Help with rooting of a China bought Samsung Galaxy A54

[pintree3]

I was told that the Samsung Galaxy A54 was the only useable phone outside of China hence why I bought it while there. It is not the case. Though most is in English many apps remain in Chinese: ex. Samsung Store only displays Chinese apps (No Messenger, etc). I got a local SIM card thinking once there is no connection to China I could install said apps but again I was wrong. Not only that but I cannot even connect with a local Internet provider. When asked for Region (to set up my local provider), all I see is Chinese provinces, and for Providers only the 3 from China. It seems rooting is my only choice. Nevertheless, this begs a few questions. Will rooting my Chinese-bought phone help solve this problem (no connection to China whatsoever) or is the China problem in the hardware? Assuming not in the hardware and rooting is OK, then, since all rooting pages seem to refer to phones bought in the west will it still work on my phone and is the process different? Any advice would be helpful.

 

[ocnbrze]

what is your model number? why not just buy a samsung phone for your country? and depending on your model number will factor if it is rootable and if there are custom roms or not.

 

[pintree3]

thanks for the reply. The phone was just purchased less than 2 months ago. I do not plan on buying another phone for another 5 years if I can help it. I'm an old man who doesn't go online much etc. It is basically used as a phone and use apps like WhatsApp, WeChat, etc to communicate with friends and family. I'm the type of guy who only needs to charge his phone once every 1.5 to 2 days.
As to model number. There is no model number (that I know of) just a model name: 'SM-A5460' and what is referred to as Product Name, it is the 'Galaxy A54 5G
Thanks again'

 

[mikedt]

Are you in America or Canada? Because a China variant Galaxy A54 maybe incompatible with North American carrier networks, and rooting will NOT make it compatible. I've used Chinese bought phones in the UK and EU no problems, including Samsungs. A few weeks ago I was using a China variant Galaxy Note20 Ultra in the UK and Poland.

China variant Samsungs don't have the Google Play Store, but you should be able to sideload it from APKmirror or APKpure

https://apkpure.com/google-play-store/com.android.vending

 

[pintree3]

Hi mikedt. Thanks. I am in Canada now but will be moving to Italy in September. As to downloading Google Play store etc. that is not my issue. I know how to do so (apk as ur link is about). My problem is this, what I described above to get local carriers/region (which I feel may take care of other problems as well). In other words the need to use a local SIM card with a local carrier so the phone can be used anywhere (and not just wi-fi as I am doing now).

 

[mikedt]

Hi mikedt. Thanks. I am in Canada now but will be moving to Italy in September. As to downloading Google Play store etc. that is not my issue. I know how to do so (apk as ur link is about). My problem is this, what I described above to get local carriers/region (which I feel may take care of other problems as well). In other words the need to use a local SIM card with a local carrier so the phone can be used anywhere (and not just wi-fi as I am doing now).

What actually happens if you insert a Canadian carrier SIM? Is it like showing "no service" or "emergency calls only"?

In Italy I'd think your Chinese A54 will work no problems.

 

[pintree3]

sorry for coming back here late--emergency with my very old dad.
When the Canadian SIM card was inserted it did say "emergency calls only". And then in trying to get a carrier, like I was instructed from my SIM card's website to proceed with registration etc. that is when I saw, for region, only Chinese provinces (In Chinese characters) and the 3 Chinese carriers as my only choices.

 

[mikedt]

sorry for coming back here late--emergency with my very old dad.
When the Canadian SIM card was inserted it did say "emergency calls only". And then in trying to get a carrier, like I was instructed from my SIM card's website to proceed with registration etc. that is when I saw, for region, only Chinese provinces (In Chinese characters) and the 3 Chinese carriers as my only choices.

That's in the phone's settings options, many China version phones have it, and it's only really to keep a check on call minutes and data usage with the carrier networks in China.

Who's your carrier in Canada, Rogers, Telus, Bell, etc? And do they require that you register your phone's IMEI for them to activate service on a BYOD? Usually you insert your SIM and you have service, but I know some carriers in North America can be more restrictive about what devices you can use on their networks, I haven't been in Canada since 2005, but I know with Bell you could only use phones that they sold, because of CDMA.

