Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3's camera gets artificially blocked after unlocking the bootloader

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The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3's cameras were being artificially disabled from software after the unlocking the phone's bootloader.

Background

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 (marketed as Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3, and known in some regions as the Samsung Galaxy Fold 3) is a foldable smartphone belonging to the Galaxy Z lineup. It was officially unveiled by Samsung Electronics on August 11, 2021, during the Samsung Unpacked event, alongside the Galaxy Z Flip 3. This device succeeds the Galaxy Z Fold 2.

As reported by some XDA Senior Members (白い熊 and ianmacd) the final confirmation screen shown when unlocking the bootloader on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 warns that doing so will disable the camera. After booting with the bootloader unlocked, the default camera application becomes unusable, and all camera-related features stop working, which also prevents the use of facial recognition. Any function that relies on the cameras either times out and throws errors or simply shows a black screen, including third-party camera apps.[1]

Samsung's response

Samsung reportedly fixed the issue with the release of OneUI 4.0 beta for the device.