New to /e/ — Some Questions and Feedback

Using /e/OS Migrate to /e/OS
1

I switched to /e/OS on my Fairphone 5 just yesterday using the web installer. While I am comfortable working with command lines and scripts directly, I thought I would give it a try.

Apart from some Windows driver shenanigans it worked very well, but I am confused by some of the results:

a) The Web installer did not lock my bootloader. I’m confused by this since I made sure, that the /e/OS Version has a newer security patch and I should be safe despite anti-rollback being present and active. Is this as expected?

b) The web installer flashed /e/ 3.0.1-t, not the Android 14 version. I wonder why? There is an official a14 image available and on the page for the FP5 it’s listed as “U official”.

Anyways. Now after preliminary using my phone a bit, I’m overall quite happy. I just noticed, that some things I grew accustomed to are missing.

Is there a way to force slow charging and limiting the charging to 80%?
I would like to not root my system out of convenience (banking apps and the like). Can I get the same functionality back, that is part of Fairphone Android OS?

Also, is there a way to force Google Play Apps in App Lounge? If there is an open source alternative, it only serves this one. This is a bit troublesome for me as I’d like to get my purchased options from Google Pla back (FairEmail Pro, WarnWetter, aCalender Pro, etc.). For FairEmail, there seems to be no other way to get the Pro Features I need.

Apart from this, I’m quite happy how seemless the whole experience is for now. I refrain from setting up my device fully for now because of the unlocked bootloader, because of the Android version situation for now. I’d very much appreciate if some of you could give me some insight into what I might have done wrong and whether there is a way to update to 3.0.1-U? I saw, there is an “local update” feature within the settings app.

Regain your privacy! Adopt /e/OS the deGoogled mobile OS and online servicesphone

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have a try to install,

  1. extract https://images.ecloud.global/official/FP5/IMG-e-3.0.1-a14-20250607498722-official-FP5.zip
  2. from the new /IMG-e-3.0.1-a14-20250607498722-official-FP5 folder, open a terminal and run
chmod +x flash_FP5_factory.sh && ./flash_FP5_factory.sh

but because of SPL date, you may have to wait for e-3.1-a14
https://doc.e.foundation/devices/FP5/install

3

This would flash fully and not “just” update, right?
Why could SPL be a problem? As far as I see, they seem to be the same?

Just trying to understand, thank you very much already!

4

Yes and yes, but it is probably not the way you would want it:

Use an USB charger either directly (cable) or on a wireless charging station, which allows a maximum of 15W (or even less, but I wouldn’t go below 10W due to the own losses of wireless charging solutions, so there wouldn’t be much charging current left for the phone).

That way works perfect even for phones supporting 65W+ quick charge and it elongates battery lifetime by less stress towards the battery.

To limit the charging current directly in the software will most probably not work, as it is handled by the charging and balancing chipset depending on temperatures, USB compatibility standards for quick charging (9, 12, 15, 20V) and more. But a limiting charger, which delivers a maximum of 10 - 15W will in any case charge phones with this maximum power.

On some devices(?) it is possible to set a battery charge cut-off maximum under Settings => Battery => Click on “Charge Control” and set it as you want.

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5

because you fresh installed, i assume you don’t have much /data to loose
why i propose full install
also dirty upgrade can fail…

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a safe working solution is to go back to previous stock FairphoneOS

FP5-UT2M-B113-factory.zip

Release date: 7 April 2025
Android version: 14
Security patch level: March 2025
md5sum: 19caee221ca2efe237609e5ecf99a393
sha256sum: de8479e17311ace558556a84c6422b9e069dc34ef2d830276b4a53db1c9e4e6c

because latest include the same SPL than the latest /e/OS

FP5.UT2P.B.122

Release date: 12 May 2025
Android version: 14
Security patch level: May 2025

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then install latest /e/OS that must be newer

IMG-e-3.0.1-a14-20250607498722-official-FP5

:warning: Security fixes
This /e/OS 3.0.1 version includes the Android security patches available as of May 2025.

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if you want to try dirty upgrade recovery / sideload, take this OTA file
e-3.0.1-a14-20250607498722-official-FP5.zip
and please share feedback

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6

Thanks a lot for your answers!

This did not work. The “local update” accepted to load the file, but upon pressing “Install” it did not update. For a brief moment it said “Preparing for restart” (or something similar, my phone’s set to German) before stopping and reporting “update failed”.

That makes sense! I now made a full install. I reverted back to Fairphone OS and now installed /e/OS 3.0.1-a14.
Now I see, that it says “Android Security Update: 1 May 2025” and “Vendor Security Patch Level: 5 May 2025”. Do I assume correctly, that I cannot lock the bootloader now since /e/OS’s Security Patch Level is four days older than the vendor’s?
If so, I have to wait until a new /e/OS release to lock the bootloader, right?

7

Yeah, you are right, that’s not really how I envisioned it. Using a lower wattage charger is really inconvenient, since I usually just take the 65W charger of my laptop with me. In Fairphone OS I was able to just set charging speed to “low” - as far as I know about 15W - and could use just any charger.
Wireless charging is sadly not available for Fairphone 5.

In Fairphone OS I could also limit charging to 80% there in system settings, whereas I cannot find the option in /e/OS’s system settings. Bit of a bummer to be honest. Is there a place for feature requests?
Trying to preserve battery lifespan is quite an important thing for me.

