Google blocks hack that allow Pixel customers allow VoLTE anyplace

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TL;DR

Google’s October 2025 replace has damaged the Pixel IMS app, a device many used to allow VoLTE and VoWiFi on imported Pixel telephones in unsupported areas. The app exploited a loophole that allowed it to override provider settings, which Google has now patched and designated as a high-severity vulnerability (CVE-2025-48617). Fortuitously, a brand new workaround has been found to allow VoLTE in unsupported areas, however customers who need VoWiFi should now both root their gadgets or await Google to formally broaden provider help.

Pixel telephones are beloved for his or her many distinctive software program options, however their restricted availability prevents many individuals from shopping for them. Whereas Google has made strides in increasing entry, Pixels nonetheless aren’t offered in practically as many nations as iPhones or Samsung Galaxy gadgets. This leads many followers to import Pixel telephones from different markets, a transfer that may sadly break essential calling options like VoLTE and VoWiFi.

VoLTE (Voice over LTE) is the characteristic that routes voice calls over a 4G LTE connection, a vital operate now that carriers worldwide are phasing out their 2G and 3G networks. With out it, you won't be capable to make cellphone calls in any respect on many trendy networks. Equally, VoWiFi (Voice over WiFi) handles Wi-Fi calling, routing calls over a Wi-Fi community as a substitute of mobile — a useful characteristic whenever you’re in a constructing with poor sign.

In concept, any cellphone with the precise {hardware} for a provider’s mobile frequencies ought to be capable to use VoLTE, and any succesful cellphone with a supporting plan ought to get VoWiFi. The fact, nonetheless, is extra advanced. Many carriers solely allow VoLTE and VoWiFi on gadgets they promote or have formally examined. Which means even when your imported Pixel has the mandatory {hardware}, the provider can nonetheless block these options, doubtlessly stopping you from making voice calls fully.

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<img class="e_Ug" decoding="async" loading="lazy" sizes="9.375rem" title="google preferred source badge light@2x" srcset="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/google_preferred_source_badge_light@2x.png 676w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/google_preferred_source_badge_light@2x-64w-20h.png 64w" alt="google preferred source badge light@2x" src="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/google_preferred_source_badge_light@2x.png"/><img class="e_Ug" decoding="async" loading="lazy" sizes="9.375rem" title="google preferred source badge dark@2x" srcset="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/google_preferred_source_badge_dark@2x.png 676w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/google_preferred_source_badge_dark@2x-64w-20h.png 64w" alt="google preferred source badge dark@2x" src="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/google_preferred_source_badge_dark@2x.png"/> This challenge plagued Pixel cellphone importers till Korean developer Kyujin Cho launched a workaround in 2023. The developer’s app, “Pixel IMS,” permits VoLTE and VoWiFi on unsupported carriers by overriding the provider verify that Android usually performs. Usually, Android makes use of a sign from the provider to determine whether or not to allow VoLTE for the system; the Pixel IMS app overrides this sign and forces it to at all times be enabled.

<img class="e_Ug" decoding="async" loading="lazy" sizes="calc(min(calc(100vw - 1.875rem), 51.25rem) / 2)" title="Pixel IMS app enable VoLTE" srcset="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Pixel-IMS-app-enable-VoLTE-scaled.png 1182w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Pixel-IMS-app-enable-VoLTE-30w-64h.png 30w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Pixel-IMS-app-enable-VoLTE-1000w-2167h.png 1000w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Pixel-IMS-app-enable-VoLTE-665w-1440h.png 665w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Pixel-IMS-app-enable-VoLTE-498w-1080h.png 498w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Pixel-IMS-app-enable-VoLTE-399w-864h.png 399w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Pixel-IMS-app-enable-VoLTE-175w-380h.png 175w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Pixel-IMS-app-enable-VoLTE-554w-1200h.png 554w" alt="Pixel IMS app enable VoLTE" src="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Pixel-IMS-app-enable-VoLTE-scaled.png"/><img class="e_Ug" decoding="async" loading="lazy" sizes="calc(min(calc(100vw - 1.875rem), 51.25rem) / 2)" title="Pixel IMS enabling VoLTE on unsupported Korean carrier" srcset="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Pixel-IMS-enabling-VoLTE-on-unsupported-Korean-carrier.jpg 1080w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Pixel-IMS-enabling-VoLTE-on-unsupported-Korean-carrier-30w-64h.jpg 30w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Pixel-IMS-enabling-VoLTE-on-unsupported-Korean-carrier-1000w-2167h.jpg 1000w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Pixel-IMS-enabling-VoLTE-on-unsupported-Korean-carrier-665w-1440h.jpg 665w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Pixel-IMS-enabling-VoLTE-on-unsupported-Korean-carrier-498w-1080h.jpg 498w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Pixel-IMS-enabling-VoLTE-on-unsupported-Korean-carrier-399w-864h.jpg 399w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Pixel-IMS-enabling-VoLTE-on-unsupported-Korean-carrier-175w-380h.jpg 175w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Pixel-IMS-enabling-VoLTE-on-unsupported-Korean-carrier-554w-1200h.jpg 554w" alt="Pixel IMS enabling VoLTE on unsupported Korean carrier" src="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Pixel-IMS-enabling-VoLTE-on-unsupported-Korean-carrier.jpg"/> Overriding this verify isn’t one thing simply any app can do, because it’s a part of Android’s privileged telephony framework. That’s why Pixel IMS cleverly leverages a loophole meant for testing functions. Android permits the “shell” consumer — the identical consumer that runs ADB instructions — to override provider configurations. To achieve these elevated privileges, Pixel IMS makes use of Shizuku, an open supply Android app that lets different apps run processes because the shell consumer.

However loopholes don’t final ceaselessly, and after greater than two and a half years, Google has seemingly closed this one. Following the latest October 2025 Pixel replace, many customers found the “Pixel IMS” app was not useful, crashing when making an attempt to toggle VoLTE or VoWiFi. The crash log offers a transparent purpose: “overrideConfig can't be invoked by shell.”

Whereas not documented within the official changelog, Google seems to have quietly patched this explicit exploit. Based on a supply, the corporate has designated this loophole as CVE-2025-48617, a high-severity privilege escalation vulnerability. Its absence from the October 2025 Android Safety Bulletin is probably going as a result of it didn’t meet the “excessive danger” threshold for speedy inclusion below Google’s new Danger-Based mostly Replace System (RBUS). Google will in all probability embody it within the subsequent quarterly safety bulletin, scheduled for December.

Fortuitously for Pixel customers, one other developer has allegedly discovered a brand new workaround. Whereas the brand new methodology isn’t as accessible — with the directions being in Chinese language and the APK distributed on the developer’s Telegram channel — it no less than appears to work.

Sadly, the brand new methodology solely permits VoLTE and never VoWiFi, so Pixel customers in unsupported areas who want the latter characteristic must root their telephones for now. Rooting requires unlocking the bootloader, which breaks some Gemini-powered options and complicates utilizing Google Pockets. The one different various is to attend for Google to formally allow VoLTE in additional markets — one thing the corporate not too long ago signaled it’s engaged on.