Develop Bugs

[Q] So how do we unlock now..?

I have read at least 50 disinformation type posts on this site about unlocking a branded Xperia (Verizion in my case) they all seem to be wanting me to pay money to Alejandrissimo or Jinx13 but when I click on those hyperlinks they are all "Invalid post" so what am I supposed to be finding here that I missed?
There is not any topic stickied that is describing how to unlock the thing & every article / forum post / google search I find is another disinformation post with no real evidence.
I know how to flash ROM's onto android using recovery loaders.
I know how to access the program menu's in various phones
I know what the CDMA spectrum is.
I'm not some newb making this post because I need my hand held step by step to do something.
I just need some real information
If anyone has a link to a real method or anything helpful please let me know
I have researched (and watched the welcome video) on this site to find an answer and I haven't found anything.
Thanks
-Jon

Ok, so the links to the unlockers in my thread are broken. Does it mean that my post has "disinformation"? Is there any other way to unlock the bootloaders? No to both, as far as I know. I'll try to fix the links, but seriously...
About why my post (or any other helpful resource about the matter) is not stickied, I don't know nor do I care. No one reads stickies anyway.

Logseman said:
Ok, so the links to the unlockers in my thread are broken. Does it mean that my post has "disinformation"? Is there any other way to unlock the bootloaders? No to both, as far as I know. I'll try to fix the links, but seriously...
About why my post (or any other helpful resource about the matter) is not stickied, I don't know nor do I care. No one reads stickies anyway.
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By disinformation it would seem that some exists.
droid-life reported 4 months ago ashergray(XDA) found a method to unlock the bootloader.
Why none of the methods being released or talked about is beyond me.
Also I'm confused why the method is being charged for by others but not officially it would seem.
You have to pm users on the forum to arrange a sale. Why does a topic not exist for this purpose?
All this confusing data is leading to a big headache right now. I was hoping for answers and all I find is rabbit holes on this elusive topic.
Thanks for the reply tho.

Ashergray's method was dried out (it exploited a flaw, and the flaw was fixed).I mention ashergray in the thread, as it is only fitting, in the thanks part.
About why they ask to be contacted privately or publicly, it's their business... Is there something that should be cleared in my thread, aside of the links of course? I mean, I can try to rebuild the first post if necessary.

Logseman said:
Ashergray's method was dried out (it exploited a flaw, and the flaw was fixed).I mention ashergray in the thread, as it is only fitting, in the thanks part.
About why they ask to be contacted privately or publicly, it's their business... Is there something that should be cleared in my thread, aside of the links of course? I mean, I can try to rebuild the first post if necessary.
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You could start off by explaining why in 7 months time the boot loader is sill locked.
Or why your links to the unlock threads are dead. Both of them.
Or how I'm supposed to unlock the bootloader if these users can't provide that service any longer.
Also you could mention why Sony. being developer and hacker supportive hasn't assisted in taking Verizon's clutch off the bootloader
It is rather annoying coming from Droid x where the device is locked down with a fuse but yet a wide array of custom roms exist that bypass the locked bootloader and then coming to this phone that appears to have not progressed beyond hello world.
So you tell me where to look for an unlock because I'm fresh out of searches and ideas.
Thanks
-jon
P.s I also wonder if the exploit you speak of was patched. Why not just flash to an earlier rom with the problem still existing.

You could start off by explaining why in 7 months time the boot loader is sill locked.
Or why your links to the unlock threads are dead. Both of them.
Or how I'm supposed to unlock the bootloader if these users can't provide that service any longer.
Also you could mention why Sony. being developer and hacker supportive hasn't assisted in taking Verizon's clutch off the bootloader
It is rather annoying coming from Droid x where the device is locked down with a fuse but yet a wide array of custom roms exist that bypass the locked bootloader and then coming to this phone that appears to have not progressed beyond hello world.
So you tell me where to look for an unlock because I'm fresh out of searches and ideas.
Thanks
-jon
P.s I also wonder if the exploit you speak of was patched. Why not just flash to an earlier rom with the problem still existing.
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1) I kindly would like to ask how I'm supposed to know why the bootloader is locked. It's a corporate decision by carriers and Sony Ericsson in which neither I, nor anyone in this forum, have any input. If I had any hard data about why Sony Ericsson doesn't cooperate in the issue, I'd say it. However, I just don't know why, and I prefer not to speak of what I don't know.
2) It seems that both threads have been wiped out of existence (which I didn't know until right now), and I see that a new site appears in Alejandrissimo's signature (http://unlock-bootloader.com/) where he's promoting his services externally (not only the unlocking, but the TA fix and hard-brick fix too). I'd guess that somebody complained about these people making business inside XDA, but then I question the idea of wiping their threads like... months afterwards. At any rate, don't worry, you still can unlock your bootloader with Alejandrissimo's help.
3) On Droid X the bootloader was bypassed because Motorola wouldn't ever unlock it. The FreeXperia team, who had bypassed older Xperia models' bootloaders, decided against it as they saw the new policy of Sony Ericsson's (unlocking phones which didn't come with carrier subsidy). I could unlock my bootloader from day one, and I'm happy to say I've helped devs here therethrough.
4) The exploit was related to the website where you could unlock R800i models. In order to unlock your bootloader, you need to give your IMEI number (an ID code for GSM phones). Ashergray could convert MEID numbers used by CDMA phones into bogus IMEI numbers, which could be used to unlock the devices. Sony Ericsson patched the website so ashergray's trick didn't work anymore.
5) My thread is a "how-to", do you really expect me to add points 1), 3) and 4) to it?
4 months is an eternity for this kind of business. Exploits get fixed (look at the PSXperia case), policies change (like HTC's and Motorola's) and threads are wiped on short or no notice.

