14 DAY TRIAL // LG has started to offer customers the possibility to unlock the bootloader for certain smartphones in some regions. Although this particular feature is strictly aimed at developers, many LG owners have decided to unlock the bootloader and install custom ROMs on their phones.
In order to unlock the bootloader of an LG smartphone, you can use the LG Bootloader Unlock Tool, which is made available by the South Korean company. Keep in mind, though, that if your phone is not on the list of supported devices, you'll have to use another, third-party tool to do that.
Fortunately, one of the most recent smartphones launched by LG has been added to the list of compatible devices. Starting this week, LG V20 owners can use the company's tool to unlock the phone's bootloader.
However, it's worth mentioning that the tool will only support the LG V20 for the “US open market,” whatever that means. Since it says “open market,” we believe the bootloader unlock tool is now compatible with the unlocked versions of the LG V20, not the carrier-branded units.
Unlocking the bootloader does not make your smartphone better in any way, but be warned that using it successfully will void the LG warranty.
“As we cannot guarantee the proper operation of our hardware with custom software, we are not able to maintain the full scope of warranty for your device after you have unlocked the bootloader.
Because of that we have a responsibility to let you know that defects which may result from, or were caused by custom device-software may not be covered by LG warranty.”
One other thing that you should be worried about is that unlocking the phone will disable certain functions. For example, after unlocking the bootloader, the DRM protection of the phone will become untrusted.
Since some apps require DRM protection, they might not work anymore or they will block certain functions due to this untrusted DRM. If you still want to unlock the bootloader of your V20, you can follow the full set of instructions offered by LG on its developer website.