yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
True, but there are differences... Apple you have to jailbreak with every update, android you just need to root and unlock the bootloader once, then just flash rom with the updates

At this point we don't have options because AT&T is the only one with the Active.

I personally think on first boot it should ask you in a hidden menu:

"Please select the following options (note if you do not understand what it means chose the recommended setting)

Rooted and with the bootloader unlocked

Unrooted and the bootloader locked(recommended)

NOTE if you leave it unlocked and rooted you will lose all software warranty immediately be VERY careful what you put on your device. Your serial number will be flagged THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING"
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] Rattles:
yeah the way they go about locking is different but the idea is the same. just look at how quickly they patched the Loki method. and i agree with you on the hidden menu option and would love to see that happens but i am afraid that something like that will never come from AT&T :(

btw, i will throw in $15 for the bounty for unlocking the bootloader. not sure if i will even get the phone but if i can screw AT&T in anyway, i am in :)
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
Thanks!

In their defense they have to patch holes like that because if a hacker decides to use the same exploit to steal info, destroy phones or one of the 100's of pointless things they like to do we are all screwed. Not only do the devs here at xda display these exploits but they publish them so any user can use it... so they have to patch for security reasons. But I understand... if they lets us do what we want on our devices we wouldn't need to find exploits in the first place
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] Devo7v:
One thing that gives me hope that the bootloader will one day be unlocked is that the GS4 update that was pushed yesterday basically gave them the same restrictions we have. We now have a much larger community trying to figure out how to install a custom recovery. With that said, it seems like they should be able to use a modified version of Geohot's apk to root their devices.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
Exactly my thoughts, at least we are on the same playing field :)
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] echonc:
Yeah but we haven't heard from geohot since he released his apk. Wish he would chime in with any progress if any to unlocking bootloader.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
Maybe if all those people didn't accuse him of stealing someone else's work he would still be around? Or maybe he will blow our minds and every Samsung devs mind by cracking it... We don't know
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] yankeesfan714:
Yeah man. I never understood why people bash that guy. Even way back on iOS 3.1, people never cease to amaze me.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
Yeah, he is awesome. If he never stopped by we would probably not even have root. Hopefully he will help us out, just because some people are like that does not mean we all are. Please [MENTION=3280118]geohot[/MENTION]
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] echonc:
I completely agree. We should all give thanks! He is very talented and wish he could see that not everyone on Xda are hatters.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] kirkgrier:
I'm in for $25.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] stephensonbrady:
Put me down for 10 dollars!
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
Updated, thanks
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] paleh0rse:
Put me down for $10, as well.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] amerikian:
I got $10 on it

:cowboy:
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] taaeng:
10$ as well.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] besweeet:
Just curious, but when you see the unlocked padlock and "Custom" on the boot screen, that doesn't mean anything, does it? My Active is rooted, and that's it. Only saw it once a little while ago, and further reboots aren't showing anything.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] MegaGalan:
It will work something like this for our models.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2363025
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
Has anyone tried this on the i537? This doesn't seem device specific. Maybe the bootloader tokens are different ... It will probably fail
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] msn.debord:
I'd be afraid to. What's the worst that could happen? :D
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
Anytime you mess with thing you always have a chance of something going wrong. But most likely it will just reject the token and you will still have the locked bootloader. Still worth a try if someone has the b@lls to try it
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] besweeet:
Disregard.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] thatbigmoose:
No Samsung device has access to fastboot.. Except the nexus line. It's very device specific.

Now if we could somehow forcefully flash the GE bootloaders say with heimdall or something then that's a different story
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
That is what I thought, but when I read it I was shocked. I'm not sure how samsung can unlock it but I was thinking it was worth a shot.

Sounded HTC like to me
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] besweeet:
I posted this yesterday, and nobody replied, so I'll try again (already did some research with no real answer): Just curious, but when you see the unlocked padlock and "Custom" on the boot screen, that doesn't mean anything, does it? My Active is rooted, and that's it. Only saw it once a little while ago, and further reboots aren't showing anything.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
It happens when you root sometimes. Sometimes busybox will activate it. If you install supersu and update the binaries it may fix it
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] Kyuta Syuko:
I think I might give it a shot this weekend and pray I don't somehow end up with an expensive paperweight...
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
cool, there is a good chance it wont do anything. But it is cool that our curiosity will be answered.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] Kyuta Syuko:
Would be great if I actually had a CWM or TWRP recovery to attempt to flash though...
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
TWRP is working on a version for our phone but it is not currently available. The drivers do not work(mostly the LCD). The i9505 version does not work currently

