I’m normal user with no particular IT experience, I just care about privacy and dislike Google.
I really like my /e/ phone, but, it is not easy to be a normal “mobile consumer” without special knowledge. Most of the info I read here in the community is incomprehensible to me, the lingo is alien. I don’t have time to research or learn completely new skills in mobile phone tech just to use a mobile phone. This is probably a hurdle for /e/OS and scares many “normal” people away. I am sure that /e/OS would spread more if people completely uninterested in IT or mobiles could use them.
My Samsung Galaxy S7 usually works fine, but now I have problems installing new apps. Neither Apps or AuroraStore works anymore. I tried to install App Lounge, although I have no idea of what I am doing. But it keeps on crashing and I have no idea what to do.
Can we use the old App stores or are they passé now? Do we have to buy new mobiles or can this be fixed? Is it because of the OS? Does the OS have to be updated? How do we update the OS itself?
I have no clue. Don’t want to go back to a big tech phone. But using /e/ really is not easy. Think of us out there who have no interest in “flashing ROMs” and all that, who just want their mobiles to work.
Some degree of fiddling will of course be necessary, but it is really hard to find knowledge of how to.
There should be a comprehensive “how to guide” without IT lingo for normal people!
This post is both a call for this “how to guide” and if anyone would be nice to help me with why our app stores are no longer working…
If there is anyone who can help me locally for a fee in Sweden or Scandinavia, welcome to contact me.
I don’t have time to spend days to learn all this to keep my phone running.
It is a shame that /e/OS is so difficult to use for non-techies. There is probably a market for independent “mobile phone specialist” shops that can take care of these things.
I have had great help here in the forum before, very friendly people. but it is like finding a needle in a haystack to find clues what to do in this community. For the questions I have now I have found nothing.
I am not sure what OTA is, but my screen looks something like that, I have a long list of uppdates.
Downloaded /e/OS 1.12.13…
Trying an install now. Never tried it before. Wasn’t sure if you could just chose the version on top of the list and skip the rest, but I will try…
Also have another phone, which says /e/OS 0.19-2021 …
That does not work well either.
Thanks for your help. I am sure this is totally basic and quite stupid questions.
But I think there are many like me, just non-IT expertise guys…
Not sure still what “automatised migration” is, but maybe not totally necessary to know…?
I installed the new version, the top of the list. It worked, kind of! But now I have no network, it says “waiting for network”.
I got the App Lounge installed with the new OS version, great.
But still no network…
I did. Still nothing. Then a few minutes later it started working!
I switched on mobile data, shouldn’t make any difference (?), maybe it was a coincidence.
Another thing, it messed up my contacts… Half of them are gone. No contact names in the call list. Can’t call people from the contacts list. A weird, slightly annoying detail.
No. No cloud.
But I can still see them in the contact list. Or those that remain.
Some are protected it seems, can not erase them.
Can’t call any from the contact list.
Actually I never understood how contacts work on /e/OS. When I moved to /e/OS from iPhone I wrote all my contacts down on a paper and manually wrote them in my new phones contact list. Knew no other way and my Samsung S7 with /e/OS refused to work with any computer.
I have no idea how it works internally or where it stores stuff. Like files I download or photos. I have installed a microSD card but not sure how that actually works (how to store stuff where or move it).
Managed to update the other phone, it now runs the latest /e/OS and App Lounge was packaged with it. The contact list looks fine. On my main phone though, contacts are totally messed up.
It seems I just have to manually write all new contacts again. I’ll do it the analog way!
I still think an easy to understand “how to” for newbies and non-techies would be a huge advantage for /e/OS, because I want it to be used by a wider audience and not only a minority of techies (and a few non-tech but highly motivated privacy conscious people like me).
Thank you Piero for your kind help and to all others in this community who earlier have answered my stupid questions.
I tried the files app, yes. But it was a bit messy in my older version of the OS, there were like 50 or more different folders, no idea what they were for, most were empty. Downloaded documents usually ended up in one of two folders, or sometimes not to be found. In these folders were also huge amounts of files that I had not downloaded, like an enormous number of “Telegram FOSS” and other unknown things. In the latest version of the OS it seems the files app makes more sense, the unknown files are gone and the structure makes a lot of sense actually.
Now I will just have to figure out where these files are actually located, in the phone or in the microSD. The microSD I sometimes take out to transfer photos to a computer. Maybe there is another way to do that, sync, or what you call it, but I have never managed to make that work so far on the old OS.
Now you would have the ability to import them to the other using the same method, reversing the step
Next click or tap on Import/export
Before the import, you might choose to delete contacts which seem to be failing
From the main Contacts list > long press on a contact > it is now selected with a [✓] > more contacts can be selected if desired > tap Trash can top right.
I do see that you say contacts will not delete, just showing what should work !
Piero, it is interesting that you show these screenshots and talk about “the top bar”, because I have never been able to use or understand that. When I touch the top bar it flashes open and then disappears as soon as I release my finger. What is it for, how do you actually use or click on the features there?
I have no idea of how to connect it to USB, never managed to do that. No idea how to get to the USB preferences and those menus.
You’re welcome to explain.
This is one of those features that I would like to have in a “beginners how to”. But maybe it is just me who haven’t figured it out… I’m not completely inadept at IT though, I run two webshops and manage a couple of websites.
aibd, thanks, I tried import/export but it does not work, nothing changes.
I still can not call from Contacts, it will accept only calls thru Telegram.
Somewhat annoying, I have hundreds of contacts. I will have to write them down on paper and re-enter. Some of which I have an ongoing sms conversation with I can save the number from the message app. Then, when rewritten manually, I can call that contact.
Old numbers can not be erased, “only hidden” the app says.
But it’s ok, I’ll make it work.
The How To that exist now was not that helpful in understanding basic usage of /e/OS.
Is that only me who would like a “crash course in using /e/OS”?
Like, the top mystery menu we talked about above, what is that?
How do you connect it to a computer to transfer files? Can contacts be backed up to a computer?
What is actually App Lounge and how does deGoogling work? (I have a basic understanding of it, but I think it could be explained to new users with little experience). Just some examples.
I wish /e/OS to be a serious alternative to big tech and so easy to use that my grandmother can use it, after a bit of How To reading. Unfortunately I am not qualified to write such a manual or contribute to it, because I have very little understanding of what I am doing… I am, rather, the ideal reader of it.
Wow, sorry Piero, that was stupid of me… You swipe from top to bottom… Imagine I have used /e/OS for 3 years or so, and still not figured that out! It wasn’t so easy though, my Samsung S7 is fickle with the touch and you got to do it exactly right. Is these things you are just supposed to know…? I came from iPhone, don’t think it has such a menu…
Well, that only strengthens my argument that we need a How To for absolute know-nothings. Imagine that someone who is a totally newbie to mobiles wants to buy an /e/OS phone, knowing these tricks will make using it so much more efficient.
I used to think smartphones was a necessary evil, I had no interested in them at all and was mostly annoyed, often threw my iPhone at things, I kind of actually hated it and had no interest in becoming a ‘power user’. It was full of dings and scratches, surprised that it survived for so long.
That was until I got an /e/OS Samsung S7, which I really like! It is the first time I’m in a really good relationship with a mobile phone.
Imagine I have used /e/OS for 3 years or so, and still not figured that out! It wasn’t so easy though, my Samsung S7 is fickle with the touch and you got to do it exactly right. Is these things you are just supposed to know…? I came from iPhone, don’t think it has such a menu…