I just received my new FP4 and the first thing I want to do before setting anything up is to deGoogle it. /e/OS looks great, but I understand it has a few shortcomings, so before I make the leap… if for any reason it doesn’t work for my particular use, is it possible to revert my phone to the stock FP OS? I’m in Canada, so I’m concerned about the availability of regional apps through the Application Installer.
Thanks.
Regain your privacy! Adopt /e/ the unGoogled mobile OS and online services
I think I just found the answer to my question… it seems “you can’t get thar from ar”.
Yet.
For the Fairphone 3 it took a while for Fairphone to get the Fairphone OS manual install online, too, so business as usual so far:
“Currently, this is not possible. We are working hard on making the software package available to you but for now, contact our support team and they’ll be happy to help you out.”
(https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/4405858189585-FP4-Android-without-Google-services-Open-OS-)
I’m in Canada, so I’m concerned about the availability of regional apps through the Application Installer.
Once you installed the aurora app you can install any app from the google play store on /e/. In addition it is easy to request apps from the google play store to the /e/ app store.
That being said, it is still possible that apps don’t work under /e/, if they requrire the google play services and don’t work with the free replacement microG or they have a buggy root cherrer. [LIST] Apps that work or do not work with microG might tell you if your required apps work or not.
Thanks for these comments, @AnotherElk and @adaschma. With your, and other assurances and advice, I took the plunge. Despite some palpable fears of bricking a brand new unit, the installation went relatively smoothly and I’m now pleased and proud to have joined the e throng. The only thing I needed to do was to jigger with the allowable USB usage. It didn’t seem to matter for adb to start, but once in the bootloader the USB needed to be in file transfer mode or neither adb nor fastboot could even see the device.