i have installed e/os official since last year (comming from Fairphone OS) and i left the bootloader open since then. I installed all over the air updates since than (Android 13) till version 3.01.
Now i would like to lock the bootloader as an app complains about the open bootloader.
As locking the bootloader destroys the data anyway, i went ahead and installed the current version A14 3.02 official which has the same date for the security path as the A13 version 3.01.
Before locking the bootloader i tried this command in fastboot mode:
fastboot flashing get_unlock_ability
The result is :
(bootloader) get_unlock_ability: 0
Which means, that the bootloader should not be locked as it bricks the phone.
So than i went ahead and installed the latest Fairphone OS as a starting point, but this gave the same result. The security patch is with the latest fairphone os:
adb shell getprop ro.build.version.security_patch: 2025-06-05
Does anybody has an idea why it says, that the bootloader should not be locked ?
Hi,
thank you. That is it. I did the mistake, that - after the flash i rebooted in the system and checked USB-debugging as i thought this was important for the flash process.
Now i have flashed the latest fairphone OS and did not reboot and i have got :
fastboot flashing get_unlock_ability
< waiting for any device >
(bootloader) get_unlock_ability: 1
OKAY [ 0.001s]
Finished. Total time: 0.001s
If somebody see this later - the Fairphone OS flash script automatically reboots after the flash is done.
If the bootloader is unlocked, there will be the ‘your bootloader is unlocked’ message that pauses the boot process for some time. Here i have pressed and hold down volume down and the power button and the phone comes to fastboot mode without starting the operating system.
You are correct - i installed 3.04 now and didn’t close the bootloader for now. Have to wait for the next version. Also i made a request to give the complete date in the release notes instead of ‘As of June 2025’ to get this more clear.
Oliver
Just to close this out. Now i have flashed 3.1.1 using the manual way. After the flash finished, the phone reboots automatically. The boot process will pause at the ‘Your bootloader ist not locked’ screen for some seconds.
Here press volume down and power and keep it pressed until the phone reboots again into fastboot. This must be done, before the phone boots for the first time.
Then finally:
fastboot flashing get_unlock_ability
< waiting for any device >
(bootloader) get_unlock_ability: 1
OKAY [ 0.001s]
Finished. Total time: 0.001s
and the bootloader can be locked (see e/os documentation ‘manual install’ how to do this.
This is fantastic Oliver!! Thanks so much for sharing your experience.
I was under the impression that the bootloader could not be locked after installing the community version of /e/. I saw in another post where @urs_lesse went from official 13 to community 15 with the bootloader locked at the end on FP3, so this also gave me renewed confidence to try for /e/ 3.1.1 community with a locked bootloader.
I’d been using /e/ for a few years now, but I had installed Lineage about two weeks ago because I was tired of waiting for an official version of /e/ using Android 15. It didn’t take me long to realise though, that /e/ really is much better for me. So I followed roughly the directions here:
And then when it paused at the ‘Your bootloader is not locked’ warning screen. I went straight into fastboot as you mentioned. I checked to get the get_unlock_ability: 1, and then used the command ‘fastboot flashing lock’, and everything is great!
Locked Bootloader, /e/ 3.1.1 community installed on my almost 6 year old FP3!
