Unlock Bootloader on Vivo X70 Pro Plus, Y31, and V21e (Unofficially)

As a Chinese smartphone OEM, some brands have been facing tough competition in the smartphone market in the last couple of years. Well, Vivo is one of them for offering smartphones from entry-level to mid-range to flagship killers. But Vivo devices aren’t capable of unlocking the bootloader officially. Luckily, the XDA developers team has done the job for some Vivo models. You can check the steps below to Unlock Bootloader on Vivo X70 Pro Plus, Vivo Y31, and Vivo V21e unofficially.

If we take a brief look at the current generation’s industry, several Android fans may say about Google Pixel, Xiaomi, OnePlus, etc brands for more customization-friendly aspects. However, Vivo doesn’t allow its device users to easily unlock the bootloader and flash custom firmware which can be a dealbreaker for some people. Whereas the customization support is also less in terms of other OEM devices.

It’s needless to say that all three popular smartphone companies such as OPPO, OnePlus, Realme, and Vivo (iQOO) come under the parent company BBK Electronics in China. Though OnePlus and Realme device users customize and tweak quite easily even without voiding the manufacturer’s warranty, Vivo devices are extremely difficult to customize via third-party mods or ROMs.

Steps to Unlock Bootloader on Vivo X70 Pro Plus, Vivo Y31, and Vivo V21e (Unofficially)

It seems that Vivo doesn’t offer the official bootloader unlocking method and not even the kernel sources for their launched smartphones. A big thanks to the XDA community for providing the Vivo’s custom Fastboot interface, XDA members Pervokur and Killuminati91 have managed to unlock the bootloader unofficially for a couple of models using the Chinese OEM such as Vivo V21e, Vivo X70 Pro Plus, and Vivo Y31.

However, there is an issue with this unofficial bootloader unlocking method because it is only applicable to the Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset-powered Vivo devices. It also disables the fingerprint scanner for the Vivo X70 Pro Plus model. Most importantly, interested users will also have to flash a custom vendor image via a modified Fastboot binary to be successful with the bootloader unlocking process.

Now, we’ve shared with you all the step-by-step instructions to easily unlock the device bootloader on your Vivo X70 Pro Plus, Vivo Y31, and Vivo V21e, recommended by the XDA team.

WARNING: This is an experimental guide and it may brick your device. Unlocking the bootloader requires a wipe afterwards. Unlocking the bootloader will also disable the fingerprint scanner on the Vivo X70 Pro+. Also unlocking the bootloader might remove bokeh modes from portrait.

Requirements:

1. Your device should have left more than 50% of its battery level. Higher is better.
2. A Windows computer and a USB data cable.
3. Install the Android USB Drivers on your computer.
4. Enable Developer Options & USB Debugging on your phone.
5. Download Vivo Android Fastboot-V2 for Windows | Vivo Android Fastboot-V2 for Linux
6. Create a full backup on your device How to Backup Important Data On Android (Non-rooted users)
7. Download vendor.img – Link

Unlock the Bootloader on the Vivo X70 Pro Plus

You can now check the steps below to unlock the bootloader on the Vivo X70 Pro+ model.

• You’ll have to enable OEM Unlock in Developer Options on the handset. Before that you have to enable developer options and usb debugging that guide has been linked above.

• Now, connect your device to the PC via the USB cable.
• Then extract the ADB Platform Tools folder and install it on the PC.

• You can now run the command below to boot into the ADB Fastboot mode:

adb reboot fastboot

• Next, you’ll have to execute the following command to enter into the fastboot bootloader:

fastboot reboot bootloader

• Copy the downloaded vendor.img file inside the Download folder.
• Open multiple cmd windows inside the Download folder.
• Type in the following command line and hit Enter on a cmd to run it:

fastboot vivo_bsp unlock_vivo

• Type in the following command line in the 2nd cmd window and hit Enter to execute it:

fastboot flash vendor vendor.img

• Now, instantly switch back to the first cmd window & then press up and enter many times.

Please Note: You’ll have to make it right to unlock the device bootloader properly.

• Then press the Power button on your device to reboot it and check if your bootloader warning is appearing or not.
• Wait for the handset to reboot until it asks you to wipe.
• You should have to select the first option and then select the one on the right side to proceed further.

Do keep in mind that if your first attempt doesn’t work then unlock the bootloader and relock the bootloader. Then again unlock the bootloader using this same method to ensure everything works fine. Thanks to @Naveen Singh and @Pervokur for this process.

Unlock the Bootloader on the Vivo Y31 and Vivo V21e

You can now check the steps below to unlock the bootloader on the Vivo Y31 and Vivo V21e models. XDA members have used these two models and firmware versions as the reference. (Vivo Y31 PD2050F 2021 A12 6.7.20 & Vivo V21e PD2107F A12 6.6.19)

• You’ll require a rooted Samsung Galaxy device with A10 Custom ROM via the XDA forum.
• Grab the custom fastboot for Vivo_v2 (Linux x86_64) from the requirements section.
• Install the Termux application on your Vivo device from f-droid.
• Get Termux Ubuntu CLI here.
• You’ll have to enable OEM Unlock in Developer Options on the handset.
• Now, connect your device to the PC via the USB cable.
• Then extract the ADB Platform Tools folder and install it on the PC.
• Power Off your Vivo smartphone and enter into the fastboot mode by pressing the Power+Volume Down buttons simultaneously.

If you are using Linux then type the following command and hit Enter:

sudo ./fastboot bbk unlock_vivo

• If you are a Windows user, type the following command and hit Enter:

fastboot bbk unlock_vivo

• You’re done. Your Vivo phone is now Unlocked.
• Now, you can reboot in EDL mode by running the command below:

fastboot oem reboot-edl

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REMINDER! Rebooting into EDL using fastboot will lock the bootloader state on your Vivo device. So, you should have to unlock the bootloader again (if required).

You can use any .img to get it done. Use QEMU + Fastboot
Ubuntu to run QEMU
Termux to run Ubuntu
Magisk to grant Root
amd64.zip (you can create your own to download x86_64 libs)

Make sure to run all commands with root to see your device in fastboot.

This is how you can unofficially unlock the bootloader on Vivo X70 Pro Plus, Vivo V21e, and Vivo Y31 devices. For any issues, you can ask for forum support in the XDA link below.

Credit: XDA Developers