Samsung has decided to proceed with the Bootloader blocking also in Europe, a move that has caused a lot of discussion. Behind this choice is a European regulation that will come into force in August 2025 and which risks changing smartphone usage in Europe forever. This is why other manufacturers may soon follow suit.
From 1 August 2025, new provisions will come into force RED Directive (Radio Equipment Directive), which redefines the compliance requirements for all radio devices sold in Europe. This is a significant change, not so much for the amount of regulations introduced, but for the effect they will have on the entire Android ecosystem. The issue revolves around three articles that impose specific protections: against network interference, personal data compromise, and digital fraud. These are, in themselves, sacrosanct rules.
But the crux comes with the interpretation prevailingEach device must ensure full compliance not only with the hardware, but also with the software that controls the radio modules. This is where the bootloader comes in. Unlocking it essentially allows you to replace the original operating system with an alternative one, such as LineageOS or GrapheneOS.
But these systems, if they modify the radio drivers even minimally, invalidate the CE certification. An uncertified device can no longer be legally marketed or used, at least according to the most stringent reading of the law.
This scenario has therefore led Samsung to protect its devices. Not on a whim, but to avoid any software modifications falling under your legal liability. If a user installs a ROM that interferes with radio frequencies or compromises communications security, the manufacturer (and in some cases the importer) may be held directly liable.
RED does not explicitly talk about unlocking the Bootloader or custom ROM, but it opens one regulatory space in which the margins for maneuver are they narrow. And in doing so, it provides a solid argument for those who have been trying for years to close the loop between hardware, software, and services. After all, customizing the operating system also means breaking away from proprietary services and, therefore, from the model that ties the user to the brand.
Samsung is just the first to move, but it’s hard to imagine it will be the only one. Starting in August 2025, it’s very likely that other manufacturers will follow suit, at least for the European market.
Wait, what does that mean for USB LTE devices? Devices that you can attack to a desktop computer to give you mobile internet. Last time i checked, they’re widely available.
Would these become illegal as well?
If you don’t control the device, you don’t own the device.
So I will have to import hardware or cease buying smartphones altogether. MiFi router tethering with WiFi tablets and dumbphones are quite enough.
Wifi tablet will also be non-bootloader unlockable
Dumbphones don’t need wifi, they don’t have data
Fuck smart phones and neo feudalism. This is theft of ownership with a criminal complicit government. I applaud all Luigi’s these people deserve it. These are the killers of democracy. If your device only runs factory filtered stalkerware garbage, all democracy is dead. All information is easily filtered by this proprietary shit. Freedom of the press is a bullshit tiny niche of the broader requirement for a fully informed public. The fucking “press” is bullshit to highlight. You must have fully informed citizens and you may not choose how that information is shared or disseminated between citizens. This is not democracy. People are so fucking stupid.
Notice how the article implies Samsung and other corporations don’t want to do this, even though it’s something they’ve wanted to do for a long time? They almost certainly lobbied and ghost wrote most of this legislation to begin with; now they play the victim, even though they’re a perpetrator.
Jesus, how do you people always come up with the most inane conspiracies. I have a company that manufactures devices that communicate wirelessly. The new RED is a huge pain in the ass, along with the CRA.
Absolutely no company pushed for this. The new legislations and directives cause a ton of additional work and obligations for companies, e. g. software has to be certified as part of the compliance check, things that were previously approved via self-reports now involve trusted 3rd parties, and reports of violations to government bodies are now mandatory.
And you know what, even though this costs a bunch of money that could go elsewhere and the whole thing is so new that even the certification bodies have no idea what is going on, even though we have to setup completely new processes, spend endless hours documenting things, I still appreciate both initiatives.
As an end customer, I would love if e. g. the software that runs on the mobile payment terminal taking my card info is certified. I would love if the developer of the software running on the PLC on my shop floor has to check CVEs, inform me about security issues and has to deliver 5 to 10 years of updates.
Not a fan of Samsung and their shitty software, but they’re simply preemptively covering their ass, nothing more.
I’d also still want to unlock my bootloader. I’m sure the whole legal situation will become less muddled, enabling just that.
Notice how the article implies Samsung and other corporations don’t want to do this, even though it’s something they’ve wanted to do for a long time?
