Android 15 is Now Rolling Out to Fairphone 4! 📲 (FP4.QREL.15.14.3.20250923)

[peci1]

@eelco_de_v

After taking a photo I immediately lock my phone (same second), which was never an issue on Android 13.

Does this happen even when the phone was unlocked before taking the photo? Or only when you start camera from a locked phone by double-click on power button?

[eelco_de_v]

Good question.

I always access the camera via double-clicking the power button from locked.

[Avalon]

Got the update a few days ago and … the experience is extremely bad so far.

If I have more than 3 apps open at the same time, basically everything I put to the background gets killed. Had to type in some form multiple times because I needed Google to get an address and my password manager for obvious reasons and that was already too much it seems.

It killed my local git three times already as I put it into the background and then git was stuck in an erroneous state until I deleted that repo and pulled it fresh.

Everything is kind of slower as with A14 too.

And to top it all off, sometimes with the three button navigation, the square does not work and I can’t completely close apps. Rebooting the phone fixes that temporarily, but that’s not a real solution.

[Courtney]

Since the latest update my phone randomly restarts so frequently I haven’t been able to send a support ticket until now without it restarting.

When it restarts I am often logged out of apps and now, for the first time, lost all the data and history of a game I have played for years. Even minor. But weird things are amis, like my frequently used emojis don’t show anymore. Every time it reboots (still multiple times daily), something new seems to have gone wrong. This is also a big risk as it has rebooted randomly as I have been mid payment, waiting for a ride share, and checking air raid alarms as I am an aid worker in Ukraine.

Please fix this awful bug that it seems like others on the forum are also experiencing. A factory reset is not something I should have to do with a software “update”.

[KurtF]

@Courtney

Since the latest update my phone randomly restarts so frequently

You’re not alone, there is a thread about this. But as you can see in this thread here, Fairphone is giving us the silent treatment, their community manager has gone AWOL, let’s hope they are nevertheless working on getting it eventually fixed.

[AnotherElk]

@KurtF

their community manager has gone AWOL

To slightly alter a nice usage example for the term the internet just gave to me …

“if, having been treated in this way, students community managers go AWOL, no one should be surprised”

[peci1]

@Courtney

lost all the data and history of a game I have played for years. Even minor. But weird things are amis, like my frequently used emojis don’t show anymore.

This sounds quite suspicious. This isn’t normal and nobody else has reported such issues. It’s possible your phone is either broken or hacked.

[akira_asimov]

I have FP4 and have hit the same very annoying issue since I updated to A15. Does anybody know when do we expect a fix? It aggressively closes background apps. Every time I switch it almost certainly stops the other apps

[voks]

I noticed, that a killed messenger app of mine (FediLab) doesn’t restore the last active tab anymore, but a previously active one. It worked again, after manually closing the app by sweeping the app upwards in active apps carousel.

So I assume, that the app is not closed/killed in a standard way here and data loss doesn’t seem to be too unexpected then.

[voks]

As a workaround for the annoying background app killing I use the splitscreen when possible to keep the app in foreground. But since the upgrade to Android 13 (and/or my switch to Nova Launcher) I can only select a recently used app from the active app carousel, no others.

[Meaghan]

Dear All

Please note that there are specific topics related to some of the issues reported here and by posting in a relevant topic it is far easier to find and share a solution

For reboots there are two topics

• in English, Reboots after A15 upgrade
• in German, 🇩🇪 FP4 selbstständige Neustarts nach Android15 Update

For some/many users, it helped to change the display settings. For details, workarounds and to share whether it has or has not worked for you, please post there.

Just a gentle reminder that posting does not mean reporting to FP support - please open the ticket if you experience any issues

For apps being killed in the background

• FP4 (Android 15): Background apps being killed more aggressively

Now it has been mentioned in a similar topic on Android 15 for FP5 that the issue has been diagnosed and is being analysed

FP5: Android 15 killing background apps more aggressively

@all this seems to be something Android (15) specific not only affecting Fairphone, so there is not much to be done by Fairphone in this case…So FP is aware and having an eye on it, however these are deep system-level changes that Google implemented in Android 15 This isn’t unique to Fairphones. Similar issues are being reported across the Android ecosystem, even on Google’s own devices (Pixel 9 Killing Apps in Background; Pixel killing background apps ).

Have a lovely Sunday, Your Mod. M

[Paul88]

I installed android 15 on my FP4, sofar I have three problems:

• I use launcher10 for years, and sometimes I have to wait sometimes so long for any tiles appear before I can enter any app, then the screen switches off
• I used multiple wallpaper app for changing background pictures sometimes it changes in its’ own to the Fairphone wallpaper
• The screen does not always automatically switch after the set time

[Meaghan]

On the wallpaper changing, please check the following topic

Since Android 15: Wallpaper automatically changes to default image

Hello, since switching to Android 15, I have had the following problem on my Fairphone 5: The wallpaper I selected myself changes to Fairphone’s default blue image after a few minutes. This phenomenon occurs both with the Nova Launcher I use and with the pre-installed Quickstep Launcher. Is this also the case for you? Is there a way to prevent this? I look forward to your feedback! I also submitted a request to Fairphone Support today. Best regards jazzlive

[brampeirs]

Still no update for this FP4 Orange MVNO (Mega) user. Are the bugs for Orange users being fixed?

[skipper296]

Do you consider apps shutting down in the background to be critical? It has rendered any use of the phone for music/podcasts/audiobooks/etc. impossible, as well as causing email, social media, and 2FA problems. I see that this has been a known issue for months but there’s not only still no fix, but you pushed the update out to more phones after Fairphone 5 users flagged the problem. I’m a few days away from just buying a new phone from a different manufacturer.

Setting app background usage to “Unrestricted” has not fixed the problem. This is absolutely a critical bug, but it’s not being treated as such.

[KurtF]

@skipper296

you pushed the update out to more phones after Fairphone 5 users flagged the problem

The few malcontents don’t count compared to marketing being able to claim “we have rolled A15 out to all our models, including the antediluvian FP4! Aren’t we great?”. The fact is that Fairphone lives in their very own world, totally detached from reality (need an example?). Unfortunately most of us do reside in reality, tough luck.

My point is, there is no use in getting angry, complaints roll over them like water on a duck. Ignoring their users is what they’re best at, you can only hope that the fear of bad press will push them to eventually release a fix.

[Fairphone_CM]

Dear Fairphone 4 Community,

We have received your reports regarding issues experienced since the Android 15 rollout.

Thank you for sharing this feedback promptly.

We want to confirm that the reported issues have been passed on to the relevant teams and they are actively working on fixes.

You can expect to see issues resolved in the coming software updates.

As soon as a new software version is available I’ll post the release notes here on the Forum!

Best,

Lotte (Fairphone Community Manager)