We want to inform you about a key update related to about 100 Community devices.
Starting with the /e/OS 2.6.3 build, these devices will gain AOSP 14 (U) support. Find the list of the upgraded devices in the /e/OS 2.6.3 (U) release notes. (v2.6.3-u · e / os / 🚀 Releases · GitLab)
Meanwhile, we will continue to support those devices with /e/OS- AOSP 13 (T) through OTA updates for several months, to give you the opportunity to upgrade manually to /e/OS based on AOSP 14.
What Does This Mean?
· OTA updates on AOSP 13 for these devices will still be provided for several months
· No AOSP 13 to AOSP 14 OTA upgrade will be provided, so users need to upgrade manually to /e/OS-AOSP 14 or reinstall.
· Users will not receive automated notifications about this change (we’re working to add this feature in a near future).
· Devices for which there is no AOSP 14 build will retain AOSP 13 support.
How to Upgrade/Reinstall:
Please visit our documentation (Smartphone Selector) and find install guide for your compatible device.
Warning: users should keep a backup of their data before any upgrading or re-installation.
We recommend upgrading as soon as you can to maintain access to /e/OS updates and enhancements. If you have questions or need help, join the discussion in our thread. Thank you for your understanding and continued support of /e/OS!
Important note: If the device is available in both Community and Official :
if you have the Official version, then it’s better to wait for the OTA upgrade
if you have a Community version, then upgrade to AOSP 14 manually
So if I get this right, the Murena Fairphone 4 and the Murena Pixel Tablet will remain the two only devices to get an OTA upgrade to Android 14 (U)? (Manoj’s topic’s title seems to imply otherwise, but the release notes sound different.)
Will all other Murena devices (e.g. Fairphone 3, Fairphone 5, …) need to (manually) switch from official to community to get Android 14?
@Manoj I think it’s good you budget resources to validate OTA updates - but as you go that route and ask users to manually change major versions, please prioritize updating the Seedvault backup in the existing images, it’s now many years old - lots of disadvantages before A13 were addressed since.
Regular users can then have a more robust upgrade experience and a fallback/restore path in case of failure. If I know that I get the attention of a developer to merge it in time I can make a PR. But for the git-lfs repo I think you won’t accept binary apks built outside your infra.
For devices we sell or sold, we work to send out OTA OS upgrades. If this has not been done so far, for a particular device, it means the team is still in the development process.
For devices we do not sell the mode of upgrading is manual. Downloading and installing by the user depending on the install guides. This requires downloading stock builds in some of the cases and taking backup in all cases.
What’s the intended time horizon of this near future? The concrete question I have is: will my FP3 (and a second FP3+) get an OTA update in the next months? Or does …
… mean that it’s better to do it manually now because any OTA update will not come before next year? Look, I can wait, I do not depend on this, that’s not at all the problem, but waiting must somehow have a positive perspective for the user.
The OP speaks about “devices” and in his second post about “devices we sell”. The latter term leads to the question if devices which “have been sold by us” (the preinstalled FP3 from the /e/ shop) are also included.
According to my understanding, this implies that version upgrades from Android 13 to 14 will cover not only devices that Murena is currently, at this moment, selling, but also devices that Murena sold in the past (but not anymore).
My experience is: Upgrade from LineageOS works as described, upgrade on /e/OS following these instructions may or may not work. The sticking point is probably the /e/Recovery.
Today I received an email urging me to upgrade (" Important Update: /e/OS is moving from AOSP13 to AOSP 14 for 100 Community devices"). As far as I can tell, I already have the 2.6.3 version based on AOSP 14 on my FP4, but it is the Community version. Should I have installed the Official version instead? I did the install one or two weeks ago and the FP4 in question was bought directly from Fairphone, not from Murena, over a year ago. Is there a difference between FP4s that came from Murena with /e/OS preinstalled and those that came from Fairphone with Android?
Can I upgrade to the Official version next time a new version of /e/OS is released, or should I stick with the Community version?
There is no reason for you to react to this “Update” as it applies to community devices only.
Murena bought devices have official builds. This notice does not apply.
I suggest you watch Development Updates weekly to keep up to date with progress of OTA updates and upgrades for your device.
As you have an official=stable build often upgrades will lag a bit compared with what becomes available for community devices to allow for necessary extra development work.
Another way to keep up to date is to bookmark the install page for your device, Install /e/OS on a Fairphone FP5 - “FP5” and from time to time you can look to see what has been published by checking the links in the section
We see there today, official, that 2.6.3-t is latest.
Depends on what your reasons for installing community were.
Official builds on devices Murena sold or still sell tend to get upgrades to new underlying Android versions via the updater (so-called OTA upgrades), while on community these are manual installs.
Community builds in most cases get new versions faster (so that official can follow with a bit of delay after community users tested new versions a bit).
No.
You can’t update or upgrade from community to official, but you can always do a new install with an official build, wiping your data in the process.
That once again depends on what your reasons for installing community were.
My reason for installing the community version was simply that the wording in some of the documentation seemed to suggest that the official version of /e/OS might only work on devices sold by Murena, not on devices obtained elsewhere. I didn’t want to risk bricking my phone, so it seemed less risky to go for the community version.
I did search for information regarding any hardware/firmware differences between the Murena FP4 and the FP4 from Fairphone, but was unable to find a clear answer. A one point I thought that the official build might work, but then I’d find something like “These builds are currently only available on the Murena smartphones. Murena smartphones are phones purchased through the murena Shop” which I took as a warning not to try to install it on a device not purchased through the Murena Shop. Perhaps that bit could be clarified on that page (Different Build Types) for the benefit of others facing a similar conundrum?
Thanks again for clarifying that the official build will run on my FP4 from Fairphone. I may try to install it once the next version comes along.
Does anyone know when the U Official/Stable build for FP3/3+ is to be expected? In the latest “Development and Testing Updates” there is nothing to be found under “OS OTA Related Information” (not even one device under “Testing” )…
I just purchased a FP5 with pre-installed /e/OS, am about to pass my FP3 to someone without any technical Android expertise and therefore wanted to switch /e/OS from my Community/Dev build to the Official/Stable branch, so that future OS upgrades would be provided OTA. That would release me from having to take over Tech service for said person (again) .
OK, in case anyone wondering (too much jargon won’t help, IMHO), AOSP stands for Android Open Source Project. Basically, dealing with which base version of Android your device will run. Sorry if that’s obvious to all.
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