Hi all. I recently installed a community build of E/os on my new fairphone 5. Secifically, ?e?0s 3.0.1-a14-20250608498955-community-FP5. Because it is a community build, I believe I can’t lock the bootloader right? Because of this, i can’t access my banking apps anymore, which i very much need to do. If i switch to an official release, would I be able to lock the bootloader? Also, the security patch on the most recent release seems to be less then the one I have right now, so would that trigger the anti-rollback?
What is your evidence for this? Release notes seems to make no distinction between builds of e-3.0 + e-3.0.1. Android version a14 is also now available for official as the image here.
Hello Aibd, thanks for the swift reply.
On this page ’ Install /e/OS on a Fairphone FP5 - “FP5”’ It says that the Security patch is 2025-05-01 for the official release. My phone says that its vendor security patch level is 5 may 2025. But I understand that the website might not be updated.
I noticed that the releases also have dates in them. the release I currently have on my phone has the string ‘20250608’ in it, while the official one has the string ‘20250607’ in it. Would that mean that installing the official build would trigger anti roll back?
Sorry if that sounds a bit incompetent, this is my only experience with this sort of thing, and your help is greatly appreciated. Also, would the instillation of the official build be exactly the same as what i did last time, bar locking the bootloader?
Thanks a bunch.
Vendor SPL is something different. Did you keep evidence of the Android SPL on your previous installed (and locked) system [1]. (For all I know it was 5 may 2025, but it is critical.)
True – this date is the date of build, you quote builds one day apart.
No, because anti rollback is triggered by one thing only Android SPL as explained in the link I started with.
The FP5 install page you quote does apply just the same for community or official with the exception
Warning: The bootloader is lockable in official builds only. The procedure to lock the bootloader will not work on community builds.
Hi Aibd.
That link was very helpful, so i think I understand a SPLs a little more now. Unfortunately, I didn’t note the Android SPL before I flashed the community e/os onto the system, lesson learned.
SO if i install the latest official build, You don’t think I will trigger role back? do you know if there is anyway to find the Android SPL from this position, to be sure?
If this will trigger role back, I might have to go back to the google till the next e/os release, as i need access to my bank.
Negative, there is insufficient information for me to tell you for certain
With the proviso that Vendor SPL is not the correct basis to decide; if your FP5 was locked and if it had Android SPL of 5 may 2025 then /e/OS with Android SPL of 2025-05-01 would be a rollback – so best not to try.
Please note regarding your position now and whatever you do next … the rollback index on your FP5 is only adjusted when the phone is locked.
It is found in Settings > About phone > Android version > Android security patch.
I might be of help here. My FP5’s SPL on stock was also 5th May 2025. I then proceeded to install /e/ 3.0.1-a14 manually.
I locked my bootloader successfully. Apparently Rollback does not distinguish between the two versions of SPL from the same month (i.e. SPL 1st May 2025 or 5th May 2025).
On Android’s (Google’s) website regarding Security Patches, they also do not differentiate between these but only between months (e.g. April 2025 versus May 2025).
This is why I dared to lock my bootloader – and it worked!
Maybe @Manoj can give some insight to this (or rather get some from the devs that might be more familiar with technical backgrounds)?
My phone dosn’t have the 'android security patch 'on it, but it does have an ‘android security update’ of 01 may 2025. Are these the same? If so, I could switch to the Official without a rollback as they are the same dates?
