Verizon/EE’s Bootloader Unlock Method for Pixel to be Patched This Week

We may earn a commission for purchases made using our links.

Hacking into the new Pixel and Pixel XL phones from Google has presented a new challenge to the community developers. We knew it would be this way even before they were officially launched because of the changes to system that Google undertook. We generally see things like root access and TWRP support released for a Google phone before they’re available to the public, but it took a bit longer this time around.

As Chainfire and Dees_Troy were working on their projects for the Pixel phones, XDA Senior Recognized Developers beaups and jcase announced they figured out a way to unlock the bootloader of the Verizon Wireless and EE Pixel smartphones. They were even nice enough to agree to release their unlock method to the community entirely for free, and a couple of days later, dePixel8 was made available to the public.

Since then, these phones have received one security update (for November). But now, beaups informs us that the unlock method will be patched this week. He tells the community that if you want your Verizon or EE bootloader to be unlocked, then you’ll need to act fast. He did not give a date on when the update would be pushed out, but the OTA generally starts rolling out toward the start of the week. You can go into Pixel’s Developer Options menu to disable automatic system updates if you’re worried about it.

When asked if there would be any potential issues with Pixel phones that have already had their bootloader unlocked via dePixel8, jcase replied and said this is doubtful. Jcase also says that downgrading to an older version of Android shouldn’t let dePixel8 unlock the bootloader of your already patched Pixel phone. So, if you have a Verizon or EE Pixel phone and you want to unlock the bootloader before the update goes out, head to the SunShine website to download dePixel8 now.