How to Unlock the Bootloader of OnePlus 5

OnePlus 5 is the latest flagship smartphone from OnePlus. Like all other Android phones, even the OnePlus 5 comes with a locked bootloader. Unlocking the Bootloader is an essential step towards customisation. As you can’t root your phone or flash a custom recovery without unlocking the bootloader.

Smartphone manufacturers lock the bootloader of the android device for multiple reasons, security being a primary reason. In this guide, you’ll go through the essential steps which you’ll need to follow to unlock the bootloader of the OnePlus 5. This method has been tested on the OnePlus 5 and works like charm as of 30th September 2017.

Unlocking the bootloader isn’t tough. However, the process of unlocking involves erasing of all the data which is on your phone. In case the steps aren’t followed properly or if something is broken, there are chances that you might brick your device too. So we suggest you take a complete backup of your device before beginning the process.

DISCLAIMER: Before beginning with the steps, we would like to inform you that neither the author nor the website will be responsible for any damage that might occur while or after following the guide. By following the steps you agree that you will be solely responsible for any damage that might occur.

Contents

Requirements
Steps to Unlock the Bootloader
Unlocked the Bootloader? What next?

Requirements

OnePlus 5 (Above 80% charge recommended)
ADB and Fastboot installed on PC
USB Type-C cable (Official recommended, others will work too.)

Steps to Unlock the Bootloader

Enable USB debugging on your OnePlus 5
- Enable Developer options. To enable
  - Go to Settings > About Phone > Build Number and tap for 7-8 times. You’ll see a toast message saying “You’re now a developer.“
- Navigate to Settings > Developer Options and look for USB Debugging and turn it on.
Open the command prompt now and type the below ADB command, on entering the command you’ll see a popup being shown on your device, just allow it.
```
adb devices
```
In case ADB and other things have been set properly you’ll be able to see your device is listed on the screen. In case you don’t try re-installing the drivers or you can connect with us, we’ll try to solve your problem. If everything works, continue with the steps.
Boot the device into fastboot mode, to do that you’ll have to enter a command
```
adb reboot bootloader
```
The above command would boot your OnePlus 5 into fastboot mode, this is the mode where you’ll be unlocking the bootloader. To test if the device is still having a good connection with the PC you can simply enter the below command.
```
fastboot devices
```
You’ll be able to see your device after entering the fastboot devices command, However, if you don’t see, try re-installing the ADB and fastboot drivers properly. If you see this, you are very near to the final step.
Enter the below-mentioned command and the unlocking process will begin.
```
fastboot oem unlock
```
That’s it, the unlocking process would begin the process and it’ll wipe your device and unlock the bootloader.

Unlocked the Bootloader? What next?

After unlocking the bootloader you can install the TWRP recovery [Updated the tutorial, with a freshly written article], Flash custom ROMs, and scripts which you would like to use. You can also root your OnePlus 5 and flash custom kernels and install some great mods.

Own a different OnePlus device? You can follow our universal guide to unlock the bootloader of any OnePlus device.