EDIT: Just to remind everyone just because there will be a version that will work for our phone does not mean that we can flash it right away. We still need the bootloader unlocked ;) Hope I didn't get anyones hopes up.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] Kyuta Syuko:
If I can get one that will work so I can try any and all potential methods then I'll be happy.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
Ok great :) let us know

Go to this thread to keep up to date with recoveries and what they have tried on the i9295
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] choochcaleb:
Will somebody please help me with applying the CM 10.1 custom rom?
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] popfan:
You do realize that you need UNLOCKED Bootloader to apply it right??? and have a working version of TWRP or CWM? Which we have none of the above.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] besweeet:
He obviously didn't read anything related to the topic, let alone the topic itself.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] choochcaleb:
Im not on an active just am AT&T S4... idk if that makes a difference but
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] popfan:
Then you are posting in the wrong area
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
Yeah get root, install twrp and flash the rom. If you don't know how to do that read around and don't start until all those things makes sense. We have a different phone
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] choochcaleb:
I didn't think there was a difference in the software but thanks for pointing out my mistakes that I didn't do. I did read the topic so thank you. :) have a good day.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
When will you try this? The Active threads are starting to go flat.. Hoping something will bring it back to life
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] skeppley:
I agree. Looks like the active has come to a dead end without this unlock :(

Put me down for 20 to help the cause.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] Kyuta Syuko:
Alright just gave it a shot but I don't think it worked. Fastboot just sits there waiting for device and there's nothing on the device in terms of a prompt requiring a response. Someone who hasn't updated to MF3 might want to give it a shot though.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
Dang I just send back in my other S4 active running MF1. I got a replacement unit

Could that be drivers? It would be interesting if samsung moved to a HTC type unlock bootloader method.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] jeboo:
Best shot is the VZW bounty, it's over 3k now..
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] barondebxl:
:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: 3K???!!???? Damn. Shows you how many more ppl use Verizon, thats amazing.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] jdawg929:
a little confused. by vzw do you mean international ive searched around and thats the only other thread ive found about this bootloader situation
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=43899864#post43899864
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] bubba9004:
add me for $10
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] :
Lol right. I used to have them. Any who 3k is a lot of money id work all night to figure it out but never gonna happen jet xD
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] Zmetta:
Violated.

Please add my $50.00 USD pledge to the list.

I can't stand this Groping Magician anymore.

- Samsung Galaxy S4 hActive
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] daledenton:
Who ever does a clean bootloader unlock will get a crisp $100 bill from me.

Mark it, dude.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] x7nofate:
international version of s4 active have unlocked bootloader and Im wondering way there is no even one single custom rom for this device?:(
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] Deliximus:
$20 from me!!!
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
They are still waiting for a custom recovery to be updated to support the active. They have confirmed that it will boot the s4 roms but it needs a few drivers. Once they get TWRP they will probably be able to flash the actives kernel and boom
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] dave5777:
Put me down for $25 I'm having flashing withdrawals:crying:
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] berntahlback:
Where do you got the info that it have unlocked bootloader ? Haven't found it elsewhere. and if so I will buy it immediatly.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2363185

Unlocked for sure
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] x7nofate:
still no separate thread for s4 active?
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
Nope, the Mods seem to hate us :P
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] ShimaMiku:
We are like a genius red-headed step child with leprosy. Better than everyone but still an outcast.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] n2dp:
WOW...I have this phone sitting in an unopened box from AT&T. My stupidity, but I ordered it without seeing the bootloader is locked. I sure hope one of the "genius" devs get this figured out soon. I went i537 for the LTE, but I may just send the damn thing back.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] dave5777:
You can always Odin MF1
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
Well even without you can still use a lot of mods. Get the i9295 if you want it unlocked but no LTE

I am a flashaholic but find myself happy with my S4 active set up
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] n2dp:
Just frustrated about the whole "locked" thing. I would rather be "free" than "fast". I brought it to work with me and will return it at a nearby AT&T store on my lunch break. I'll just stick with my 9300 and quit buying Sammy products. I think it is sad that the rest of the world gets an unlocked version and the US is locked. Corporate America, I guess. Just another reason to hate AT&T (18 year customer), but they are all the same, so no reason to leave. Good luck with getting this one unlocked guys.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
I hear you, it sucks but what can we do. I still love the phone though but wish carriers would give us the option
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] nexus7owner:
So im a little confused is their a unlocked bootloader for the active or not?...
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] besweeet:
For the North American model, nope.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] Skizzy034:
Which mods?
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
So far I have the dark dialer mod, xposed with nottach's mod, I am about to try some themes after I get the go ahead, CM10.1 MMS mod, Change boot animation mod, tether mods, and the list goes on. We use the app flash gordon to flash the mods we like, it works well once you install busy box. Still want the bootloader cracked for future updates... but I have all the features I normally want in a rom.