Logseman said:
1) I kindly would like to ask how I'm supposed to know why the bootloader is locked. It's a corporate decision by carriers and Sony Ericsson in which neither I, nor anyone in this forum, have any input. If I had any hard data about why Sony Ericsson doesn't cooperate in the issue, I'd say it. However, I just don't know why, and I prefer not to speak of what I don't know.
2) It seems that both threads have been wiped out of existence (which I didn't know until right now), and I see that a new site appears in Alejandrissimo's signature where he's promoting his services externally (not only the unlocking, but the TA fix and hard-brick fix too). I'd guess that somebody complained about these people making business inside XDA, but then I question the idea of wiping their threads like... months afterwards. At any rate, don't worry, you still can unlock your bootloader with Alejandrissimo's help.
3) On Droid X the bootloader was bypassed because Motorola wouldn't ever unlock it. The FreeXperia team, who had bypassed older Xperia models' bootloaders, decided against it as they saw the new policy of Sony Ericsson's (unlocking phones which didn't come with carrier subsidy). I could unlock my bootloader from day one, and I'm happy to say I've helped devs here therethrough.
4) The exploit was related to the website where you could unlock R800i models. In order to unlock your bootloader, you need to give your IMEI number (an ID code for GSM phones). Ashergray could convert MEID numbers used by CDMA phones into bogus IMEI numbers, which could be used to unlock the devices. Sony Ericsson patched the website so ashergray's trick didn't work anymore.
5) My thread is a "how-to", do you really expect me to add points 1), 3) and 4) to it?
4 months is an eternity for this kind of business. Exploits get fixed (look at the PSXperia case), policies change (like HTC's and Motorola's) and threads are wiped on short or no notice.
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I've sent you some PM's to remove spam / offtopic / rant from the board.
Thanks for the information tho. I wasn't aware of any of that.
It seems that the name FreeXperia is a bit of a misnomer because my Xperia is going to be locked unless I pay 25$ apparently and thats sad when I only paid 90$ for the phone used. Could have been cheaper if I had bought bad ESN(I probably should have tried)
Imagine my surprise coming from Droid X to this phone where droid X has heaps of ROM's available to everyone for free and now I have to worry about getting this device to function at the same level as my old DX with Gummy JAR rom.
I Just wish the spirit of opensource would be in this sub-forum so we could have some real development in terms of flavors of roms and such.
Do you think their is any reason the developers are all charging fee's to show the method through team viewer? I thought it could have something to do with leaking the method and then it could be fixed in later updates. but then again maybe I'm wrong.

It's not that they "show" you the method. They "perform" the method for you. I'm not sure if you can do it with Omnius as well... but if you can, it will be marginally cheaper (unlocking credits are needed anyway!) and you have no assistance.
And about the old "why charge for open source software" dead horse, which is pointless here because there is no open source software involved (the bootloaders are closed-source, SETool is closed-source, and so on):
The Free Software Foundation said:
“Free software” does not mean “noncommercial.”
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Additionally, as I said before, the FreeXperia team has this policy: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=15253598&postcount=217

Logseman said:
It's not that they "show" you the method. They "perform" the method for you. I'm not sure if you can do it with Omnius as well... but if you can, it will be marginally cheaper (unlocking credits are needed anyway!) and you have no assistance.
And about the old "why charge for open source software" dead horse, which is pointless here because there is no open source software involved (the bootloaders are closed-source, SETool is closed-source, and so on):
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Right on. I'm following you thus far.
Question tho. I read that sony was the best company for hackers and developers right now because they actually are allowing people to get access to the bootloaders. If all this is true why are they not assisting in the unlock of branded phones?
I might be wrong on this but aren't most peoples phones branded anyways through buying a contract?
and that leads to why FreeXperia didn't realize that and find an exploit / workaround for the bootloader being locked on branded phones.
If Setool and Omnius (or whatever it's called) are able to unlock the phones then why was sony. the engineer of the device not able to perform this same task?
Also I thought locking the bootloader violates the FCC regulation. open access provision so why didn't Sony assist the FCC to bypass Verizon.

God another douche, you pay 90 bucks for your phone and you think this community owes you something. Go complain to sony.

