Back on March 23, 2021, OnePlus unveiled its flagship devices for the year 2021. They also launched a premium mid-range device alongside the new OnePlus 9 series. It is OnePlus 9R which came with slightly improved features when compared to the OnePlus 8T. Also, it’s worth noting that, OnePlus has moved from flagship killers to the proper flagship. They had a partnership with Hasselblad for tuning the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro cameras this time. It’s a huge contract, and one can see the same in the new device’s pricing. Although OnePlus phones come with the popular Oxygen OS, some people like to use custom ROMS on their devices. Today, we are bringing a guide on unlocking the new OnePlus 9 Pro’s bootloader and rooting the device using Magisk. But before, let us have a glance at the specifications of the new OnePlus 9 Pro.
OnePlus 9 Pro Specifications
The OnePlus 9 Pro features a 6.7-inch LTPO Fluid AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 120Hz and has all features seen on a flagship display. The downside is, it still uses the old Gorilla Glass 5 instead of the new Gorilla Glass Victus. Underneath, it sports the Snapdragon 888 chipset, which pairs with 8 & 12GB of RAM and 128 & 256GB of internal storage. OnePlus has used UFS 3.1 tech for internal storage. On the software front, it runs on OxygenOS 11.3.3 based on Android 11. The device has four cameras to the rear and a single one on the front.
The setup comprises a primary 48MP Sony IMX 789 with an aperture value of f/1.8 and OIS. It has a 50MP Sony IMX 766 ultra-wide angle sensor with an f/2.2 aperture and an 8MP telephoto sensor with 3x optical zoom and OIS. Finally, it has a 2MP monochrome sensor which is of no use. Like the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, it can also shoot 8K videos. To the front, the phone has the old 16MP Sony IMX 471 sensor with an aperture value of f/2.4. Sadly, the device only can shoot 1080p videos. The smartphone draws juice from a 4500 mAh battery which supports 65W wired charging tech and 50W wireless charging tech. It is protected by IP68 tech and is water-resistant, only up to 1.5M. If you don’t know what a Bootloader is, here is everything about the same.
Whats is Bootloader Unlocking?
As we said above, we will explain what Bootloader. A Bootloader is a part of a program that runs on your smartphone before the OS boots up. All smartphones sold in the world come with a locked bootloader. It means that you won’t be able to install any other ROM or modules. Once you have unlocked it, you can install anything on your device. It also means that you can customize your device in any way which you want. You can’t directly unlock the Bootloader of your device, for that specific process is required. After unlocking the Bootloader, you can root and install modules in the Stock ROM itself. Some users love to use Stock ROM with root access.
Earlier, people unlock the Bootloader on their old devices because brands even drop software support after a while. By doing so, you can enjoy the latest Android version on your device. Also, you should note that some brands often void warranty once you unlock the Bootloader. But OnePlus gives a warranty even if you unlock the Bootloader of the device. Thumps up to OnePlus for not cancelling the warranty. Now, let us look into the requirements and steps for unlocking the Bootloader of the OnePlus 9 Pro.
Requirements
- First, you should install Android SDK on your PC.
For this, install the Android SDK provided by Google. You can download the Android SDK Platform from here. It is the official Android SDK platform and Fastboot. After downloading, you can install the file after extracting the zip file.
- Enable OEM to unlock and USB Debugging on your device.
- Make sure to take a backup of your data.
- 60% + battery backup.
Steps for unlocking Bootloader on OnePlus 9 Pro
- First, connect your OnePlus device with the cable to your PC and then approve USB debugging on your phone.
- Now, navigate to the platform folder which you have installed before. Enter CMD in the address bar or hold the shift button and right-click on your mouse. Then, tap on Open Command Prompt here option. Do note that you can open Command Prompt in both ways, and there is no problem if your PC opens PowerShell.
- Then, enter adb reboot bootloader in the Command Prompt, and your device will reboot to Bootloader.
- To confirm that your device has an active connection, enter fastboot devices in the Command Prompt.
- You can confirm the connection if it displays the device id followed by a fastboot keyword.
- Now, enter fastboot flashing unlock in the command prompt. A warning will appear on your OnePlus device’s screen. Please tap on the Volume keys to select the Unlock the Bootloader option and then use the Power button to confirm it.
- The device will format the data and restart within a few minutes.
- There you go, you have successfully unlocked the Bootloader of your new OnePlus device.
- You can sign in with your Google id and use the device as normal.
Some users may like to root their device, which will allow them to install modules and other pieces of stuff. If you guys like to do the same, then you can follow the following part.
How to root OnePlus 9 Pro?
Requirements
- Everything is the same as above but with a few more things.
- Download the Magisk app.
- Download the firmware of your OnePlus device (the one on which your device is currently running)
Steps for rooting OnePlus 9 Pro
- Extract the firmware and find the boot.img file. Copy the same to the root storage of your OnePlus device.
- Now, install the Magisk APK, which you have downloaded from the above link. Once you have installed the APK, open the Magisk app.
- Then, tap on the Select and Patch a File option.
- From here, browse the boot.img file which you have extracted earlier.
- Then, Magisk will perform, and the output will be stored inside the Downloads folder. It will be in the name of the folder magisk_patched.img.
- Now copy the output file to your PC and place the same inside the Platforms folder.
- Then connect your OnePlus device to the PC again.
- Now, navigate to the platform folder and enter CMD in the address bar or hold the shift button and right-click on your mouse. Then, tap on Open Command Prompt here option.
- Enter adb reboot bootloader in the Command Prompt, and your device will reboot to Bootloader.
- Now type fastboot devices to verify that your device is connected.
- If your device is connected, then type fastboot flash boot boot.img to flash, and it will root your OnePlus device. Then, reboot your device and install the Magisk Manager app. There is no problem if it is already installed.
- Open the app and follow the instructions displayed on the screen. Your device will be reboot once you complete the above-said items.
You can check if your device is rooted by installing Root Checking apps that are available on Google Play Store. Meanwhile, you can check our article on installing Xposed Modules in Android 11 running devices. Share the article with your friends and family. Don’t hesitate to clear your doubts in the comment section.