man, I've been having a bad week. First, I break my phone. Then, I search around for a replacement that LineageOS supports. LineageOS has Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ listed on their "Supported Devices" page. Great! So, I run off to T-Mobile and get an S9 for a replacement.

Unfortunately, now I find out that the T-Mobile S9 cannot be rooted! There goes the main reason I was buying it. What is fortunate, though, is that apparently T-Mobile will allow you to return phones within 14 days. (Although there might be a restocking fee. Boo.)

From all I've been able to find on XDA and other places on the web, as far as anybody knows, the T-Mobile S9 is unrootable, and it will remain unrootable for the foreseeable future. My next question is this: Which phone should I get to replace it? I'd like to get something with similar specs. Does the T-Mobile S10 have the same problems with rooting? What's the most root-friendly, modern phone?

(BTW, I am aware that not all S9s have this limitation, but I can't afford to pay full price for a phone right now.)

 

[joeldf]

Your first mistake was running to a carrier for one of their phones.

Pretty much any US carrier branded phone is unrootable. That's one of their requirements from an OEM... a locked bootloader, to prevent someone from doing what you're trying to do.

They feel that if they are supporting it, they should control what's on it.

Your only real option is to buy a factory unlocked model. Meaning, not a carrier branded model.

 

[Youdoofus]

Man, I've been having a bad week. First, I break my phone. Then, I search around for a replacement that LineageOS supports. LineageOS has Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ listed on their "Supported Devices" page. Great! So, I run off to T-Mobile and get an S9 for a replacement.

Unfortunately, now I find out that the T-Mobile S9 cannot be rooted! There goes the main reason I was buying it. What is fortunate, though, is that apparently T-Mobile will allow you to return phones within 14 days. (Although there might be a restocking fee. Boo.)

From all I've been able to find on XDA and other places on the web, as far as anybody knows, the T-Mobile S9 is unrootable, and it will remain unrootable for the foreseeable future. My next question is this: Which phone should I get to replace it? I'd like to get something with similar specs. Does the T-Mobile S10 have the same problems with rooting? What's the most root-friendly, modern phone?

(BTW, I am aware that not all S9s have this limitation, but I can't afford to pay full price for a phone right now.)

even if it is unrootable, cant you just flash another carriers firmware that is rootable and go from there? The hardware revisions arent vast and as long as youre flashing a version thats built for your processor type and if its for the regular one or the + model, you should be ok

 

[gurnsey101]

No US carrier phone after the Samsung Galaxy S6 the bootloaders are locked so flashing another carrier wont do you any good. The only samsung phones that can be root are the international variants so you would want the 960f which will still work on tmobile i believe last i was aware of or the SM-G9650/SM-G9600 variant if you want snapdragon hardware.

But i dont think the SM-G9650/SM-G9600 has LOS though.