 

[pintree3]

THNX again mikedt (I too am Mike . The carrier is Fizz which relies on Videotron's Network (Bell's main competitor). When dealing with their customer service they said there is nothing they can do about it. My experience, nowadays, is that Customer service reps are not well trained and can only really deal with the usual questions. Hence there may have been a way out but it would have been too much work for them to help me with it--or, I could be wrong. There really is no way outside of possibly rooting it.
BTW in reading about 'Magisk', the formula given there for unlocking the bootloader, entering the code *#*#7378423*#*# is supposed to give me
– Bootloader Unlocked Allowed – Yes
– Bootloader Unlocked – Yes
and it gave me neither of those.

 

[pintree3]

I'm moving to Italy next week, hopefully if I need you guys once there you'll be able to help. Thanks again for all you've done up to now.

 

[ocnbrze]

THNX again mikedt (I too am Mike . The carrier is Fizz which relies on Videotron's Network (Bell's main competitor). When dealing with their customer service they said there is nothing they can do about it. My experience, nowadays, is that Customer service reps are not well trained and can only really deal with the usual questions. Hence there may have been a way out but it would have been too much work for them to help me with it--or, I could be wrong. There really is no way outside of possibly rooting it.
BTW in reading about 'Magisk', the formula given there for unlocking the bootloader, entering the code *#*#7378423*#*# is supposed to give me
– Bootloader Unlocked Allowed – Yes
– Bootloader Unlocked – Yes
and it gave me neither of those.

so if the bootloader is locked, then there is not much you can do as far as rooting the device.

I'm moving to Italy next week, hopefully if I need you guys once there you'll be able to help. Thanks again for all you've done up to now.

and you still want to root it? if the bootloader is locked, then there is not much you can do. there is a service, i believe, that can unlock the bootloader. its not free. and i forget where you go for that. if i remember, i'll post it here.

 

[pintree3]

According to the formula above regarding the bootloader, as I had written, i did not get either of those messages, hence I can neither confirm nor deny if the bootloader is or isn't locked

 

[mikedt]

I'm moving to Italy next week, hopefully if I need you guys once there you'll be able to help. Thanks again for all you've done up to now.

I'm pretty sure the Chinese Samsung will work in Italy no problem, as both China and Europe use the same 4G bands. I've used many China bought phones in UK and Europe, including Samsungs.

 

[pintree3]

I really hope you are right. 5 years ago, when I was back here, I had a Chinese phone that worked here without any issues as did my friend's 2.5 years ago. All I did was put a local SIM card and voila. I think it is in the last 2 years that the phones were Changed as ordered by the Chinese government. I am hoping, be me knowing what you know, about th same 4G band, that you are correct. I am 1 week away from finding out.

 

[ocnbrze]

According to the formula above regarding the bootloader, as I had written, i did not get either of those messages, hence I can neither confirm nor deny if the bootloader is or isn't locked

a better answer would be to go to developers mode and see if you can enable oem unlock. if you can, then your bootloader is unlocked. if you can't or oem unlock is greyed out, then you have a locked bootloader.

 

[pintree3]

Thanks ocnbrze. Yes, I do have that option (OEM unlock). I assume this will need to be done (unlock it) should I need to root my phone, yes?

 

[ocnbrze]

Thanks ocnbrze. Yes, I do have that option (OEM unlock). I assume this will need to be done (unlock it) should I need to root my phone, yes?

if you can oem unlock, then you have an unlocked bootloader.....and you are half way there to rooting the phone. you will need to get twrp recovery flashed and use magisk to finish the root process.

 

[mikedt]

I really hope you are right. 5 years ago, when I was back here, I had a Chinese phone that worked here without any issues as did my friend's 2.5 years ago. All I did was put a local SIM card and voila. I think it is in the last 2 years that the phones were Changed as ordered by the Chinese government. I am hoping, be me knowing what you know, about th same 4G band, that you are correct. I am 1 week away from finding out.

The only thing I heard was that the Chinese govt. ordered VPN apps be removed from app stores operating in China, including Apple. And there's msndatory age and ID verification for all online games.

I'm currently in London using a Galaxy Note20 Ultra with a SIM from EE, as well as a Huawei Mate10 roaming on Vodafone with China Unicom SIM. Both phones are China variants.

I'm certain your Chinese A54 will work no problems in Italy, NO root required.

 

[pintree3]

I am back. Just wanted to say hi. The problem I had was somewhat fixed once I moved here in Italy. I say somewhat because though I can finalluy use it, etc. It still will not let me put in my province of residence or my carrier. Both show up as being in China. And in trying to use the Microsoft Windows Phone app it won't let me use it since it says, "We can't connect to your Android because you are trying to access your Android outside of China...." Obviously something in my phone says I'm supposed to be in China.