How to Change the IMEI Number on Your BraX3

Curious if you had mobile data enabled and it was working under iodé? Maybe something else wasn’t enabled, like the SIM itself. But I don’t think I know of cases where the actual ROM (not the phone itself) would not be working.

It was exactly as before changing the IMEI. It reads the SIM, lists it as Verizon, displays the IMEI, but throws it in Emergency Calls Only. I did enable mobile data and restarted. Did not change anything. Am I disappointed? YES. Basically under Lunar, it’s like a flip phone, because there isn’t a full blown browser. s25712308 might have some advice for me on that front. If I can’t get it working as a smart phone, I will need to put the sim back in the pixel and it is running GOS, which I gather will be going away. If iode (since it is based on LineageOS) can still run on a pixel after what g**gle did, I will probably download their public version and try.

I did tell it to “use this sim”, also. Not sure about the ROM??

I can reflash iode again if there is something else you want me to test? I also did an install and did not use my backup, it had the same result. Are there any others who have flashed the IMEI’s and successfully used Verizon? I know people did on Brax2, that’s why I wanted to try.

Did you check under iodé that it displayed the new “Pixel” IMEI?

What I meant about ROM was iodé vs Lunar: if both have the same IMEI they are reporting to the carrier, I can‘t think of what may make it not work (US Mobile doesn‘t care what OS you are using, they only look at the IMEI)?

You could check with their support about why it isn‘t activating (not really mentioning the full detail of the changed IMEI, just use the new IMEI) and see if they can reset anything, but it seems too strange!

Now about getting a browser, after you get F-Droid installed then from F-Droid you can get Auorora installed, then get Firefox or whatever you want.

Wasn’t so simple to remove the watermark. I definitely needed the help of ChatGPT. Here were my steps:

  1. Fresh LunarOS factory reset
  2. Download Magisk .apk on PC
  3. Use “adb” interface to copy Magisk .apk from PC to LunarOS Downloads (“adb push Magisk.apk /storage/emulated/0/Downloads”)
  4. Click on the file on the phone files app to install the APK.
  5. Copy “init-boot.img” from the LunarOS installation package to LunarOS Downloads
  6. In Magisk install using a file and point to the copied “init-boot.img”. This creates a “magisk-patched.img”. This image will “root” your phone. Copy it back to pc with “adb pull /storage/emulated/0/Downloads/<file_name> .”
  7. Reboot phone to fastboot “adb reboot bootloader”
  8. (Forgot to mention make sure OEM unlocking is on) Run “fastboot flashing unlock” and if it’s not locked run “fastboot flashing lock_critical”. One of these 2 commands might re-factory reset your phone so you may need to repeat all steps again to here.
  9. Root your phone with the command “fastboot init_boot_a magisk_patched.img”
  10. reboot with “fastboot reboot”
  11. Now again you have a factory reset OS but it’s “rooted”. Copy over and install the Magisk apk
  12. Magisk should be up and running now. On your PC get the zip file from here: Releases · Magisk-Modules-Repo/MagiskHidePropsConf · GitHub and copy it over to your Downloads on LunarOS
  13. In Magisk click Module and add from files, select the zip file you just transfered over
  14. Now back on the PC start a adb shell. Run: “adb shell” then “su”
  15. Now this is the step where you actually remove the “userdebug” watermark: run “props”, then “5”, “n”, “ro.build.type”, “y”, “user”, “y” and reboot
  16. Done
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IDK how WebView works either. But what you can do is download F-Droid .apk on your PC, and copy it over to your LunarOS Downloads folder and install it. Once it’s installed you can download firefox from F-Droid. Make sure “USB Debugging” is enabled in Developers options, and usb is connected. Command to copy the file from PC to Downloads folder is:
“adb push F-Droid.apk /storage/emulated/0/Downloads”

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Thanks s25712308, I am willing to try it, since I have nothing to loose. But not sure it’s worth it if I can’t use internet on it. What did you do about the browser? Or are you using yours for calls only?

You can use internet on it. Just the first step is to copy over the F-Droid apk file from your PC to Phone. From there you can install any browser you want and access the internet like any other phone. I have Lunar OS completely set up now with all the regular messaging apps etc.

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Everything works on my LunarOS BraX3, call (send/receive), text (send/receive), LTE 4g/5g data, browser, WIFI, IMEI changing, etc. It just wasn’t that easy to set up.

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This was my experience with a beta device as well. Although I’m pretty sure the version of lunar I have does not have the watermark. Gimme an hour and I’ll reinstall it on production phone and host the files for anyone interested. I pfaffed with getting the IMEI written for weeks so I feel your pain.