What do you mean, Sony can't do it? Of course they can. But they have chosen to do so only with R800i non-branded phones. Considering that they locked bootloaders without any official way to unlock them on previous Xperia models, that's a big step forward. That's as far as Sony Ericsson can go: on branded phones, they must obey what the carriers want.
Please do read Bin4ry's statement:
Now think about, if we would try to hack and bypass devices what will happen with future phones? In our opinion future phones will be locked down again like X10 was, eventually even more.
So why don't use the possibilties which are give by SE? Stick to their rules and hope for more support and maybe even nicer implementations (for example a accessable bootpartition from recovery).
We like SE devices, so we don't want to hijack this (i call it) "test" which SE drives with us?
I can fully understand that U.S. users which cannot unlock are quite unhappy with the actual situation, but sorry we will NOT work on anything else than development for officially unlocked devices! That was a team decision.
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Note that this is costing them a lot of flak because they don't use R800x models for testing purposes either, and CM7 has many issues in R800x phones.
Also I thought locking the bootloader violates the FCC regulation. open access provision so why didn't Sony assist the FCC to bypass Verizon.
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If this is correct, sue. I'm sure you'll have backing from everyone here.

Logseman said:
What do you mean, Sony can't do it? Of course they can. But they have chosen to do so only with R800i non-branded phones. Considering that they locked bootloaders without any official way to unlock them on previous Xperia models, that's a big step forward. That's as far as Sony Ericsson can go: on branded phones, they must obey what the carriers want.
Please do read Bin4ry's statement:
Note that this is costing them a lot of flak because they don't use R800x models for testing purposes either, and CM7 has many issues in R800x phones.
If this is correct, sue. I'm sure you'll have backing from everyone here.
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So what your saying is that CM7 is not even worth flashing even if i was unlocked?
I would be better off to root / Titanium backup / delete bloat and be done with it?
Its a shame that they are forcing most people to stay stock SE/Verizon ROM because they are scared of the repercussions of angering SE. I think even if they stay inert that SE will eventually add more DRM to "protect" the devices.
About the lawsuit. I don't believe I'm the first person to mention it. Verizon has already been sued for 25 Million i believe on another occasion and it's been said by others that they are breaking FCC Regulation. The problem would be to get something done about it and I wouldn't have those resources.

The reason for the charge is very simple. In order to unlock our version of the Play (R800x), it takes a hardware dongle and the purchase of credits to allow the software to work. All you are paying Al or whoever for is the cost of the number of credits necessary to unlock your phone. They aren't getting rich off anyone.
If there was another way to unlock the Verizon version, someone would have posted it by now. There isn't, and that's just how it is.
There is a good spirit of free info sharing on this site. You might have to do a little digging but it's there. For example, how to unroot the R800x without having an unlocked bootloader. Takes about a whole 5 minutes to do.
EDIT: I do have to say that after digging around a bit more, I don't blame you for being perturbed. While no one owes us Verizon Play owners anything, there could have been something posted and sticky to make it a bit easier to find out what is going on. And perhaps have had a bit less condescension toward us as well. Must be that UK mentality toward us Colonists!

Re: Droid X vs XPlay development -
Different phones from different brands on different carriers require entirely new learning to develop for, not to mention owning a device to work on. I'd say there's probably only about a dozen people worldwide putting in serious work on this phone.
That's not a lot. If you want more options, you may have to do it yourself.

Why is the HTC Arrive so ignored?

No custom roms... No unlocks... Nothing..... Why??

Because it is a secure device like the dell venue pro. The other HTC devices (gen 1) had a long standing HTC bootloader exploit.

Actually, I don't think it's really any more secure. It's just because, frankly, the world runs on GSM. The US and a very few other countries use CDMA, but the international hacking community has relatively little interest in CDMA devices - they couldn't use one even if they could buy one.
The DFT guys claim to have a working bootloader unlock for the CDMA devices (Arrive and Verizon Trophy) and, given that, I'm sure custom ROMs will come eventually. It will take time, though; I think DFT didn't even have the devices until a few months ago.
As for homebrew, most of the original HTC homebrew (TouchXplorer, Advanced Explorer, etc.) worked fine on the Arrive. Additionally, there's lots of device-agnostic homebrew that works on anything (assuming it has been dev-unlocked).
The problem is the interop-lock. I (and a few others) are researching universal interop-unlocks, but so far we haven't made one work. Aside from LG, no devices have a registry editor already available, so we have to take over another program and make it edit the registry for us. The only apps that have successfully been used for this so far are network configuration apps, because they have a lot of configuration data and we can often modify it. The Arrive is permanently locked to a single network, so there's no point in it having a network configuration app.
On my list of reasons why I prefer GSM over CDMA, "can use hackable network configuration tools" would normally be pretty far down the list. Since the release of Mango and the interop-lock, though, it's become much more important on WP7. I don't really have anything against Sprint as a company - they just use a poor choice of wireless technology. CDMA is to GSM as Imperial is to Metric; the US keeps on using it and everybody else thinks we're crazy for it.

This actually belongs in the Q/A section, but if you look at most other devices (droid custom, windows mobile, etc) the GSM customizations are much more numerous than their CDMA counterparts.
Pretty much GoodDayToDie nailed it as to why the CDMA counterparts don't see a lot of action. Most of the major teams live in countries where GSM is the norm.

