Owners of some of the latest Android flagship devices and a number of handsets will now be able to unlock their bootloaders thanks to the efforts of the TeamWin Recovery Project.
North American variants of the ZTE Axon 7 and the OnePlus 3T as well as the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime, LeEco Le 2, BQ Aquaris U Plus, Aquaris U Lite and Aquaris U already have their respective recovery images available for download.
They are now listed alongside a growing number of handsets at the TWRP website.
TWRP Features
Those who have flashed their devices in the past should already be familiar with TWRP. It is an open-source custom recovery image used to unlock an Android device, so it can be flashed with a custom ROM. Believe it or not, there are customers who are unhappy with their OEM's OS on account of their design, bloatware or performance problems.
In addition, TWRP serves as the backup mechanism that guarantees the safety of your data when flashing a device. Installing third-party firmware, as phone tinkerers know, could wipe out files permanently without any hope of retrieval.
Using an official TWRP to unlock an Android device is ideal because it provides support especially when a user runs into a problem when flashing.
Enhancing Android Capabilities
TWRP also offers devices new functionalities and features. For example, it can install additional kernels and other mods that can lead to better device performance and changes to the user interface, among others.
It is important to remember that while a number of Android OEMs officially support the unlocking of bootloaders, there are those that will void a device's warranty if it gets rooted. Users of TWRP-supported devices are, therefore, advised to confirm if it is all right to install third-party firmware.
With the release of the current list, OnePlus 3T users are probably delighted since their OEM allows its handsets to be unlocked. On this note, TWRP has already announced last November that a TWRP build has gone live for the device.
Based on the changelog, it seems that the latest release for the 3T is different from the previous version. This should be good news because the older iteration still had some issues such as the problem with the OTG storage and the buggy encrypted partition. It is not year clear, however, whether these have been addressed.
Rooting Reminders
Those planning to unlock their phones and install new custom ROMs should still remember key factors before proceeding. Aside from a full backup, for example, there is an imperative to follow unlocking procedures to the letter. Otherwise, users will find themselves unable to boot back into the system. For this and other problems, you can head to XDA community where a thread is dedicated to solving TWRP-related problems.
Once you have everything running, there is a possibility that you might encounter a bug. TeamWin wants you to report it through a dedicated GitHub issues log.