Well that was exciting… I was feeling ornery and decided to serve the file from a brax3 which meant getting the file on the phone in the first place…which is going to take another 2 hours…

Eh. You can download it with croc. I scripted 5 uses of that code. Message if there’s a problem

Sending 'vf_merged_20250417.zip' (3.0 GB)                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
Code is: brax-phone-funk

On the other computer run:
(For Windows)
   croc brax-phone-funk
(For Linux/macOS)
   CROC_SECRET="brax-phone-funk" croc 

Thanks for posting, this is strange, I had not been on the community site from my phone in a while, just laptop. I do not see this on either browser on my laptop, clearing cache didn’t help. :thinking: Anyway…

Are these commands for flashing a different version of Lunar? One without the watermark? What version is it, and which version of android?

If you are referring to mine, it was just a temporary host of the original posted lunaros from the beta. Wasn’t sure if there was an issue distriburing it so I hosted it locally and limited downloads to 5 and 7days with resume. I have no idea if anyone downloaded it because I sent the logs to nul. I’ll put it up again if you want to grab it.

On linux to install the tool in order to download the file from me would be:

curl https://getcroc.schollz.com | bash

#/ this pulls the install script from official croc page and sends it to bash for execution

then to actually download the 3gb vf_merged_20250417.zip file:

CROC_SECRET="brax-phone-funk" croc

/# This sets env var for the id/pass then runs croc which looks for that info and starts downloading into current dir

if you are uncomfortable running scripts you can download it and inspect it first. again on linux that would be something like:

curl -o install_croc.sh https://getcroc.schollz.com

/# this downloads the install script for croc from the official site to current dir

nano install_croc.sh

/# this opens a text editor that lets you view the downloader install script to inspect before running

—Edit—
I realized I didn’t actually answer all of your questions.

Are these commands for flashing a different version of Lunar?
Not sure which version you have but this one identifies as: v600.BX3.16042025.16.19.AD alps-mp-u0.mp1-v6.54

One without the watermark?
no watermark but serial console is enabled.

What version is it,
Build number: v600.BX3.16042025.16.19.AD
Custom build version: alps-mp-u0.mp1-v6.54

and which version of android?
Android 14

@ radr32
Thank you for all that info. I will wait on attempting running those scripts, so no need to put it out now. I want to study using croc first.

My build is alps-mp-u0.mp1-v6.54.u0mp1rc.k6989v1.64_P14 Also Android 14.

No watermark would be nice. Can you explain about serial console? It is enabled on mine, also. I researched a bit and it seemed like I could ignore it for now, is that right? When I asked Rob on brax.me if there was someone I could ask a few questions of he said “wait for the project open source to be published shortly and you can interact with the devs”. Do you know anything about “project open source”?

EDIT: additional questions…if I ran your script, would my IMEI’s remain unchanged? Does the bootloader remain locked?

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@radr32
I searched the beta chat (I’m a follower) and found the original link, but it is no longer available. I would appreciate you putting the early beta version of Lunaros out again. It looks to be the same but without the watermark and I want to try. Thank you.

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How do you “pick” a new IMEI number? Do you just make one up out of thin air? Or go and buy another phone to use it’s IMEI? I’m not sure where the new IMEI number comes from. Can someone shed some light for me please?

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@jamieSG69 … They are from our pixel 6’s. They are “retired” from use just so I could use the IMEIs in our BraX3’s. The sim cards are what was in the pixels and were working on Vzn, as they are now in BraX3.

Yes, if you have an old pixel, that would be best, and a sim card that was active on the network already with that old pixel. I would not share with your carrier that you changed the IMEI.

Edit: not sure how much you read, it does not work on iode. I had to flash Lunar back on, that is what works…with pixel IMEIs.
.

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Thank you for the help!
Yeah, I get that a lot of folks have an old phone to ‘rob’ the imei number from, but let’s ask, for the sake of those who do not: what’s the procedure then?

I don’t think i mentioned, I’m on AT&T. Wehn I throw my SIM into the BraX3, everything seemingly works but I get text messages from AT&T saying the device I’m using won’t work and to call them. I didnt call them, and it works: calls, texts, cellular data. But I’m sure they will not help me move my 2nd sim (eSim) to the Brax3 with the stock IMEI… i’m pretty sure anyway.

Yes I did read that I have to put a different OS on the phone, change the number, then revert back. I was just hoping that was isolated or that I’m magically immune top that step. I would wish that was part of the tutorial :frowning:

This phone’s been a lot of work. Insightful and educational, but dang, I even knew that a privacy phone could be a rabbit hole… I’ve had this phone since they shipped last month or was it the month before, and I still havent been able to switch over. I appreciate your help as I continue to learn and try!!

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@jamieSG69…maybe you will get some other responses, until then…Is using an mvno an option? Not sure which thread it was on, but it was documented that AT&T (dark star) works on US Mobile. An aside…I use them (warp - Vzn) and have been satisfied with their service, pricing is very good. You would not need to change IMEI in that case.

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