Thread Closed
This is not Development. It is a device specific question, i will from now on not move these, they will be closed.
Please refer to the read before posting sticky

How many Galaxy S III forums??

Hi Guys,
I've been coming here for a number of years and have always been frustrated by the naming of the forums, used to get really fed up with remembering that the HTC Tytn II was an XDA Stellar which was a Kaiser etc. etc. I can't even remember what the orbit's other names were now. Anyhow, the forums now are getting split up mainly by American Operators which is fine if you live in the US, but the roots of this forum are European so it puzzles me why this is the case (I know there are many many US participants here, but it's getting really confusing again)
I've seen so many threads on here that have been posted in the wrong forum for the wrong device because perhaps they were on "Three UK" or "o2" Germany and thought that mapped to X operator in the US. I've even read a thread just the other day where people can't figure out if their phone, which was a Canadian phone, would work with the roms from Y phone in the US.
This gets me onto the title of this thread. Seriously, how many forums do we need for the Galaxy S III, there are four "General" threads, four "Q&A" threads etc. etc. Surely 90%+ of the posts in these forums are common to all the devices.
Would it not be better to classify threads by device ID and then have a mapping somewhere for all operators in the world to the device ID. I'm sure the majority of people who use this forum will know the device ID of the device they are interested in off by heart anyhow.
BTW, I did search for an explanation about why the forum is formatting in an American way, but didn't find one, so if there is an explanation about why and perhaps even a past (But recent) discussion on this, then please point me to it. If this hasn't been discussed for a while, would this be a good time to review it again?
Cheers,
Mark.

I heard that sometimes the hardware is different, such as the lte for our american devices. The T-Mobile s3 is branded t-999, not whatever the international version is branded.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using xda app-developers app

markfid said:
Hi Guys,
I've been coming here for a number of years and have always been frustrated by the naming of the forums, used to get really fed up with remembering that the HTC Tytn II was an XDA Stellar which was a Kaiser etc. etc. I can't even remember what the orbit's other names were now. Anyhow, the forums now are getting split up mainly by American Operators which is fine if you live in the US, but the roots of this forum are European so it puzzles me why this is the case (I know there are many many US participants here, but it's getting really confusing again)
I've seen so many threads on here that have been posted in the wrong forum for the wrong device because perhaps they were on "Three UK" or "o2" Germany and thought that mapped to X operator in the US. I've even read a thread just the other day where people can't figure out if their phone, which was a Canadian phone, would work with the roms from Y phone in the US.
This gets me onto the title of this thread. Seriously, how many forums do we need for the Galaxy S III, there are four "General" threads, four "Q&A" threads etc. etc. Surely 90%+ of the posts in these forums are common to all the devices.
Would it not be better to classify threads by device ID and then have a mapping somewhere for all operators in the world to the device ID. I'm sure the majority of people who use this forum will know the device ID of the device they are interested in off by heart anyhow.
BTW, I did search for an explanation about why the forum is formatting in an American way, but didn't find one, so if there is an explanation about why and perhaps even a past (But recent) discussion on this, then please point me to it. If this hasn't been discussed for a while, would this be a good time to review it again?
Cheers,
Mark.
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Its because in america devices can be completely different depending on the carrier, they all like to have there on tweaked versions, which result in hardware changes which mean ROMS will not work on each without changes, so they are split up to stop people flashing stuff for other versions of the device and bricking it.
Normally there is a international version which will pretty much cover the rest of the world.

This is more about the organization of various device sections than the devices themselves, so I'm moving this to About XDA.

zacthespack said:
Its because in america devices can be completely different depending on the carrier, they all like to have there on tweaked versions, which result in hardware changes which mean ROMS will not work on each without changes, so they are split up to stop people flashing stuff for other versions of the device and bricking it.
Normally there is a international version which will pretty much cover the rest of the world.
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This is exactly why. It is annoying but the only way to keep things separate. ROMs and kernels will not work on both devices, therefore we created separate forums for each. Its a pain... but blame the carriers for each wanting to be "Special."

long term but relatively novice member

People, I just returned to the Samsung "fold" after a hiatus of several years. It's a Note 10+ 5G, with T-Mobile. While the improvement from my previous LG (AT&T) phone and experience is absolute (T-Mobile has turned out to be a wonderful surprise), what I was really hoping for was, among other things, the flexibility of rooting which I had with all of my previous Samsung phones. In fact, I had come to almost rely on rooting for some very simple reasons: to keep Google, Samsung and whatever other providers of hardware and software from becoming my life's "partners" within my phone! A simple example is Google's need to know my bodily functions, my contacts and my schedule even though all of that is well handled by other, non-Google systems. If I choose not to share my life with Google, the phone continues to function as required. But it (and Samsung, for that matter) keeps trying. I am reasonably proficient with ADB and use the work arounds with some success but it is annoying. Again, I am not out to subvert any system; I simply don't want to share my life with the hardware and software providers, at least, no more than is needed. My phone is unlocked. Is there any hope of getting root for the non-exynos version of this phone?

