A quick check-in from the team: Fairphone (Gen. 6) early-life update

Discuss The Products
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Hi everyone,

Just wanted to take a moment to check in with you all after the first week of the new Fairphone being out in the wild.

To those of you who joined us at the launch event in Amsterdam, it was really great seeing you again. We hope you had a blast and felt the same positive energy we did. It’s been an exciting week, and we’re feeling encouraged by all the interest and conversations around the launch. Of course, that comes with a lot of questions, and we’re here for it.

We also did a Reddit AMA yesterday, where we spent some time answering questions from the community there. But we wanted to take the extra step to share an early update here with you too. This forum is where so many of the most thoughtful conversations happen, and it matters a lot to us.

First of all, a big thank you to all of you who’ve already picked up the new Fairphone. We really appreciate everyone who jumped in from day one.

We’ve been getting lots of great feedback already. Some of it is about what’s working well, and some of it highlights areas where we can improve. That’s to be expected in the first few weeks, and we want to be upfront about what we’re seeing and working on.

Here are a few things we wanted to flag:

  • Bluetooth: A few users have reported that the phone stays connected to the last audio source even when it’s turned off, or that there’s some lag during playback. We’ve identified the root cause and have a fix coming in the next software update, which is scheduled for 14 July.

  • Refresh rate and animation slowdown: Some of you mentioned the screen feels slower right after unlocking. We’re actively looking into this and expect to have a fix ready soon.

  • Camera improvements: We’re also working on a few quality-of-life updates for the camera, including better audio quality in video recordings and faster shutter response in standard photo mode.

We wanted to be transparent and let you know what we’re working on with our team of testers, partners, developers and with our pool of beta testers. In short: more improvements are coming!

We’re also really enjoying the early feedback on Fairphone Moments. We had a feeling it would resonate, but it’s been great to see it spark real discussions and ideas about where it could go next. Some suggested features like a timer, for those moments when it’s tempting to switch back too quickly, or the ability to add widgets to the homescreen. Others mentioned a guest account mode that lets you share your phone with only certain apps enabled. These are all inspiring suggestions, and we’re definitely exploring how Moments can evolve over time.

At the same time, we’ve also heard about a few rough edges that need smoothing out. So we’re focused on getting the core experience working as smoothly as it should. Once that’s in a good place, we’ll start digging into some of the bigger ideas the community has shared.

We’re proud of where the Fairphone (Gen. 6) is today, but we know there’s always room to improve. Your feedback helps us get there, step by step.

Thanks for being part of this, for the conversations, the ideas, and the support. Let’s keep it going.

All the best,

Miquel

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Thanks for this update! I feel like regularly updates like this really helps us as a community to understand what you’re doing!
For Fairphone Moments, are you planning to add new possibilities what you can do with the Fairphone Moments Switch? Like opening an app, (De)activate camera/microphone/sensors, opening the QR code scanner, etc.?
Or add even more possibilities that it does other stuff when the display is switched off?

Please? :slight_smile:

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Great to hear - let’s get a good rhythm going :slight_smile:
More good ideas for the switch, love it! We’re taking notes over here and will get back to you with plans for the future of Moments.

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Thankyou for the open Conversation and Update. I experienced all of those Bugs, so they are quite comon. I feel like this i going in a very good direction with the Updates ans Support. Greetings to the hard working Team.

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Following this already from the first fairphone till now. This one really could work out. I believe in this process and looking forward to see fairphone 6 evolve in an really good phone to hold. So many idea’s, so many possibilitys.
Thanks for the update @mikiballester this should be done more often to inform this community! I’m still rocking my Oneplus 11 until he doesn’t hold up anymore. But keep following this evolution because it deserve people following this!

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I had no idea about the reddit AMA. I treat this forum as THE place to engage with the community and Fairphone team.
I see that Fairphone is quite active in youtube comments, responding to reviews and showcase videos, which is a fresh sign of activity for sure.
Yet, over the course of owning my FP5 and being a part of this forum for two years, it felt like this was the place with the lowest chance to have your comments and concerns be heard by the team. (not that anyone seemed to respond to twitter and instagram marketing that was posted regularly over the course of the past years).

I fully agree that Reddit is the best and most convenient place to hold an AMA.
But can we unify the communication across platforms a little? Please? Would have been cool to give a heads up pinned post on the forum about the upcoming reddit ama.

Can we make a firm stance wether this is a community run unofficial forum, or a real place that the Fairphone team monitors for issues and feedback? (but NOT a support forum. I guess we all made that clear).

And while the limelight is the FP gen 6’s right now, can we address some long standing nitpicks about the software of previous models?
The 5 also had some refresh rate weirdness around launch. Though that seemed to have gotten a silent fix.
Ghost touches on the fp4? Inconsistent touch response while charging on the 5?

