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OnePlus is easily one of the most developer friendly OEMs in the smartphone market right now. Unlike other OEMs, the company does not consider the warranty of its smartphones void if their bootloader is unlocked. The company’s latest flagship handset, the OnePlus 3, also enjoys the same benefits that its previous devices have.
This includes not only a liberal policy towards developers and third-party development from the company but also plethora of community support. The OnePlus 3 is just a month old right now, but it already has plenty of custom ROMs available for it. Before you start flashing custom ROMs on your OnePlus 3 though, you will need to unlock its bootloader and gain root access on the handset. My recommendation would be to unlock the bootloader of the phone the very first day you get the phone because it leads to all your data and installed apps being wiped from the phone.
If you have ever rooted a Nexus device before, then you will feel right at home with the steps to root the OnePlus 3.
P.S.: It is recommended that you create a backup of all your important data on the handset since unlocking the bootloader leads to the phone’s internal storage being wiped. And even if the bootloader is already unlocked, you should create a backup of all files just in case something goes wrong and your phone stops booting after being rooted.
Step 1: On your OnePlus 3, head over to Settings -> About Phone, tap on Build Date 7 times to enable the hidden Developer Options menu. Then head back to Settings -> Developer Options and enable the OEM Unlocking option. You will need to enter your password or pattern for verification purposes. Additionally, enable the Advanced Reboot menu option.
Step 2: Set up ADB/Fastboot on your Mac and Windows by following the instructions in the linked guide. Also, download the TWRP recovery and SuperSU zip file from below.
- TWRP for OnePlus 3 (Rename this file to “recovery.img)
- SuperSU
- ADB drivers for Windows (Install the drivers)
Transfer all the files to a folder called “oneplus3” on your desktop.
Step 3: Start a new Command prompt or Terminal window. Use the ‘cd’ command to navigate to the ‘oneplus3‘ folder on your desktop. The below command should work for majority of the users:
cd/desktop/oneplus3
A more simple way would be to simply drag ‘n’ drop the folder to the terminal or command prompt window.
Step 4: Long press the power button on your OnePlus 3 to bring up the power menu. Then select the Reboot option followed by Bootloader. Connect the handset to your PC, and verify that it is being detected by running the following command
fastboot devices
Step 5: If your device is detected, you will receive a valid response along with the device ID of the handset. If you get a timed out error, restart your handset and your PC. If the error message persists, reinstall the ADB/Fastboot drivers.
Step 6: Proceed to unlock the bootloader of your OnePlus 3 using the following command:
fastboot oem unlock
You’ll need to confirm the selection on your handset by pressing the Volume Up button, and your handset will reboot during the process. Once done, your OnePlus 3 should automatically boot back into Android. If not, use the Volume buttons to highlight the ‘Start’ option and confirm your selection by pressing the Power button. The first boot can take a significant amount of time so be patient.
Step 7: Transfer the SuperSU zip file to the internal storage of your OnePlus 3. Then repeat step 4 from above to boot your the device back into Bootloader mode.
Step 8: Connect the device to your PC, and then execute the below command to install TWRP recovery on it.
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
Step 9: You now need to boot your OnePlus 3 into TWRP recovery. You can either do that manually by selecting the ‘Recovery’ option from the bootloader menu or by executing the below command:
fastboot boot recovery.img
Step 10: After your OnePlus 3 boots into TWRP recovery, tap on Install and proceed to select the SuperSU zip file. Confirm your selection by swiping the arrow at the bottom to the right.
Step 11: Once the SuperSU zip file has been installed, select the ‘Reboot system’ option. The first boot after installing the zip file will take notably longer, but this will be a one-off incident.
After your OnePlus 3 boots into Android, open the SuperSU app to let the app update its binary.
With the bootloader unlocked and the handset rooted, you can now install any custom ROM that you want on your OnePlus 3.
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