Official Bootloader Unlock Available for the European LG G5!

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Good news for European LG G5 users! Official bootloader unlock for the Europe-based H850 model is now available from LG’s Developer site.

XDA Recognized Contributor and Developer posted a step-by-step guide in unlocking the bootloader for the LG G5. Do note, this is specifically for the European H850. These instructions will not work with the G5 from other regions such as the Middle East, and are also incompatible with US carrier variants of the device.

Since this is the official method for unlocking the bootloader, the process is not extremely convoluted, but is not Nexus-like straightforward either. The steps involve obtaining the device ID of your phone, and copying the two character strings under the bootloader header.

Once you have the combined device ID, head on over to LG’s Developer Site and make an account. Sign up is free, so this should only take a few minutes. Navigate to the unlock page, and enter your phone’s IMEI and the device ID string from above, and hit the confirm button. You will get an unlock.bin file mailed to you.

Next, you have to flash this unlock.bin file onto your phone using the fastboot command:

fastboot flash unlock unlock.bin

And you’re done! This step wipes your phone’s data and unlocks your phone, so be sure to go in with adequate backups. After this, you can venture forth into the world of root, custom ROMs and kernels without involving any other complicated processes!

With this, the European H850 joins its brother H830 from T-Mobile to bear an unlockable bootloader. Other carrier variants and regional variants are not so fortunate, and as such, would still have to wait for any more information on bootloader unlock programs for them.

If you have an European LG G5 H850, head on over to the forum thread for detailed steps on bootloader unlock, root and TWRP installation.

What are your thoughts on the European LG G5 getting bootloader unlock officially? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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