EBRJR said:
People, I just returned to the Samsung "fold" after a hiatus of several years. It's a Note 10+ 5G, with T-Mobile. While the improvement from my previous LG (AT&T) phone and experience is absolute (T-Mobile has turned out to be a wonderful surprise), what I was really hoping for was, among other things, the flexibility of rooting which I had with all of my previous Samsung phones. In fact, I had come to almost rely on rooting for some very simple reasons: to keep Google, Samsung and whatever other providers of hardware and software from becoming my life's "partners" within my phone! A simple example is Google's need to know my bodily functions, my contacts and my schedule even though all of that is well handled by other, non-Google systems. If I choose not to share my life with Google, the phone continues to function as required. But it (and Samsung, for that matter) keeps trying. I am reasonably proficient with ADB and use the work arounds with some success but it is annoying. Again, I am not out to subvert any system; I simply don't want to share my life with the hardware and software providers, at least, no more than is needed. My phone is unlocked. Is there any hope of getting root for the non-exynos version of this phone?
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Taking the time you look on the forum would have answered your question. One thread in particular has a pretty active discussion (including from one rather knowledgeable person).
The summary of the whole "if this phone will have root" is basically this.. Samsung got it's act together with this phone. Will root be possible... Someday maybe, but not anytime soon.

scottusa2008 said:
Taking the time you look on the forum would have answered your question. One thread in particular has a pretty active discussion (including from one rather knowledgeable person).
The summary of the whole "if this phone will have root" is basically this.. Samsung got it's act together with this phone. Will root be possible... Someday maybe, but not anytime soon.
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I appreciate the admonishment about "taking the time" and I actually considered that I had. Unfortunately, my limited reading here and elsewhere resulted in the same conclusion that you reached, minus the aspirational portion! I guess I was hoping that, indeed, my reviews were truly insufficient and missing some obvious and positive answer.
Well, I got my answer! Much appreciated.

T-Mobile VoLTE deadline, Galaxy S5 VoLTE prospects, and potential alternatives

I'm not entirely sure which forum would be most appropriate to post this under, but this seems like a decent candidate, so I'm starting here. If this would fit better somewhere else, please feel to redirect me, and/or even move the thread if appropriate. I think I've read all the appropriate sticky threads et cetera, but if I do make / am making a faux pas, please let me know.
As you're probably aware (https://www.xda-developers.com/t-mobile-att-require-volte-phone-calls-shut-down-3g/), T-Mobile is expected to shut down its non-VoLTE voice service in January of 2021. As a result, it's imperative for anyone who gets phone service through them to have a phone with working VoLTE support before that point. As that includes me, I've been looking into that.
I currently have a Samsung Galaxy S5, purchased through T-Mobile back in 2015 (if I'm not mistaken, it's a SM-G900T). There seem to be fairly solid statements that this model does support VoLTE under the stock ROM, and indeed T-Mobile support seems to think that it should be working.
I run LineageOS - specifically klte, which matches that model. I'm currently on the August 30th, 2020 "nightly" build of version 16.0 (which was the latest available for that model as of earlier today), on top of TWRP 3.3.1 (ditto). I only recently upgraded from TWRP 2.8.7 and (IIRC) LineageOS 14.1, which I'd been running since sometime in 2017 for reasons that are out of scope but I can describe briefly if desired. The upgrade was specifically in hopes that newer LineageOS would have VoLTE support options which the earlier version did not, but that seems to have been a futile hope.
After some fairly extensive digging (mostly online, but with some poking around on my own device and in my own backups et cetera), I've concluded that while it is theoretically possible to have VoLTE support on this device under LineageOS, it's likely to be effectively impossible in practice. Threads such as https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/devs-only/port-ims-manager-to-klte-t3551084 (not the only place I've looked, but probably the last before giving up) seem to indicate that the only way to get it to work - short of reverse engineering enough of the underlying system to be able to reimplement Samsung's closed IMS implementation for that model - would be to find a Galaxy S5 with the stock ROM and working VoLTE, and copy the appropriate files out of that and into the correct places on the LineageOS-based version of the system.
I thought I'd kept a backup of the stock ROM which my S5 came with, but I haven't managed to find any sign of it in my archives. I don't think I have any other way to get at the correct files, never mind figure out where they need to go and get them there; I certainly couldn't justify buying another S5 just to be able to extract the stock ROM.
As linked from the thread referenced above, there do appear to be, or have been, other custom ROMs for the Galaxy S5 which include - or included - VoLTE support. However, I'm otherwise quite happy with LineageOS, and don't want to switch to another custom ROM line - especially since I want to avoid the data loss that would come with wiping my phone to install another ROM, unless there's absolutely no way to avoid it.
Are there any prospects for my being able to get VoLTE working on this phone under LineageOS? If so, what would I need to do to manage that, within the January deadline?
If not, or if what prospects there are don't pan out, I'm going to need to acquire a new smartphone which will be able to have VoLTE under LineageOS, and preferably one which will at least approximate meeting the other criteria which led me to select the Galaxy S5 in the first place and stick with it all this time. In particular, A: I all but insist on a conveniently user-swappable battery (I carry at least one fully-charged spare in my back pocket at all times), not so much for field battery life extension as to be able to replace the battery rather than the phone when the battery inevitably bloats and dies (I'm on something like my seventh battery for this S5), B: I really like having separate dedicated "home", "back", and (for lack of a better term) "active applications list" buttons, and the only model I know for sure has them is the S5 itself, and C: I very much want to have a traditional headphone jack. Expandable storage, in the form of a suitable SD-card slot, would also be nice but is not strictly required.
What models can I expect to be able to get VoLTE working on under LineageOS, with good support in other regards, within that January deadline? The model-support information I've been able to find in searching thus far does not seem to provide any clear indication on this point.
I don't expect recommendations on what smartphone models will be able to also meet my other criteria, although of course it would be nice; that would probably fit better under the "what phone should I buy next?" thread over in General Q&A.

