After ordering the Fairphone 6 with /e/OS, I started having second thoughts because of some negative posts in the Fairphone forum (mostly related to the Android version though). So I’d like to ask you, based on your experience:
Would you recommend the Fairphone 6?
A detailed answer would be great, but a simple yes or no is fine as well.
Yes.
I don’t know what are the negative feedbacks about FP6, I guess you can find it has drawbacks on such or such specs compared with other models in that price range (photos, memory, etc.?) But overall it’s a solid one, and afaic the speedest one I bought for myself.
I’d say the real deal is when you go /e/os you have to know you let go all the tricks Google designed to gobble users personal data. As such, yes for example Murena workspace has a bit less functionalities than a Google office suit, or one has sometimes to fiddle a bit to use a specific Google app. But that’s the tradeoff to begin to get rid of GAFAM behavioral surplus extractivism (and Murena’s underlying Nextcloud platform is a feature rich and reliable choice)
To sum it up: Murena & /e/os teams have already made a remarkable job at designing a fully usable Google Android alternative, and surely will keep up the good work. I would warmly recommend a FP+/e/os to a casual and dedicatedly conscious user, and more warmly yet to a geekier one, who could then fine tune a handset more freely than a standard Android one.
I am very happy with mine. Even when not everything works as before on my iPhone I am very pleased with all the privacy features. On top of that I have a European made phone that can be used and repaired for a long period.
Give it a few weeks, months and you should find your way with it. I already got rid of a lot of my google and other US tech Apps and Account last year. Not always easy but now I do not miss it anymore.
Some of it seems quite serious such as the phone overheating while charging, failing to charge at all, suddenly shutting down for good, or, quote:
It’s often difficult to tell whether these problems are hardware- or software-related, or whether they occur specifically with /e/OS or Android. My impression, though somewhat vague, is that most of these issues stem from Android, while /e/OS generally runs more smoothly.
Does anyone use /e/ for work. I haven’t been able to get teams and other ms apps to work on my android fairphone for a few months and I was wondering if switching to /e/ will help.
@Rowdy What issues happen with the Apps ?
Teams is showing in the App Store (which is basically Skype for business rebranded). I have an FP6 and I am very happy with it. My FP3+ was starting to have camera issues and a ‘snow’ screen that was reappearing regularly after I replaced the charging port element. Whilst working in lockdown from home, Teams was a P.I.T.A. to such an extent that I informed my superiors I would only use Jitsi Meet (https:/meet.jit.si). Connection was so good that work colleague forgot to log out of the meeting room I set up for 2 days! Additionally I helped a retired community nurse in Florida reinstall Windows 10 after she had been provided with a replacement drive, using the chat window. I live in the UK. Jitsi offers e2e through the interface; it is not on by default because if it is you cannot record the session if it is for, say, training. Enabling e2e means no one else has access other than those invited. You do need to have a GitHub account to use it. (I should also add that thankfully I was able to use GNU/Linux for most of my work from home, beginning with Feren OS before moving to a more secure GNU/Linux, Devuan 3.0, and annoyingly I learned how to access the shared drive on the school server using Remmina Remote a month before retiring in August 2021.)
Many thanks to all of you for your truly helpful input.
I decided to keep the Fairphone 6. My impression was that most of the more serious issues mentioned in the Fairphone forum were either related to Android rather than /e/ OS, or were caused by relatively rare hardware defects. The fact that your feedback was far more reassuring than what I found in the Fairphone forum seems to confirm this. And honestly, I didn’t see a convincing alternative anyway — every degoogled operating system comes with its own set of drawbacks.
So far, it feels like the right decision. I really like the phone. Setting it up was straightforward, and everything seems to be running smoothly.
I’m happy.
Additionally /e/OS 3.xx and above has great parental control features on any murena phone.
Tldr, I can not log in into them it fails on the initial requests. Also, Android auto crashes my phone when I interact with the car screen.
