Week 02, 2026: Development and Testing Updates

[Manoj]

The official builds have dedicated maintainers and are tested on the telegram testing channel before the release.

[Tentos]

@elrond

I remember that there were some differences between Community and Official? I thought, that adb root would not work on Official? Is this still true?

I am not sure, but this may not be the case any longer because the connection between SafetyNet pass and adb root use is no longer there with Android >= 12: SafetyNet on /e/OS Community "dev" devices - let it in or not?. (The article explains the link between SafetyNet and adb root.)

As I do not use a smartphone with /e/OS official, I hope that another user may confirm that adb root now works on official devices, too.

[mihi]

@elrond

I also thought that community would be somewhat the testbed for Official? So that people that want to help with the project can use Community and report issuess. (without going into the full test cycle).

Well these days the release is community then official, when it is published but the actual testing for devices which have official is with official build. community test builds are rare for device which have official

[elrond]

From the official docs:

Why can’t I root from developer options on official builds?

official builds intend to be offer the better user experience for our users. That’s why we worked hard in order to offer Safetynet support for those devices, in order to improve third party app support. To do so, we had to fake the build type, moving from userdebug to user build (awaiting the move on user builds)

As a side effect, it disabled the adb root option, available under Developer Options. In order to recover it, we advise our users to move on a /dev build.

(see: https://doc.e.foundation/support-topics/root-e-os#why-cant-i-root-from-developer-options-on-official-builds)

The following topic suggests, that adb root nowadays might work on Official builds and the above docs might be outdated:

Official FP6 3.0.2 build allowing rooted debugging

I’ve noticed that the Fairphone 6 official build allows rooted debugging in the developer options. Build version: [ro.lineage.version]: [3.0.2-a15-20250627504414-official-FP6] From what I understand this should only be allowed on community builds (see The rooting docs). Is this possibly the reason why Play Integrity only meets Basic Integrity and will this be fixed in the 3.0.4 release? Regain your privacy! Adopt /e/OS the deGoogled mobile OS and online services[phone]

TBH the current situation is confusing!

Can we please get an official clarification on this?
And if adb root is officially supported on “Official Builds”, then could the official docs please be updated?

[Manoj]

No adb root is not allowed on official builds.

[elrond]

PLEASE!

Then realy please keep community builds for all those of us, that need adb root.

Well, or enable adb root on the official builds.

[piero]

adb-root Should still be usable by simply booting TWRP