** also it looks like CWM has been updated to work with the active, once we get it unlocked we will at least have a recovery :). Let's just hope it gets cracked
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] x7nofate:
fingers crossed, I just ordered sgs4 active, will arrive tomorrow. really like to have option to put custom mods,roms...
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] nexus7owner:
Do you have links to these mods? If so can you post them in a reply.. I think both I and others would like to check them out :D
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] sc0tty8:
Yeah, look in the S4 Active threads, one even has all the little clicky things you just click and they bring you to it....search it out bud :)
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] ztmike:
So wait..I'm a bit confused the regular S4 that's on the big carriers (one on Verizon) with the over $3,000 bounty for boot loader unlock if that gets unlocked wouldn't it also imply to the AT&T S4 Active?
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] thatbigmoose:
Yes sir.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] darktony85:
Can i put it in euros? If so, add me 30€
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
30 euros is 40.08 USD. Added, thanks
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] yoondroid:
Adding to the bounty

Can you add me for $50? I'm new to the forum, so not sure how this works exactly but just let me know the details of how I can pay when (if) we get the bootloader unlocked. And thanks for organizing this! Seems like there are only a few of us Active users, especially with the recent heat it's taking but mine works perfectly fine (even in water!) and am absolutely loving it. It's just that I don't think I'll be able to love it like I love cake until I can get CM on it. How do we summon geohot?

-Y
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
I will add, basically if/when the deveolper(s) crack the bootloader they will tell us how they want the money.Usually it is a paypal donation. We pay and enjoy the exploit.

I'm adding your pledge now, welcome to the forums!
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] JEZZEJAMEZ:
I'm good for 20.00

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] arai5914:
I have a friend who can crack the boot loader but he needs some tester though .
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
Well he has a lot to chose from
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] arai5914:
I talked to him and he can start in 30-45 minutes on a freenode channel.Also he said he needs a few testerr,2-3-4 with some knowledge about Android .

---------- Post added at 11:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:11 AM ----------

No testers?
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
Well there are a few of us. Moose knows the most of us, just let us know what he needs us to do. Has he been working with it already or just started? It looks hard/near impossible
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] arai5914:
Working on it.Let your G+ names here and he will make a hangout.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
joshuadj22
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] JEZZEJAMEZ:
G+ = Jesse Marlow

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] uvbeenzaned:
Well did anything ever happen?
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
Nope lol. I have my doubts though, this would have to be a VERY smart guy to crack something this fast that other devs have been working on for months. But who knows, those people are out there, their brains are HUGE
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] uvbeenzaned:
This is true.

Sent from my Galaxy S4 Active on AT&T Straight Talk
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] JEZZEJAMEZ:
Wow, if we can't Do this I'm going to have to switch to the s4. I need to get my flash fix. I have 14 days of trial period I'm hoping that if I keep this eventually there will be custom roms to flash... Thanks for everyone trying. ...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
if you get the S4 hope it has not been updated. The regular S4 got an update that locks it down worse than the active... No ODIN back
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] JEZZEJAMEZ:
Yikes, what should I look for? I might need to go back to the galaxy note family. Although I really like this active in kinda partial to the large screen the note has....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
I think you want the MDL version. If you get the S4 remove SIM and do not connect to Wifi, it will automatically force the update. Run root and install custom recovery and a rom. If it has the MF3 you are screwed and will have to live with just root.

Personally I do not like the S4's screen, that is my fav thing about my active :)
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] bubba9004:
bubba9004
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] JEZZEJAMEZ:
Dude can't unlock the bootloader without the phone... Just a heads up...

I have the active now with the 3. So that's what I don't want. I'm wondering if I could turn on the phone on before I commit to getting the s4

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
THe active with MF3 is ok, the Regular S4 with the MF3 is locked down
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] uvbeenzaned:
I am having Cyanogenmod withdrawals. Can't wait till the boot loader unlock gets somewhere and the Cyanogenmod team works on a ROM for this.

Sent from my Galaxy S4 Active on AT&T Straight Talk
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] uvbeenzaned:
So I am assuming that all that above unlock stuff fell through?
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
Yes, i'd say so.