No chance for adding volte. It's utopic to believe you could eben keep you phone setup.
You don't share your reason for using lineageOS. If it's about avoiding preinstalled apps, you can instead debloat stock rom.

kurtn said:
No chance for adding volte. It's utopic to believe you could eben keep you phone setup.
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I was afraid of that, but I did still have some hope.
Is that klte/S5-specific, or is it a more general statement about LineageOS at large, which holds true regardless of phone model?
If the latter, then LineageOS is soon to become unusable for anyone with T-Mobile service, which seems like a major problem that people would already be working actively to try to correct. (I also think I heard that other providers may make a similar change, which would make the problem more widespread; I specifically half-remember articles about AT&T in that regard. No concrete backup for that at the moment, though.)
If the former, then what phone models are there for which VoLTE does or can readily be made to work under LineageOS?
kurtn said:
You don't share your reason for using lineageOS. If it's about avoiding preinstalled apps, you can instead debloat stock rom.
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I'm a little surprised that the reasons would even be asked about, given that this is a LineageOS-specific forum; I wouldn't expect the people here to be up for directing people away from LineageOS to other ROMs.
My original impetus for using LineageOS (at the time, CyanogenMod) was simply one of principle about avoiding proprietary software and vendor lock-in/lockdown/et cetera. I also like the ability to control updates on my own, both in terms of being able to determine when I update to a new version and of being able to continue to get updates independent of whether the manufacturer/carrier/etc. continues to release them.
Avoiding preinstalled apps is certainly one aspect of it, but it's by no means the only one.
I also doubt that I could simply debloat the stock ROM, for the simple reason that I don't think I *have* the stock ROM - or if I do, it's years out of date (as I said, 2015). I left a search running overnight, and on that basis have managed to find the backup copy of the stock image that was on the phone when I received it, but unless trying to extract the necessary stack components for VoLTE support from it might be viable after all I don't know how useful that will turn out to be.
(I'm probably going to invest some time into looking into that today, anyway, but I don't really expect to get any results out of it.)

Alias Bongo said:
I was afraid of that, but I did still have some hope.
Is that klte/S5-specific, or is it a more general statement about LineageOS at large, which holds true regardless of phone model?
If the latter, then LineageOS is soon to become unusable for anyone with T-Mobile service, which seems like a major problem that people would already be working actively to try to correct. (I also think I heard that other providers may make a similar change, which would make the problem more widespread; I specifically half-remember articles about AT&T in that regard. No concrete backup for that at the moment, though.)
If the former, then what phone models are there for which VoLTE does or can readily be made to work under LineageOS?
I'm a little surprised that the reasons would even be asked about, given that this is a LineageOS-specific forum; I wouldn't expect the people here to be up for directing people away from LineageOS to other ROMs.
My original impetus for using LineageOS (at the time, CyanogenMod) was simply one of principle about avoiding proprietary software and vendor lock-in/lockdown/et cetera. I also like the ability to control updates on my own, both in terms of being able to determine when I update to a new version and of being able to continue to get updates independent of whether the manufacturer/carrier/etc. continues to release them.
Avoiding preinstalled apps is certainly one aspect of it, but it's by no means the only one.
I also doubt that I could simply debloat the stock ROM, for the simple reason that I don't think I *have* the stock ROM - or if I do, it's years out of date (as I said, 2015). I left a search running overnight, and on that basis have managed to find the backup copy of the stock image that was on the phone when I received it, but unless trying to extract the necessary stack components for VoLTE support from it might be viable after all I don't know how useful that will turn out to be.
(I'm probably going to invest some time into looking into that today, anyway, but I don't really expect to get any results out of it.)
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I think your chances for volte are better if you change from samsung to motorola.

kurtn said:
I think your chances for volte are better if you change from samsung to motorola.
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That's unfortunately fairly vague, as a basis for going out and buying a smartphone.
What I'm looking for in terms of "VoLTE does or can readily be made to work under LineageOS" is something for which a statement like one of the following can be made:
"Yes, VoLTE works on this model under LineageOS out of the box; you don't need to do anything special to get it working, just flash LineageOS and go."
"Yes, it's possible to get VoLTE working on this model under LineageOS; here's what you need to do to get it working, beyond just flashing LineageOS."
Do you know of any specific smartphone models for which you can make one of those statements?
While I'm not against investigating and experimenting and trying things out to get things to work, and in fact sometimes that can even be fun, I do not want to do that in a production environment - and I'm under deadline (albeit with a few months to go), with limited resources for experimenting (in the form of money to buy smartphones which might work), before this becomes a critical production environment.
(Also, I've found what look like IMS-related files in the backup copy of the stock ROM, which don't seem to exist in the LineageOS that's currently running on my phone. Depending on what they look like on further examination, I may try pulling them in and seeing if anything changes; worst-case scenario, I should just have to boot to recovery and restore a backup.)