Since you guys are knee deep in the software due to Android 15 looming around the corner, could we revisit these old paper cut issues, to make the older models feel just as fresh and relevant? You know, longevity and all that.

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But yeah, it wasn’t pinned, I guess.

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Okay, that’s my bad then.

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Thank you for the update!

It’s good to hear that you are paying attention to the feedback and already working on improving the rough edges :slightly_smiling_face: It’s also easier to live with those small rough edges and not get frustrated, knowing you are looking in to improving them.

Loving the phone so far :+1:

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Thank you for the information!

Sounds good.

PLEASE fix the sound recording quality, especially
while recording Videos.
I would even pay for a replacement of the microphone.
Ist just so bad, honestly not usable in most situations.

Apart from that I really like the fairphone 6.
It would be a shame to see many customers like me
have to return the phone because of that.

Thank you, Best,
T.

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Glad to see this. I ordered my FP6 yesterday, my first Fairphone, and was a bit disheartened to read about the problems some people are facing, so it’s good to see that you read the community forums and are already taking action.

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Welcome here.
Don’t care too much of the problems you read. I think you could over estimating them. Not every users here write their personal good experience but almost everyone of us write about problems (and, often, solution).

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How does this relate to /e/OS users? I have installed /e/OS the first day I received my FP6 because of its privacy, but the camera is even worse there:

  • Stuck to 12MP mode
  • No zoom
  • Horrible sound in video
  • Slow in general

There are more basic functionalities that are not available in /e/OS of which I feel they are pretty essential, e.g. battery charging limits to preserve battery longevity, always-on display when locked, properly working auto-brightness (keeps resetting to fully dim), availability of the My Fairphone app. I don’t know whether to raise these issues here, or on the /e/OS community.

As you are offering the phone with /e/OS pre-installed, are you working with Murena to address issues there as well?

Having the original Fairphone Camera app available there as is the case for previous FPs so we can also benefit from the improvements you are working on would already be a great start.

One final suggestion, as more people are moving away from big tech and like to support European initiatives (like me), could you provide such updates on improvements also for your FP6 /e/OS users?

Keep up the good work as in general, I’m really impressed by both the hardware and software maturity.

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Welcome to the Community forum.

Also following and getting involved in the /e/OS community is very recommendable :+1: (I am an /e/OS user myself, although still on an FP3).

/e/OS usually comes with a fork of OpenCamera as its default camera app. Only last year, /e/OS was for the first time ever able – with Fairphone’s help – to also offer Fairphone’s native camera app on the FP4 and then the FP5. Fairphone is known to pass on firmware patches and the like to /e/ development for Fairphones, so if Murena should be able to offer Fairphone’s camera app for the FP6 at one point as well (I take it from your report that this is not the case right now), it would most likely also get future camera app updates from Fairphone with a little delay.

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True, currently it is indeed not an option for the /e/OS FP6, I indeed read that for FP4/FP5 this option was added in the /e/OS settings a while back.

I’ll definitely get involved in the /e/OS community and report my findings there as well, thanks for the clarification on how Fairphone and Murena worked on the camera release for FP4/5. I’d really like it when Fairphone could share a bit more on how they collaborate with Murena and how improvements (it makes total sense that it is with a delay) move into the /e/OS releases.

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Hey we are on it! Thanks for your patience.

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Hi there. Wanted to ask if you will be looking at the mic issues for call quality too as it’s a reason I’m considering returning my fairphone as it’s not useable in loud environments or on Bluetooth headphones. Would appreciate some feedback as I know others have also complained about this

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Good to hear that updates are already planned!

I still wonder how something as big as the bluetooth bug can get though testing. Same for the screen lag/refresh rate and screen dimming. These all happen in very normal every day use cases and it is hard not to notice them.

I recommend Fairphone a lot but right now I would tell friends to hold back until updates are out and bigs fixed. Once everything works smoothly, I would say it is the ideal smartphone for those who are not part of a cult or need the absolute greatest power and cameras.

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Like you, I’m still with my pixel 6a until it gives up the ghost.

Its great to see how Fairphone has developed and I’m so happy to now be part if the community forum.

I’m looking forward to the day I can get my hands on more sustainable tech

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Since two weeks I use the FP6 daily and did not run into the bluetooth bug. It occurs probably not on every user. So it must happen in limited circumstances with specific devices or protocols or interactions with these.
I do experienced the screen lag bug. So I looking forward to the early-life update.
On the Switch Day in Amsterdam those bugs were not happening wile have different FP6 on hand. But they probably had different software.

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