I have attempted to post this multiple times on blackview's official forums, but for some reason it never gets approved...
Around a year ago I got a new phone and as always one of the first things I do is try to root it. The majority of online tutorials are a copy-paste of each other, and often start with "Install SP Flash Tool and acquire a TWRP image for your phone model". Being an avid ArchLinux user, I don't want to boot up a Windows machine just to root my phone. Android is Linux, so surely Linux machines can talk directly to each other? The android-tools package solves that issue, and most of this tutorial was done on the command line.
The second issue is that unlike mainstream phones from big names like Samsung and OnePlus, the "Chinese" phone market has a huge variety of makes and models from companies like Blackview, Doogee, Cubot, etc. and often an individual model may not have a big following so there will rarely be an existing tutorial for the exact make/model you have, and probably no TWRP image either (or at least not for a few years after release for the better known models). So the standard tutorials are of little use to owners of these phones.
Enter Magisk, an open-source and user-friendly tool which enables you to root any phone as long as you have access to the stock ROM (and most of the "Chinese" phones usually do provide it somewhere).
What follows was written around Nov 2019, so newer versions of the apps used probably exist by now. This was originally written specifically for owners of the BV9500 Plus and I have only tested with that, but it was compiled from other tutorials and the steps are generic enough that it should work for any android phone (obviously you will need to locate the stock ROM for your model first).
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Download appropriate stock ROM from blackview forum (mine was EEA version).
http://bbs.blackview.hk/viewtopic.php?f=278&t=531466 -
Ensure you have
adbandfastbootinstalled on your computer (and ensure you have any drivers required if you are on windows). -
Download MagiskManager-v7.3.5.apk
https://github.com/topjohnwu/Magisk/releases/download/manager-v7.3.5/MagiskManager-v7.3.5.apk -
Extract
boot-verified.imgfrom the stock ROM. -
In your phone's settings make sure OEM unlocking is enabled, USB debugging is enabled and USB preferences are set to "File transfer" (and that your cable is not a charging-only cable).
First you need to put your phone into fastboot mode, you can do this with the key combination (press and hold vol up, press and hold power until logo shows up, then release power but hold vol up until menu comes up, then select reboot into bootloader) but the easier way is with adb.
- Open a terminal/command prompt on your computer and verify adb detects your device like so:
adb devices
You should see something like BV9500PEEA0001234 device, if you get anything else check usb options on your phone.
- Now reboot the phone into fastboot mode with the following command:
adb reboot-bootloader
When the phone has booted in to fastboot mode (you will see a small message on the screen) we can unlock the bootloader. Note, the following step will RESET YOUR PHONE to factory settings and DELETE YOUR FILES, make sure you have backed up!
- Run this command to do the unlock:
fastboot flashing unlock
(Note for linux users: you may need to use sudo)
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A message will appear on your phone screen, you will need to press the volume up key to confirm ("Yes").
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After that you should be able to select on the phone how to reboot, select "Normal mode".
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Let the phone boot normally, you will see an extra message about the phone being unlocked and can't be trusted and it will take a bit longer, don't worry this is normal.
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Now you'll have to run through the basic setup again, when that's done move to the next step.
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Open up your phone's storage on your computer and copy across the
boot-verified.imgwe extracted before as well as the MagiskManager apk. -
On your phone find the apk and open it to install (you may be prompted to allow installation of unknown apps).
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When you have installed it select "Install Magisk", choose the option to patch a file, navigate to whatever folder you put
boot-verified.imgin, and select that. -
When it finishes you now have a
magisk_patched.imgin your Download folder (not sure why it ends up there but it did for me). Copy this file to your computer. -
Now we need to put the phone into fastboot again:
adb reboot-bootloader
- We can now flash our patched image (ensure you are working in the same directory you copied it to):
fastboot flash boot magisk_patched.img
- It should transfer in a couple of seconds, then we reboot:
fastboot reboot
Your phone should now be rooted :)
You may need to do some additional setup in MagiskManager and it's a good idea to run the "SafetyNet Check" before you start using any root apps.
@yenalsekim I'm afraid I am still on Android 9, the downside to these chinese phone brands is that there is usually never any version upgrade support. I love the phone as well despite finally managing to break the screen after two years of dropping it, replacement screens seem hard enough to find as well so probably a good idea to stock up on those too!