Root Don't try to root this phone!!!

[The_Chief]

Samsung is determined to end the era of gaining root access to modify its devices.

With the Z Fold 3, any attempt to unlock the bootloader will trigger a pop-up warning: unlocking the bootloader will disable the phone's cameras. Unless developers can find a way to reverse this crippling subroutine, avoid the temptation!

Frankly, I find no reason to root anymore... all the reasons I ever installed custom ROMs are now either built into the operating system or available as legitimate apps.

 

[svim]

Changing the bootloader back to locked will allegedly restore the cameras to being functional again.

https://www.techspot.com/news/90936-unlocking-bootloader-samsung-galaxy-z-fold3-kills-camera.html
"However, two senior members of the XDA Forums found that when they tried to unlock the bootloader on their Galaxy Z Fold3s, they received a message warning that all five cameras would be disabled as a result. On closer inspection, the two enthusiasts found that all camera features such as facial recognition are indeed disabled, and third-party camera apps no longer work after unlocking the bootloader.
As of writing, there's no workaround for this, but re-locking the bootloader does reenable the cameras....."

 

[Hadron]

Which raises the question of where the disabling happens? If it is just in the ROM then an AOSP custom ROM with a custom kernel wouldn't suffer from it (though with the number of custom features there must be to support this hardware I wonder whether that's a realistic possibility? I guess I could visit the XDA forums for the previous fold devices and find out...). If it's done deeper than that it might be much harder to bypass.

I did wonder whether you could just unlock, root and relock, or whether it also required the firmware to still be stock. But it seems, from the same XDA thread, that Samsung have put other checks in that prevent the phone from working with a locked bootloader and modified software (the way it is described there sounds like this was something that Samsung do on other devices, which is also something that other manufacturers don't do).

Also seems it's just the Fold3, not the Flip3.

Well, I haven't rooted my phone for the last 4 years (though that was partly because I had to use an app which could be broken by root, a circumstance which is no longer the case), so it probably wouldn't be a deal-breaker for me personally. But I dislike the principle of what they are doing here.

 

[ocnbrze]

yeah i do not see a reason to root this phone....not yet at least. though if it is rootable and they get the camera's working i might try it. i have not rooted in a very long time. might be fun to do.....but i will wait and see.

 

[The_Chief]

There are too many financial apps that I use on my device: Samsung Pay, three credit unions, a bank and my crypto account. Gaining root access will break these apps from functioning... and for what? I can't really imagine the benefit I would derive from rooting and/or installing a custom ROM, as I have no idea what capability the stock device can't do. I believe we're beyond the age of gaining additional functionality by rooting & ROMming... in fact, now we actually LOSE functionality. If you want to give it a go, however, by all means do so.

 

[ocnbrze]

just wanted to put this out there that they have root now for the z fold 3 and apparently the camera works.

here is the guide:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...lash-official-firmware-noob-friendly.4404473/

i have not read all of the thread, but it does seem to work along with the camera.

edit: so this for all the non US phones that don't have a snapdragon chip and whose bootloader is not locked.