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I have iVOOMi Me5. its with Android 7.0, 2GB RAM and 16GB ROM.

In its Developer Options, there is an option to enable OEM unlocking. If I enable OEM unlocking and USB debugging,

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please let me know, what I can expect?

  • Will I get root access?
  • Will I lose all data and installed application?
  • Will I be able to use my phone in the same android and applications?

With Regards

FewL

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OEM unlocking toggle

What this does:

  • Allows you to run the fastboot oem unlock command from fastboot mode and hence root your phone.

What this does not do:

  • Wipe your phone
  • Delete your applications
  • Clear your data, photos or media
  • Change your Android version
  • Root your phone
  • Anything else

Why you would want to enable this:

  • If you're rooting your phone, updating the OS or just unlocking your bootloader.

USB Debugging

What this does:

  • Enables full access to your device from a connected computer (security risk)

What this does not do:

  • Wipe your phone
  • Delete your applications
  • Clear your data, photos or media
  • Change your Android version
  • Root your phone
  • Anything else

Why you would want to enable this:

  • If you're making use of the adb program to communicate between a computer and your phone. More info.

Final judgement (TL;DR)

I recommend you keep both of these toggles switched off unless you are a developer, are helping a developer or wish to root your phone.

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  • +1 was writing out an answer - you beat me to it – beeshyams Dec 21 '17 at 18:10
  • Thank you for replying. I want to flash my phone with MIUI9 Stable. Can I do it? Please guide. – FewL Dec 21 '17 at 18:29
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    @user725162 You should ask a separate question for that ("How can I flash my Mi5 with MIUI9 stable?"). This is a Q&A site, not a forum :) – Izzy♦ Dec 21 '17 at 21:58
  • Tomothy: There's more to usb debugging than just developing apps (maybe you want to include that link to our corresponding tag-wiki with your answer). For end users, there's especially adb backup and also adb logcat coming to aid in many situations. And it's certainly not restricted to "developers or root users". One more thing: oem unlock does NOT root the device. It just allows you to e.g. flash a custom recovery, which a.o. helps in the rooting process. – Izzy♦ Dec 21 '17 at 22:02
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    Remember that for many devices if you turn on OEM Unlocking you still might not be able to unlock the bootloader of your device without a code from the manufacturer or additional commands. Not all devices, in fact very few devices, can be bootloader unlocked simply by flipping this switch and entering "fastboot oem unlock". – acejavelin Dec 21 '17 at 22:50
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OEM unlocking

Toggling this on allows you to use to unlock your . This is needed if you wish to install a custom recovery like (see also: ) – for most devices a required step if you wish to install a custom ROM.

As pointed out: this toggle just permits you to unlock the bootloader – it neither does the unlocking itself, nor does it root your device or perform any other action. If you don't plan on any of the above described things, keep this toggle off. Note that the process of unlocking itself (not the switching of that toggle) on most devices performs an implicit – i.e. it wipes all your data. This is a security measure.

USB debugging

This is a very useful feature: when enabled, you can use ADB to access your device for many purposes – including the most complete backup you can create without rooting your device, accessing the system logs, copying files to/from the device, and more.

The "security risk" involved with this switch is relatively low: on first access, you will have to "authorize" the requesting computer on your Android device – so an unauthorized person would need to unlock it (if the person can do that, it also can switch the toggle). You still can keep it off and only toggle it on when needed.

The links above are going to our tag wikis, I recommend you looking into them for further details. Another recommended reading is my article ADB for end-users (as pointed out, disclosure: I'm the author of that article, and that link goes to my own Android website).

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