Anyone can post and say "Hey my friend is so smart he can crack it" But it takes a lot of work, even if his friend is smart enough, it would probably take him a while. Hopefully he is still working on it but who knows
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] uvbeenzaned:
OK. Well this sucks for me right now. I hate Samsung's stock setup and I hate at&t for locking us down. I've done most of what I can to make my phone feel as native as possible.

I am kind of curious. What would you think about fooling the phone into connecting to a fake ota update server that you run yourself but it actually sends a modified stock image with boot loader fixes in it? Is that even possible? I know this was done with the lg nitro and it worked pretty well. I guess maybe the one problem we have there though is that we don't actually have access to the stock IMG from Samsung.

Sent from my Galaxy S4 Active on AT&T Straight Talk
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
Well if we have learned anything from the people stranded on MF1 is that this phone is VERY picky about accepting OTA updates. Yes, on other phones it was possible but on this phone it will fail most likely. I may be the wrong person to ask but i HIGHLY doubt that. Who knows, all it takes is a small hole
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] uvbeenzaned:
That's very interesting. MAYBE and I mean just MAYBE the OTA updater could be ripped out of the system, decompiled, take out most of Samsung's update stuff, recompiled, and then pushed back to the phone to run the update. I mean, we do have root... Good point or no? I am just kinda thinking on things here because there don't seem to be many ideas flowing, but hey whatever.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
I still have high hope for flash gordon to fix our problems. Flashing roms inside the OS will be sweet, just waiting for his updated apk and see what moose can do with it
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] uvbeenzaned:
But what about this (the red):

"What is Flash Gordon ?

In laymen's words, Flash Gordon is an apk which allows you to flash any flashable zip

(except for Roms)

without having a recovery installed.

You just point it to the zip you want to flash, (be it a kernel, a mod, a gapps package, a modem, a RIL, a recovery...) and it will interpret the updater-script of this package and install its content just like a recovery would."
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
That is the current version, head over to the original thread and check out all the talks for the last week or so. New one is on the horizon, he is playing with some stuff
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] uvbeenzaned:
Wow, I didn't read further! That is looking promising, I just read where he was able to flash from PA to CM pretty well. I just subscribed to it.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] thatbigmoose:
Just to address this whole conversation.. This isn't possible. OTA updates have to be signed by Samsung/AT&T. The phone downloads the update from within the Android OS but it is applied from within recovery. Recovery is what actually checks the signature when it goes to apply the update.

The recovery partition cannot be modified because the boot loader checks its signature upon startup, and if it's not correct re-installs the signed stock recovery.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] uvbeenzaned:
Ok then, could we make a keygen that would sign it properly? Or how does that work? Can't fool that either?
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] texassax:
I've jumped ship from VZW and got an Active yesterday. After 4 years of Droids and custom ROMS, Samsung UI is pretty tough to get used to. I hope we don't have to wait too long for this stuff to come to fruition. I'm in for $20.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
Welcome :) I switched from a S4 and HTC One and I LOVE my active, it puts the regular S4's screen to shame IMO
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] uvbeenzaned:
Josh look!

I can't believe it, PLEASE TELL ME this will help us! A user just posted Samsungs opensource kernel here for our Active!

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2411191

http://opensource.samsung.com/reception/receptionSub.do?method=search&searchValue=SGH-I537
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
Not sure yet, we need to have someone look over (preferable a developer) and see is this helps our cause. Fingers are crossed that maybe this is what we are waiting for. Just don't get excited yet, I have a lot of doubts... probably nothing though
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] uvbeenzaned:
LOL I can't hold myself together! Can you get moose to look at it?
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
He has probably already seen it, but I referenced him in the other thread. I wouldn't get excited, other locked down devices have this and I haven't heard of anything happening
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] uvbeenzaned:
Ahh ok. I sure hope it get us somewhere though. I am sick of no CYAN on mah phone! :(

I was kinda wondering about what this guy said in the kernel thread post here:

Sounds like an idea maybe. IDK.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] joshuadjohnson22:
It is my understanding that if our bootloader was unlocked developers can use this to make their kernels work on custom roms like CM10.1 and/or create custom kernels that are modified. I am not sure what it will do for us who are locked out from being able to flash kernels to our device. I am not a dev and I have VERY limited knowledge of this topic. We just have to be patient.
[Galaxy S 4 Active General] uvbeenzaned:
I guess so. Hope moose sees all of this. :)