Alias Bongo said:
That's unfortunately fairly vague, as a basis for going out and buying a smartphone.
What I'm looking for in terms of "VoLTE does or can readily be made to work under LineageOS" is something for which a statement like one of the following can be made:
"Yes, VoLTE works on this model under LineageOS out of the box; you don't need to do anything special to get it working, just flash LineageOS and go."
"Yes, it's possible to get VoLTE working on this model under LineageOS; here's what you need to do to get it working, beyond just flashing LineageOS."
Do you know of any specific smartphone models for which you can make one of those statements?
While I'm not against investigating and experimenting and trying things out to get things to work, and in fact sometimes that can even be fun, I do not want to do that in a production environment - and I'm under deadline (albeit with a few months to go), with limited resources for experimenting (in the form of money to buy smartphones which might work), before this becomes a critical production environment.
(Also, I've found what look like IMS-related files in the backup copy of the stock ROM, which don't seem to exist in the LineageOS that's currently running on my phone. Depending on what they look like on further examination, I may try pulling them in and seeing if anything changes; worst-case scenario, I should just have to boot to recovery and restore a backup.)
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Yes. Moto e2 lte surnia has volte in LineageOS out of the box.

kurtn said:
Yes. Moto e2 lte surnia has volte in LineageOS out of the box.
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Thanks! I'll investigate that option, then, in addition to any others that present themselves.

Alias Bongo said:
(Also, I've found what look like IMS-related files in the backup copy of the stock ROM, which don't seem to exist in the LineageOS that's currently running on my phone. Depending on what they look like on further examination, I may try pulling them in and seeing if anything changes; worst-case scenario, I should just have to boot to recovery and restore a backup.)
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Click to collapse
Unsurprisingly, it doesn't seem to be that simple. The files involved in this are themselves few enough, and most although not all of them don't seem to exist in the currently-running image, so they can be copied in without further ado - but there are enough references to them in other files, which either *do* exist (and so would need to be edited, in a way that leaves things compatible with both systems) or seem likely to themselves (need to) be referenced elsewhere, that the whole thing turns into a mess of cascading complexity.
Short of input from someone with expertise on IMS/VoLTE implementation from some other model, I suspect this won't turn out to be a viable avenue to pursue, at least not unless and until I have my hands on a Galaxy S5 which isn't my production phone and as such can be used for experimentation. Even then, I'll probably need to basically build my own custom ROM (or custom local build of LineageOS, at least) rather than just inserting files into a system built from an existing one.
I've looked briefly into the Moto E2, and while it does look like the newest/final models of it would support VoLTE in a way that LineageOS would plausibly be able to handle, it's also at least nearly as old as the S5 and is less capable and desirable in other ways. It'd be better than nothing, but not something I would prefer as my first choice.
I'm hoping that other people chime in with more models to suggest. As this is going to become increasingly important as more carriers shut down their 3G/2G networks, and VoLTE becomes the only way to do voice calling, I'd ideally like to see a page - possibly this thread, possibly another one, possibly a Wiki page - with as comprehensive a listing of phone models which *are* known to have working VoLTE support under LineageOS (and/or possibly other non-stock ROMs) as possible, including links to any necessary how-to directions per model and notes on any special criteria (e.g., carrier-specific support or support differences between regions or the like). I hoped something like that would already exist, given the apparent upcoming VoLTEpocalypse - but as it doesn't seem to (or at least I haven't managed to find one thus far), it wouldn't hurt to start trying to create one.
My understanding is that Verizon is apparently going to make the "VoLTE mandatory" transition in January, much the same as T-Mobile, and AT&T is planning to do it sometime in 2022. With Sprint out of the picture after the T-Mobile merger, that's basically all of the major US wireless carriers that I'm aware of, so this will be universal (at least in the USA) before too very long. Some amount of preparation to make sure the custom-ROM field will remain viable past that point would seem appropriate; I'm surprised by how little activity in that area I've been able to find thus far.

