TCL Flip 2 (T408DL, 4058G, 4058L, etc)

Overview

The vendor framework on the phone prohibits APK installs unless a read-only property (ro.vendor.tct.endurance) is set. One way to overcome this is to modify only the boot partition, and have it reset the property. If doing a full ROM install, this could be unnecessary. Thus the minimal way is having Magisk installed on the boot partition and have it set the property to true during bootup.

Root / Enable APK installation

Credits

• Finding APK unlock: Apps4Flip-Admin (forum post)
• boot.img with Magisk: Biden2020prez & EnriqueMcquade
• Fastboot method & using Magisk's overlay.d: darth
• First to put it all together: neutronscott (that's me!)

Prerequisites

Phone

• Modified boot.img - neutron.img from the latest flip2 releases

Windows

• adb - Android SDK platform-tools
• Tool to enter fastboot mode - autobooter.exe from the latest flip2 releases
• USB Drivers - mtkdrivers.exe

Linux

• adb - Ubuntu/Debian sudo apt install -y adb or Android SDK platform-tools
• Tool to enter fastboot mode - mtk-bootseq.py
• No drivers

Installation

• Windows Install drivers
• Open a shell / command prompt window where you've placed the files
• Enter fastboot mode on the phone
  • Power off the phone (I remove the battery to be sure)
  • Windows: Execute autobooter.exe
  • Linux: Execute python3 mtk-bootseq.py FASTBOOT /dev/tty.usbmodem14200
    To find the port necessary you could watch dmesg -w output while rebooting the phone
• Connect phone to USB port
• Unlock the bootloader to allow modified boot partition
  • fastboot flashing unlock
• Flash boot partition
  • fastboot flash boot neutron.img
• Reboot phone
  • fastboot reboot
• Install Magisk
  • Dial *#*#217703#*#* to bring up list of apps
  • Select Magisk and allow to download full version.
  • Dial *#*#217703#*#* again
  • Select Magisk and allow to update and reboot.

NOTE: Magisk may not show up on the first boot or sometimes you cannot install APKs later. It's a timing issue with ro.vendor.tct.endurance getting set. Just reboot.

Customization

You can enable ADB access simply by dialing *#*#DEBUG#*#* (*#*#33284#*#*). This is available without rooting the phone.

You should set a higher resolution. In adb shell execute wm size 321x428 which seems like a good compromise.

You can disable the Power-On write protection enforced by the bootloader. This is very risky. Open an adb shell and execute su. Magisk should popup a dialog asking to grant superuser access. Select grant. Finally run /vendor/bin/write_protect 0 and reboot. You can then allow Magisk to update itself with the direct-install method. Modifications to any other partition will cause problems unless you disable verity checks.