According to tipster Ice Universe, Samsung has disabled Odin, a proprietary firmware flashing tool typically used to install stock firmware, install custom ROMs, and restore devices. It also appears that Samsung has removed “Download Mode,” which acts as a gateway for Odin. This change appears to have been made in the latest One UI 8.5 firmware and currently affects the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and recently launched Galaxy S26 series.
Sigh. I haven’t actually run a non-standard firmware for a while now, but I’m finding the mindset of a lot of these big companies exhausting, the relentless push for them to control every aspect of everything. Particularly when they’re charging huge amounts for the device and to my mind at least can’t claim they’ve somehow subsidised the hardware.
The only answer is regulation. We need laws that say, if you own a device, you can do anything you want to it, including wipe it, hack it, resell it, etc.
If they want to control your device, or lease it to you provided you pay a monthly fee, etc, they need to say “Lease”, “Rent” or similar, not buy.
And they shouldn’t be able to void your warranty for it - voids should be limited to the parts of the device you mess with. Like, if you flash your phone, they should be able to say, we can’t give you support, including how to re-install the original OS…but if your battery fails and it shocks you, they should have to replace the battery under a warranty.
We also need laws that say, if you pay for a device, that device itself, can’t have ads. So like, when talking about Android TV boxes, they can put recommendations on the homepage, but not ads, and those recommendations can’t be paid. Now, if you open youtube, they can make you watch ads.
As long as they don’t encounter any resistance, they have no reason to renounce their enshittification process.
Will the sales slow because of this? Unlikely. I would assume the power users are in the noise.
Will they make more money? Probably, either through their own data collection and brokerage, or from third party editors paying to have their app bundled in the OS.
So, no catch! (for them…)
I dont run custom ROMs anymore either but I have needed Odin a few times over the last few years to flash different OEM firmware to devices. Examples are a couple of work phones the company let me keep after upgrading which had Sprint firmware. I was able to flash Tmobile firmware to them while simultaneously removing all the locked-down work stuff that was preventing me from doing anything with the devices like activating developer mode.
As far as my personal device, an S21 Ultra, I’ll probably need to upgrade it in the next couple of years and I think its finally time to ditch Samsung. I had similar feelings before getting the S21 but compromised since the market was shit for higher-end devices (I typically get a higher end device and then keep it for years and years) and i have no interest in Apple. It sucks because the market is still weak as hell in the US. Every device I’ve come across that looks decent is a EU device that doesn’t support all of Tmobile’s bands.
if you’re paying more than what most people make a month for a fuckin phone, then you should be able to do what the fuck ever you damn well fuckin please with the phone.
No I dont own these afflicted phones, I’m not that rich, I’m just talking on principle
Samsung’s UI sucks but Odin only helped the few that were actually aware of it.
I can recommend the Fairphone for those who appreciate actually owning the device they paid for
Unfortunately it isn’t a particularly great spec. It’s fine if you don’t care about those things but for people that want high-end smartphones the phone isn’t going to cut it.
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Between this and Dex, there’s little reason left for me to keep using Samsung.
Fond memories of using Odin to flash my Galaxy S3 back in the day. I thought Knox killed custom firmware on Galaxy, though — with the S4.
You’re thinking of the Verizon s5. That version of Knox still hasn’t been broken
Samsung is a no-go again anyway, as they have decided to go back to their shitty Exynos CPUs for the S26. The CPU itself is fine, but their modems are awful.
Going from my Exynos S22 to a Snapdragon S25 was night and day mobile reception wise.
What would you get for a new phone nowadays?
oh, is this why the software update happened without my consent?
but then what do the service centers use?
Oh well…Another reason not to bother with them.
Oh.
I just ordered a fold 7 and I was contemplating which ROM I should install…
I guess that’s that then.
Cancel the order!
Aye aye sir!
