While most Samsung Galaxy owners never fiddle with their phones' innards, but there’s a hardcore group of Android obsessives who live for rooting, custom ROMs and alternative kernels. For years, Samsung let that crowd have their fun, at least outside the United States.

Now, that freedom appears to be over. One UI 8 has quietly killed off bootloader unlocking for good.

The change won’t come as a shock to anyone in the US, where Samsung shut down bootloader access yonks ago. Elsewhere, though, the option had clung on. That ends with the arrival of One UI 8, according to reports based on Galaxy S25 beta firmware.

The same lock has been confirmed on stable builds for the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7. A closer look at the software code shows that the restriction is global. Once a phone is running One UI 8, the bootloader unlock switch is gone no matter where it’s sold.

The Android hobbyist crowd isn’t thrilled. Without unlock access, there’s no route to installing custom ROMs after Samsung drops official support or cranking out extra performance with bespoke kernels.

Samsung might argue this is less of a problem than it used to be. Its newer phones now promise seven years of Android updates, which is more than enough for most users. But for those who liked pushing their phones past its limits, One UI 8 is the end of the road.