Reviews about the Web Installer

Community Web Installer
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Hello everyone!

I am considering installing e/OS on my phone using the Web Installer and I was wondering if there’s people who already did it that way and how was their experience using it. I heard it didn’t work that well with the Easy Installer, so I was wondering if the Web one is smoother.

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I am also consider using it again, but as installer is so new, I am afraid to brick the device :skull_and_crossbones:

Or maybe it works so well that nobody needed to write on the forum in a month as I only find few topics about it.

I already tried installing once, experience is documented here:

Summary: it did not work.

But from another GrapheneOS’ forum I learned that one needs to use a Brave browser on Ubuntu (my OS) installed directly from Brave website, otherwise web installer won’t work.

Also I learned from their documentation Web installer | Install | GrapheneOS that ones needs to install additional packages on Ubuntu, disable a service which interferes and needs to have an original phone’s USB cable for things to work.

So knowing that maybe I will try installing with web installer again.

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It worked! Thank you /e/ developers for making a beautiful installer :heart:

Who wants to try it, please follow GrapheneOS guide (linked ↑) on how to setup your system, so web installer would work. What I mentioned earlier is not enough, for example, Brave also needs Shields feature to be disabled. Best is to follow GrapheneOS guide directly which is comprehensive for every situation.

Improvement suggestions to the installer:

  1. Copy GrapheneOS guide on how to prepare the system. They include a lot of steps, maybe not everything is necessary, but it is better to have everything in all place just to be safe for people to have good experience, instead of keep failing and debugging things in the forum. Snaps/flatpaks issue should be tested further, maybe finding the cause of problem in forums or in practice and fixed upstream.
  2. Installer should list how to unlock Fairphone 4 and possible every other phone model where it differs. Now it is unclear what to do on that step as it is a lot more complicated when installer said.
  3. It was a bit confusing when installation steps started going in loops (repeating configuration steps all over again multiple times), I thought maybe it is not working, but eventually it worked. It could be written in advance that the process will go in loops for a while. Not a super big issue, but still.
  4. Phone was left in unlocked state at the end. This has to be fixed. If it is complex for this moment, explain the user the situation. As of now, those security dates are highly complex to understand and find out what they are, especially because they are documented wrong. Right now, if I would lock the bootloader after this installation, it would be bircked, as dates don’t match). We documented in comments 1, 2, 4, 5, 8 in this issue: Unable to install on new Fairphone 4 via Easy/web installers, and security patch dates do not match on latest builds - #8 by mnd
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Thank you for the time and effort you have put into making this tutorial @mnd !

But I have to admit this looks too much complicated for me. I don’t want to spend hours figuring out how to install it without being certain that it will work at the end.

I’m very grateful for all the work developers have put into making this web installer come to life, but it’s a shame that it’s still pretty much non accessible for the average user.

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I can confirm that the Web Installer works fine.
As recommended by GrapheneOS guide I used Brave Browser on my Linux Mint 22.1. System.
I unlocked OEM Bootloader, enabled USB Debugging as shown in instruction by e foundation and then connected my FP 4 via USB cable to Brave Browser and the Web Installer. I followed all the well explained steps and and after 45 min I was welcomed by e/OS starting screen.
Thanks to the e-develloping team and speacial thanks to @mnd for their efforts!

best wishes
Immiperium

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@Immiperium

then connected my FP 4

As far as I know, it is also important to lock back the bootloader, so the device would be secure. Here you can find the steps how to finish the installation for fairphone 4: Unable to install on new Fairphone 4 via Easy/web installers, and security patch dates do not match on latest builds - #10 by mnd
It requires additional software to be installed. A tip: I used a separate computer to not bloat my main computer. Be sure to update phone’s operating system to the latest version (Android 14 at the time of writing) before locking the bootloader.

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FP4 is on e/OS 2.7-u-20550109460370-official-FP4 - this should be the newest update. Does this mean this is Android 14? If so - I could easily follow your instruction in the link ment above…

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you are right, the “easy-installer” are not so easy to use,
often it is simplier to go the traditionnal way…
https://doc.e.foundation/devices

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Yes, I have the same number (except 2055… → 2025…). It also says “Android version: 14” in “Settings” → “About phone”.

“Web installer” is simpler than “traditonal way”. “Web installer” itself is pleasant to use :smiling_face:, with a lot of pictures :framed_picture: on every step what to do with the phone, and with no knowledge or commands needed on the computer side (except to prepare computer before installing itself; and complete the last step with “traditional way” separately to lock bootloader as that last step is not part of the installer yet).

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“web installer” is different from “easy-installer”.
“Easy installer” was a previous computer software. And “web installer” is a new way to install directly from the internet browser. In theory, with nothing to install on computer. I also heard that it can work from tablet or maybe even another phone with nothing to install in theory (or in the future, as issues are fixed and polished).

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Bootloader is locked - thanks again

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I do support @mnd opinion. Web installer is easier to use when your are not an expert, that feels comfortable with all the terminal commands.

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Hi @mnd ! Thanks so much for your detailed help with the web-installer, I was getting desperate under linux…
Now, how to lock the bootloader again. I managed to install e/os via the web-installer using windows (my lucky partner). Thing is, I am not entirely sure on which security patch level the phone was before I installed e/os (as the web installer just told me to update and not that this could be important later on). So now I am afraid to lock the bootloader again. Do you know whether there is any way to check which was the security patch level before I installed e/os? If it was older, then I would just wait until a newer version comes out and then lock the bootloader.
The /e/ OS version is 2.7-u-20250109460370-official-FP4, as yours. It says “Android security update: 1 December 2024” but “vendor security patch level: 5 July 2024”, shall I just ignore the vendor one??

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I really liked the web-installer, however I think there should have been a note on the website about re-locking the bootloader is necessary and requires additional tools (as pointed out above). I only realized what all this means because the web-installer under windows failed on my FP4 and I reinstalled Fairphone OS. After @mnd 's and @Immiperium encouragement i will attempt web-installer now with Brave browser and will report back whether it worked. Thanks you two for sharing your experiences!

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To respond properly to the original question of this thread:
I tried the webinstaller twice with windows 11 and chrome. The first time it worked fine (except that I am not sure whether I should lock the bootloader again as I don’t want risking bricking the device). The second time it seemed that everything worked out, I got the success message from the webinstaller, except that my phone was locked in FastBoot mode. So then I needed to re-install Fairphone OS (luckily this guide helped) and now am back where I started.

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Hi @Valeria, I am glad to hear it was useful :slightly_smiling_face:

Yes, vendor date can be ignored as mine is also 5th of July.

Official fairphone documentation says that latest security number is 2025-01-05 (last updated 2025-01-27)

while /e/ latest (Android 14) security number is 2024-12-01

So if you both updated your phone and installed /e/ after 2025-01-27, then you are at risk to damage your phone :skull_and_crossbones:, and therefore should wait until /e/ release a new update.
But if you installed before 2025-01-27 like me, then you are good :white_check_mark: to lock it.

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thanks! I will just wait until a new security update is released then to be on the safe side :grin: I am located nowhere near any murena people being able to help me anyways.

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