Again, theses issues are not with /e/ they are with a stock fairphone. I just want to know things like this work on /e/ before I try switching to it because I am a contractor and I have talk with 3 different IT departments when I switch phones.
Full details:
Summary: Fairphone 5 – System-level incompatibility affecting Android Auto and Microsoft apps (Teams, Copilot, Phone Link)
Device: Fairphone 5
OS: Fairphone OS (Android 14/15, fully up to date)
Google Services: Present and fully updated
Account type: Microsoft work account (AAD / M365)
Affected applications / features
Microsoft Teams (Android app) – cannot sign in
Microsoft Copilot (Android app) – does not work
Windows Phone Link / Link to Windows – unreliable or non-functional
Android Auto – does not work
Microsoft Teams (Web / UWP via browser) – works
Observed behavior
Microsoft Teams Android app fails during sign-in with
“Sorry, but we’re having trouble signing you in.”
Failure occurs before password or MFA, indicating broker/auth failure rather than credential issues.
After a failed sign-in attempt, the Teams app enters a crash loop and will not reopen until app cache and storage are cleared.
Issue reproduces on a fresh Android Guest profile, ruling out user data or app-level corruption.
Microsoft Copilot shows similar failure behavior.
Android Auto fails on the same device.
Teams works correctly via browser / UWP, indicating the account and tenant are not the problem.
Troubleshooting already completed (exhaustive)
Android System WebView enabled and fully updated
Google Chrome enabled and updated (was previously disabled)
Google Play Services updated
Google Play System Update applied
OS fully up to date
Multiple reboots
App uninstall / reinstall (and cache + storage clear)
Tested on Guest account (clean profile)
All with no change in behavior.
Key diagnostic conclusions
Issue is not caused by:
Microsoft account or tenant configuration
Teams app cache or install state
Chrome / WebView being disabled
Google Play Services versioning
User profile corruption
The fact that:
Teams Android app fails
Copilot fails
Android Auto fails
Windows Phone Link is affected
Browser-based Microsoft apps work
strongly indicates a system-level failure involving hardware-backed security / device integrity.
Likely root cause (high confidence)
A compatibility or implementation issue in Fairphone OS’s hardware-backed security stack, likely involving one or more of:
Hardware-backed Android Keystore / Keymaster
StrongBox / TEE (Trusted Execution Environment)
Play Integrity API returning a non-MEETS_STRONG verdict
Attestation or encrypted key generation used by:
Microsoft Authentication Broker
Android Auto
Companion Device Services
Apps that rely on brokered authentication or device trust fail.
Apps using browser-based OAuth continue to work.
I have Fairphone 4 with self-installed official /e/ OS. Teams and Outlook work just fine for work, except audio in Teams calls is so distorted I cannot participate in meetings using phone.
You need to remember that Teams is what used to be Skype for business. When I was in lockdown I was thankfully for 99% of the time using GNU/Linux and used the then official Teams for Linux. It is appalling. When I ran task manager I nearly fell off my chair with laughter as the running Teams App process was identified as Skype for Business! My experience was so bad that I refused to use it and demanded that any video conferencing with the team should use Jitsi Meet. It is far superior to Teams and free for personal use. It is that good that I used the chat window with a work colleague which was quicker than email. Connection was so good that work colleague for got to sign out of the room and had been logged in for three days. Whoever is the meeting coordinator these days has to have a GitHub account. It also is compatible with schedules in both Google and Outlook calendars. I live in the UK. and during lockdown I used Jitsu Meet (https://meet.jit.si) to help a retired community nurse in Florida reinstall Windows 10 having been supplied with a faulty hard drive with no loss of connection for 4 hours. Additionally our local Linux User Group coordinator ran a Jitsu server on his 4 GB Thinkpad and seas helped to set it up by Digital Ocean and cost £5 a month. Connection was possible both with phone and desktop but desktop browser needs to be chrome-extension enabled.