LG G8S ThinQ bootloader unlock allegedly possible on the European variant

Many Android enthusiasts and purists believe that stock Android is the best way to experience the operating system. One LG G8S ThinQ owner has reached quite close to this goal, as they have reportedly been able to successfully unlock the bootloader of the phone.

This is interesting, especially bearing in mind that LG has not officially mentioned this European variant of the phone as a supported device for bootloader unlocking.

Many OEMs insist on shipping their devices with their own skins. Luckily, some of these companies, including LG, do allow unlocking the bootloader of their devices. This allows users to root, flash and install aftermarket firmware.

However, getting the permission on an unsupported device is a really thrilling experience!

I entered my device (European G8s) on the LG unlock bootloader page and they actually sent me a key :DD

(Source)

This could mean that users can now unlock the bootloader of their LG G8S ThinQ bootloader using LG’s official unlock token generator. Our bet, LG could soon update the tool to mention the official support for this device, just like it did for the LG V50 ThinQ.

At the time of writing, these are the LG device whose bootloader can be officially unlocked;

• LG V50: LMV500EM for the European market
• LG V40: LMV405EBW for the European market
• LG G7: LMG710EM for the European market
• LG V30: H930 and H930G for the European market
• LG G6: US997.USA for the U.S. open market
• LG G6: H870 for the European market
• LG V20: US996.USA for the U.S. open market
• LG V10: H960A for the European market and Android M (Except France)
• LG G5 SE: H840 for the European market
• LG G5: RS988.USA for the U.S. open market
• LG G5: H850 for the European market
• LG G4: H815 for the European market

The user continues to document and share his process of unlocking the bootloader using the unlock key he obtained from the official unlocking site mentioned above.

The ability to unlock bootloader for this device means that developers can now start working on things like custom kernels and recovery like TWRP. Once the latter drops, developers can now start porting popular custom ROMs like say LineageOS or Pixel Experience for this device.

LG G8S ThinQ was unveiled back in June 2019 with Android 9.0, skinned with LG UX 8.0. The phone is in line for an update to Android 10 according to the official roadmap.

NOTE: We have more LG-related stories in our dedicated section.

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