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There is, however this has already been brought up in this forum’s request category:

(See my reply right after that there for the strange status quo 8 months ago)

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9

if you used FP5-UT2M-B113 that include “security/bulletin/2025-03-01”
and e-3.0.1-a14-official-FP5 that include “security/bulletin/2025-05-01”
/e/ is newer…
so you must be abble to relock (that i don’t do personnaly, because it is implying some limitations i find too annoying)

in this case
“Vendor Security Patch Level: 5 May 2025” comes with /e/

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if you used FP5.UT2P.B.122 that include “security/bulletin/2025-05-01”
and e-3.0.1-a14-official-FP5 that include “security/bulletin/2025-05-01”
/e/ is not newer…
dates are the same i am not sure it works
(look like risk is only soft bricking, not hard bricking), you still can reinstall FairphoneOS :

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10

If the option to limit charging is not there under Settings → Battery you can’t limit charging automatically. I have a Motorola phone running stock Android and I don’t have that setting, much to my dismay. My OnePlus phone running /e/os does have it. So it just depends on the phone, some have it some don’t.

Fortunately the Fairphone battery is easily replaceable and inexpensive so it’s better to just replace the battery a little sooner than permanently give up the run time.

The only way to control charging speed is by selecting the Wattage of your charger. My Motorola phone has a 45W maximum charging speed, but that rate is hard on the battery. It’s best to keep the rate under 2C.

For example the battery in my Motorola phone has a charge capacity of 3.8V * 4.2 Amp Hours which is 16 Watt-hours. A 1C charge rate would be 16W and a 2C charge rate would be 32W. I selected a 30W wall wart for a charge rate under 2C. I know there are phones out there with charging rates as high as 5C and I can’t image that doesn’t trash the battery pretty fast.

/e/os comes with MicroG which emulates Google Play Services. You should be able use App Lounge to access Google Play apps. You would need to log into your Google account for paid apps. However App Lounge is not the most reliable thing. An alternative to App Lounge is Aurora Store for Google Play apps and F-Droid for open source apps. Those are both pretty reliable and I’ve not had any issue installing paid Google Play apps with Aurora Store.

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11

I used the UT2P.B.122 build for Fairphone OS, so it was the same date. It worked!
Thank you so much for your help!

I do not agree with this as a blanket statement. It’s subjective. I don’t need the full charge of the battery at the moment, so I was happily giving up some runtime for preserving the battery a bit more.

Thank you very much for this technical insight! It’s interesting to know.

Also thanks for pointing out Aurora Store! I gave it a try and it seems a bit snappier than App Lounge.
Sadly, I am now not able to install a lot of apps, because it states that the selected apps would be incompatible with my device. I was trying some things, flashing back and forth OSes.
Apparently I always get the message on /e/ 3.0.1.-a14, but not on 3.0.1.-t, both official. Also on Fairphone OS (A14) it works absolutely fine obviously. There seems to be something wrong. As I need my phone, I’m back on Fairphone OS for now.
I know, I can fake the device in Aurora - but who knows this doesn’t lead to new problems. Does anyone have further ideas how to fix this?

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You can select which sources App Lounge uses on the settings tab of App Lounge. You can enable and disable Play Store (called something like “General Apps”), F-Droid (called “Open Source”) and web apps (“PWA”).

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13

Yes it is subjective to an extent. Limiting charge does not make a huge difference in battery life. However with a phone that has a difficult battery replacement it’s definitely a consideration. I wouldn’t replace a battery myself on either of the phones I have presently. There’s too much risk of damage splitting the case and separating glued parts. That’s a job for a professional and there’s several shops in my area, but it’s an added expense.

To get maximal life out of the battery you need to keep the charge 20 to 80% and charge with a rate closer to 1C. That’s just not practical for most people and you might gain twenty or thirty percent in battery life. Not a huge amount. What wears out a battery much faster is heat and high charge/discharge rates. In other words don’t store your phone in a hot car during summer heat.

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Most people I know just leave their phones plugged in all night. They could easily charge with a rate well below 1C to still have a full charge the next day.
Also, 20% — 30% is A LOT. Getting about a fourth for free is a dream for every engineer.

I understand, you don’t feel it’s necessary, but the impression I get from you is that you try to argue me out of having a use case that profits from that feature. Not saying that’s you’re goal, just trying to communicate how it might be received.

Since I bought a Fairphone mainly for the “Fair”-part, that includes environmental considerations - swapping my battery 20% later seems like a good goal to me, as consuming less is the most impactful change one can do in order to help environmental efforts. That’s why I would love to have OS features to preserve the battery life span — just as Fairphone OS has. They’re doing it and are quite open about their drivers and everything, so I had thought devs like the ones behind /e/ might be able to adapt the feature for the phones, too.

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15

I found that setting, but App Lounge still showed open source apps, if apps are available in Google Play and F-Droid. Even if I disable showing open source apps.

I solved it, though, by using Aurora for my paid Google Play apps and App Lounge for everything else.

16

I solved this by reflashing Fairphone OS and then /e/OS again.
Prior reflashing did not help, so I downloaded both images again and checked their MD5’s to make sure everything is in order. I then proceeded to run all scripts in Powershell with administratior privileges instead of using GitBash.

I don’t know, what exactly solved the issue, but it is working like a charm now!

17

i have it in settings on my e-2.9-a14-FP3,
in french “controle de la charge”

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