It’s already disproportionately difficult to just root a Samsung phone, so this change perfectly fits the pattern. (Posting this from a new Samsung phone that I’m desperately trying to root.)
I just don’t buy android anymore. It sucks. Apple you always sucked too. Annoyingly society kinda requires me to have a phone so I will just get what ever someone else is throwing away or is very cheap second hand.
Reject their devices is the only real choice you can make. Don’t give them money.
This was the only reason I liked Android over iOS: the CFW community. I’ve been running some sort of CFW since Android 4.0. Now, the charm has gone. GrapheneOS, SailfishOS, e/OS, LineageOS, iode OS, and even CyanogenMod – I’ve used them all. Each one has its own target group and use case. I hope it turns into the better one again. It’s like forcing a PC to only run the OS it’s delivered with.
I also used rooting at the beginning (Android 4.0 to 7.0) but realized that it is a little bit of a security problem, so I later used cfw without rooting the device. But root was a lot of fun, like cpu scheduler tweaks, apk patches or system mods. TWRP simple backups and restores. System Application removal (daim Facebook App…… 2014 users will remember)
It’s like forcing a PC to only run the OS it’s delivered with.
That’s coming. Everything else has been locked down.
I’m also convinced that we’ll be herded ever more toward cloud computing. That is, we’ll all have our “desktop” on the cloud and thin clients to access it.
Don’t get me started on the dystopia I see coming from that.
whether thin clients will prevail depends on the network costs and the CPU costs.
if the network costs become really low, shuffling more data around between user-device and server might be doable, but as long as network costs are non-negligible, it won’t happen.
In a lot of places, fast Internet is ubiquitous and cheap.
Yeah there’s going to be a few places that will be problematic. But most can get access to fast Internet now I think.
Also for non gaming the data requirement isn’t so much.
I’m not talking about short term. It’s a medium to longer term thing. But it will start to become commonplace soon I reckon.
You gonna pay this subscription or you are going to die
Yup. It’s another product they’ll try to turn into a service so you’re locked in forever. Allowing people to pay once for their products is bad business.
Copyright and patents abolition would solve this.
Yea I can see it becoming a legal requirement for hardware to be certified and monitored to make sure it hasn’t deviated from an approved configuration. Think of the children, it could be used for crimes if not. Self hosting will completely die and any chance of digital freedom completely killed.
“This scenario has therefore led Samsung to protect its devices.”
oh golly, poor korean mafia.
In terms of the radio rules. The radio has always had its own firmware on android phones. The rules could be implemented using hardware fuses and restrictions on signed firmware updates for those specific systems.
That is they make the “single model for the world” as is generally economically the best option in many cases. And before shipping to distributors it’s stamped with the region and the fuses for that region are blown. Now it doesn’t mean it cannot be used elsewhere. But it means that it will follow all rules for the certification stamped on the device.
That would mean that any firmware for the main operating system cannot command it to do anything outside of the limits defined by those rules. So it’s not really a technical reason not to allow custom bootloaders.
But of course, probably the manufacturers generally don’t want you to be able to remove their firmware that is often filled with sponsored required app installs. So this is a convenient way to pretend their hands are tied.
I hate the fact that the more technologically literate you are, the more you run away from it.
A smartphone with latest android, Gemini, google pay, a smartwatch, ChatGPT and a smart home?
Nope, I would rather have a Linux phone that is mostly incompatible with what is expected of modern smartphones, no AI please! Google pay? Only cash or monero! My watch is very smart, it can telle the time for a few years without a recharge, and nothing else!
Luckily now, the hardware is advanced enough that a linux phone is on the edge of being viable. If I can’t unlock a bootloader and compile my own android rom, I won’t be using Android. What’s interesting the open source alternative, like fdroid is really fully replacing the play store for me.
I am currently on Android as well, but in recent months with more and more OEMs disabling unlocking the bootloader, and google somewhat abandoning AOSP, it seriously seems like my next phone would be a Linux one, which is cool but it sucks.
An uncertified device can no longer be … used
Oh, fuck. Call the French, they have the most active civil society that actually can burn a thing or two during a week or two. That is the craziest law ever, denying the most basic human rights! That is literally a prohibition of DIY of any kind.
