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You still cannot bootloader unlock and root the ASUS Zenfone 10
- ASUS’s bootloader unlock tool has been unavailable for many months now.
- The company previously denied reports that its phone could no longer be bootloader unlocked, assuring users that the policy had not changed.
- However, the situation has not changed, and for phones like the Zenfone 10, users have not been able to unlock their bootloader at all.
ASUS makes some great flagship phones. It’s one of the few smartphone companies that doesn’t hesitate to walk off the beaten path and experiment with their phones. The ASUS Zenfone 10 is praised for being an excellent compact flagship, while the ROG Phone series gets us the best performance on Android alongside some innovative gaming features. But for everything the company gets right on its phones, ASUS has left enthusiasts hanging out this year as the company has still not provided bootloader unlock capabilities for the Zenfone 10.
ASUS users have been unable to unlock the bootloader of their phones for a while now, since close to May 2023. In August, conversations with technical support staff revealed that ASUS had killed the ability to bootloader unlock and consequently root its phone lineup, namely the Zenfone and ROG Phone series.
However, at the time, ASUS denied the report through its spokesperson. The company clarified that while the unlock tool was unavailable at that moment, citing maintenance, the possibility to unlock remained present for its phones. The support staff had seemingly misinterpreted the situation.
Unfortunately, it has been a few months since those reports, and the situation remains the same. ASUS’s bootloader unlock tool is nowhere to be found, leaving the enthusiast community in the lurch. The possibility of unlocking isn’t even theoretical at this stage.
All Zenfone 10 users have been unable to unlock their phone’s bootloader since the phone was launched after the tool went offline. Even older phones like the Zenfone 9 and the ROG Phone 7 can no longer bootloader unlock. So, if you missed your chance while the tool was available, you can’t unlock these phones anymore. And since the situation has not improved over the months, one can no longer be confident about future ASUS phones like the ROG Phone 8 supporting bootloader unlock and rooting.
Without bootloader unlocking, the enthusiast community around a phone dwindles away. In all practical cases, you cannot root your phone or install any custom ROMs, kernels, or other advanced modifications. When the phone OEM drops software support, you have no choice but to remain forever on outdated software.
ASUS had previously been excellent in supporting the enthusiast community. Unlocking the bootloader was relatively easy once upon a time, and the company would also seed devices to popular developers for their community projects. We hope the company makes good on its promise to provide bootloader unlocking on its phones.
We’ve contacted ASUS for a comment and will update this article once we hear back from them.