Alias Bongo said:
Unsurprisingly, it doesn't seem to be that simple. The files involved in this are themselves few enough, and most although not all of them don't seem to exist in the currently-running image, so they can be copied in without further ado - but there are enough references to them in other files, which either *do* exist (and so would need to be edited, in a way that leaves things compatible with both systems) or seem likely to themselves (need to) be referenced elsewhere, that the whole thing turns into a mess of cascading complexity.
Short of input from someone with expertise on IMS/VoLTE implementation from some other model, I suspect this won't turn out to be a viable avenue to pursue, at least not unless and until I have my hands on a Galaxy S5 which isn't my production phone and as such can be used for experimentation. Even then, I'll probably need to basically build my own custom ROM (or custom local build of LineageOS, at least) rather than just inserting files into a system built from an existing one.
I've looked briefly into the Moto E2, and while it does look like the newest/final models of it would support VoLTE in a way that LineageOS would plausibly be able to handle, it's also at least nearly as old as the S5 and is less capable and desirable in other ways. It'd be better than nothing, but not something I would prefer as my first choice.
I'm hoping that other people chime in with more models to suggest. As this is going to become increasingly important as more carriers shut down their 3G/2G networks, and VoLTE becomes the only way to do voice calling, I'd ideally like to see a page - possibly this thread, possibly another one, possibly a Wiki page - with as comprehensive a listing of phone models which *are* known to have working VoLTE support under LineageOS (and/or possibly other non-stock ROMs) as possible, including links to any necessary how-to directions per model and notes on any special criteria (e.g., carrier-specific support or support differences between regions or the like). I hoped something like that would already exist, given the apparent upcoming VoLTEpocalypse - but as it doesn't seem to (or at least I haven't managed to find one thus far), it wouldn't hurt to start trying to create one.
My understanding is that Verizon is apparently going to make the "VoLTE mandatory" transition in January, much the same as T-Mobile, and AT&T is planning to do it sometime in 2022. With Sprint out of the picture after the T-Mobile merger, that's basically all of the major US wireless carriers that I'm aware of, so this will be universal (at least in the USA) before too very long. Some amount of preparation to make sure the custom-ROM field will remain viable past that point would seem appropriate; I'm surprised by how little activity in that area I've been able to find thus far.
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Totally agree, I'm surprised this news hasn't gotten more attention in the community. First came to mind, "ah crap, no more custom roms." (perse).
I started a thread on this on the LG v50 forums to raise awareness, hopefully there can be workarounds:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/v50-thinq/help/att-t-mobile-to-off-3g-networks-disable-t4163491
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By forcing VOLTE, this can potentially lock out some unlocked phones and also exclude custom roms, forcing users to buy carrier branded phones. In addition, shutting down 3G and forcing 4G VOLTE will ensure that lots of customers upgrade/buy new phones when their current phone may be perfectly fine otherwise(unnecessary costs and more perfectly working phones in the land fill in vain).

IIRC, you could use a stock from on your S5 and just remove the bad parts. It's no substitute for AOSP but you got to do what you got to do. Plus it's free. The stock files should be available and you can use recovery to image your phone so you don't lose your data. That is the route I would go and can't really do on my S3.
Other phone selections are looking GRIM in terms of removable batteries, reasonable size, etc. You can look to the V20 or G5 from LG but you will have to do the above process and that is almost where I'm at. Poked and prodded rom isn't the end, I did it for years on my gS2 when AOSP couldn't get HW fully functional.
Motorola has models that do work but they are mostly sealed units and everything is really hard to find as its plastered all over XDA in posts from years ago. Do all rom links even work?
While we were sleeping people got taken over by the machine and the devs didn't know what was coming or couldn't figure out the proprietary implementations.
The question with Tmo is also, is band 12 mandatory or will other phones work on 2 and 4 and volte over that. Nobody has even asked the question. I'm going to try to be safe.

DUP deleted

So odd that such a fatal issue seems to be imminently coming without some progress being made to avert it because unneeded and dangerous 5g is crowding out 2g & 3g. The s5 and note 4 are THE gold standard of excellent screen and hardware and thus the only real choices of replaceable battery phones - the REAL reason that phone mfg force millions of phones to be tossed in the landfills - shame on them! Custom Roms provide extremely important current security updates and allow apks that are updated and no longer work on slightly older android 6 versions (chase, Starbucks, united, etc). Pretty bad to discover after factory resetting a phone that play store won't let you download current or working version.
Perhaps we can crowd fund developers to attack this looming disaster soon?

uds0 said:
So odd that such a fatal issue seems to be imminently coming without some progress being made to avert it because unneeded and dangerous 5g is crowding out 2g & 3g. The s5 and note 4 are THE gold standard of excellent screen and hardware and thus the only real choices of replaceable battery phones - the REAL reason that phone mfg force millions of phones to be tossed in the landfills - shame on them! Custom Roms provide extremely important current security updates and allow apks that are updated and no longer work on slightly older android 6 versions (chase, Starbucks, united, etc). Pretty bad to discover after factory resetting a phone that play store won't let you download current or working version.
Perhaps we can crowd fund developers to attack this looming disaster soon?
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Attack
ＧΛËＬＤＵＶΛＬ (@[email protected])
We're in the process to backport VoLTE support to /e/OS on Samsung Galaxy S9 (Exynos). We're looking for strong expertise here. If you know some true experts in the VoLTE support field, please get in touch! (mailto: [email protected]) #VoLTE #engineering...
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