31
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2025
31 points (100.0% liked)
Privacy
3749 readers
26 users here now
Welcome! This is a community for all those who are interested in protecting their privacy.
Rules
PS: Don't be a smartass and try to game the system, we'll know if you're breaking the rules when we see it!
- Be civil and no prejudice
- Don't promote big-tech software
- No apathy and defeatism for privacy (i.e. "They already have my data, why bother?")
- No reposting of news that was already posted
- No crypto, blockchain, NFTs
- No Xitter links (if absolutely necessary, use xcancel)
Related communities:
Some of these are only vaguely related, but great communities.
- !opensource@programming.dev
- !selfhosting@slrpnk.net / !selfhosted@lemmy.world
- !piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
- !drm@lemmy.dbzer0.com
founded 10 months ago
MODERATORS
The problem with using the "unlocked" filtering is that, most of the time, they are talking about carrier unlocked, but a phone originally from a carrier, then later unlocked is technically "unlocked" for sim purposes, but 99% of people do not use custom roms, so if I get one that's "unlocked" but its actually Verizon --> Unlocked, then I couldn't unlock the bootloader, even tho it would match description and therefore I would be unable to return it.
Something I forgot to add:
That's not how that works. Used device purchases on most commerce platforms are based on the phone's SKU or serial number. Being carrier-unlocked after purchase doesn't change either of those numbers. If the listing was inaccurate about the carrier status of the device, but the SKU/serial matches what was on the listing, then it can be returned.
Fun fact, Swappa actually allows people to sell devices that are bootloader-unlocked, rooted, and/or even have a custom ROM installed, so long as those facts are disclosed in the listing.
Unfortunately that's just the nature of buying a used device. You have to be the one to decide if it's worth the hassle to do that over paying way more for a new device.
Anecdotal: I've purchased several used "unlocked" devices over the years and only once have I received a different model than what I paid for. But it wasn't a phone - rather a Kindle "with lockscreen ads" instead of "without lockscreen ads". But that was resolved quickly from a chat with Amazon, they removed the ads without issues.
I'm 99% sure that any pixel with an unlocked carrier (even if they originally came from a locked carrier) will have an unlockable bootloader. If you're worried about it just message the seller and ask them if they have the option (keep in mind, they don't actually need to unlock it, you just want to know if it would allow them)
No - the Verizon Pixels are rather infamous for their bootloaders being permanently locked. Carrier/SIM unlocking has zero relation to bootloader unlocking.