Haha i’m glad we’re known for that in the eu
I’ve read once that the reason Eltz castle in Germany (a kinda often encountered on the Web nice-fantasy-looking piece of fortification) was spared by the French from burning is because one of the family members was a French officer. There’s plenty of ruins around.
OK, speaking about protest - you guys are also known for the Napoleon code, the guillotine, the freedom-equality-brotherhood stuff, de Saint-Exupery, so mostly good things. I mean, there are also de Sade and Dienbienphu, but shutting up.
You connect a wire to a battery and you just created an illegal transmitter!
Yes. I guess no more nine volt batteries in Europe. Or maybe we should focus on banning the sale of assorted lengths of wire.
It feels like a generation from now, doing what was common in the US during the creation of Apple and Microsoft will be considered terrorism.
@balder1991 @Lembot_0004 “Working on electronics in your parents’ garage? What are you, some kind of terrorist?!?”
If a user installs a ROM that interferes with radio frequencies or compromises communications security, the manufacturer (and in some cases the importer) may be held directly liable.
Has anyone verified what this article says?
Here’s the law in question: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2014/53/oj/eng It doesn’t seem to imply what the article implies.
Also, here are some things from the discussion on HN
As is usual, there seems to be a massive misunderstanding what the directive is and means. The TLDR is that the directive contains no clauses that compels phone makers to keep the Android bootloader locked or that forbids EU users from unlocking it.
Samsung’s public reasoning might be that disabling unlocking the bootloader because of the directive, but there is nothing in the directive that forces them to lock the bootloader. It does sound like a convenient scapegoat if they don’t want to talk about the real reasons though.
The phone makes who end up disabling the unlocking of bootloaders are all doing so on their own accord, not because some regulation is forcing them to.
Finally, the EU’s broader right-to-repair policies makes it kind of impossible that an outright prohibition of unlocking the bootloader could happen. But of course, nuance doesn’t make people click article titles on the web…
I think it’s Samsung that interpreted the rule at their advantage in a way that sends more devices to the landfill
So what? Linux computers are not compliant, can not use wifi, or what? I don’t see how that prevents unlockable bootloaders, other than being used as an excuse by the manufacturers.
It’s a bullshit argument and this article is a classic example of a shitty journalist pretending that a new law overrules every other law in existence.
Any device that transmits radio frequencies wont be able to be sold in the EU.
The only way a manufacturer can be sure that won’t happen is to create their hardware such that it isn’t usable unless it can be sure its in an environment which won’t do that.
Currently, that would mean a machine running Secure Boot and Windows 11 using driver signing.
Linux wouldn’t be able to fake the verification to the hardware, due to not having the keys, and so could not create drivers for any hardware designed this way.
Hold up so theyre banning flippers and portapacks etc?
Oh yeah, almost certainly; and software defined radios of all types.
Lately I’m more and more disappointed in EU legislations. Especially having to live with them…
I mean, this is corporations using decent regulations as an excuse to do something they’ve probably already wanted to do.
EU went from frontrunner of internet privacy to asking for a gooner license.
There’s so many lobby groups and national interests pulling in various directions that it’s not really surprising to have both simultaneously.
TBH I’m still surprised GDPR ever made it through against the cries of every corporation on earth.
It’s up to us to keep it free. It is one of the last lights in this world, and it must NOT go out!
I don’t understand why the user doing what they want to their own possessions has any impact on the original manufacturer.
Samsung isn’t selling flashed devices as far as I know…
This sounds like bullshit.
An uncertified device can no longer be legally marketed or used
Ok, but I’m not marketing my LineageOS phone and I don’t believe Samsung can be responsible for me using it. It sounds like phones with custom ROM will simply lose CE certification (unless the custom ROM is itself certified). Samsung obtains the CE certification and sells certified phone. Making them responsible for anything that happens after that (besides regular updates) is something completely different than what this article talks about. It would basically mean that Samsung has to make sure that their devices cannot be hacked/rooted but ensuring security of hardware and software is something completely different and is covered by different laws. Even the RAD website clearly says this:
“In 2021, the Commission decided to pause the initiative following the announcement of the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), due to potential overlaps. In 2023, it was agreed that cybersecurity requirements would transfer from the Radio Equipment Directive (RED) to the CRA.”
