Ghost touch with FP3

Hello,

I am a mostly happy user of a FP3 with /e/OS 0.23-20220412177701 (up-to-date) on Android 9. BTW, thanks to the team for all the work. :slight_smile:

Mostly happy, because I experience frequent ghost touch. It makes the FP3 sometimes completely unusable. The only way I know to get the control back is to lock the device, wait a few seconds, and unlock it. Even then, sometimes ghost touch starts again after only a few seconds of normal use.

I know many users of FP3 with /e/OS had similar issues a few months back, but a system update was supposed to solve the problem for everyone (the posts are somewhere on this forum… somewhere out of my reach at the moment :confounded:). However on my FP3 it obviously did not suffice (still, if memory serves, it was a bit better for some time after that update).

I tried a few months ago to replace the screen protector, that was damaged so maybe responsible, but this had no effect.

What should I do? I was thinking of trying a manual Android upgrade to Android 10 or 11, but I have just read there that an OTA is on the way, and obviously I’d prefer an OTA to a manual upgrade with data loss.

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Just to make sure: The ghost touches happen regardless of whether the FP3 is charging when they happen or not charging?

They happen at least when it is not charging. I almost never use my FP3 while charging so I cannot tell you for sure if they happen while charging. I can test it, if it is helpful.

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No, not necessary from my part :slight_smile: In the past some FP2s showed this problem when being connected to the charger, allegedly resulting from certain cables. But as you said, you rarely use it when charging (which is how I handle this, too :+1: ).

/e/OS 0.23-20220412177701 (up-to-date) on Android 9

as you suspect - upgrading to Android 10 or 11 will bring the vendor firmware that fixes this

No OTA though from 9 to 10 (and up) - only 10 to 11.

https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/backlog/-/issues/1398

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That is not what is written there:

Having an up-to-date version of /e/ also means that I have up-to-date FP3 firmwares, no?

You should definitely update to Android 10, since /e/OS Android 9 no longer gets security updates (and no feature updates anyway).

It is only “up to date” in the sense that /e/ did not produce any more updates for FP3 at Android 9.

You showed

/e/OS 0.23-20220412177701 (up-to-date) on Android 9

This includes the date 2022-04-12 – is it is a few months behind now.

The ongoing updates only appeared in Android 10 and 11.

ah ok ! - flew past me… it reads interesting as to the mechanism (backup/restore)

Having an up-to-date version of /e/ also means that I have up-to-date FP3 firmwares, no?

yes, /e/ include the firmware since a longer time now (to fix issues like yours)

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(After a quick online translation) Ok, fine. But if the OTA from 9 to 10 is only a few weeks away, I’d rather wait and not loose all my data.

Sorry but I do not understand. Why would I need to upgrade to Android 10 or 11 if /e/ updates already include firmware fixes?

By the way, am I the only one here still with Android 9 on FP3 and with these ghost touches?

Sorry but I do not understand. Why would I need to upgrade to Android 10 or 11 if /e/ updates already include firmware fixes?

fair question - because Fairphone stopped releasing firmware for Android 9 mid-2020. Maybe the fix for ghost touches is in the last package and if /e/ includes this in P builds your issue gets fixed - but there were many more (brightness bug / blank screen, celltower crash,…) and for this you’d need to change major versions

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Ok, thank you. I understand now that I have to upgrade to Android 10 (or 11). Let me see if I am patient enough to wait for the OTA… :weary:

I also have these ghost touch issues on my FP3 same version as you.
I believe it can help to clean the screen, but maybe that is just placebo.

I’m also waiting for OTA update to Android 10.

I am not. :sweat_smile:
I just did a manual upgrade to Android 10, with complete data loss. For the moment (a few hours manually restoring what needed to be restored), I have had no ghost touch. This makes me hopeful! I will let you know in a few days if the issue is indeed solved.

Oops, I am sorry. I must have thought I was in the German forum.

One week later and still no ghost touch. It seems that the Android upgrade was indeed the solution. Thanks!

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