OH, and why is het Blocking this update?
Marc Desmet
Very likely you wonāt get the answer here in the community forum.
Every provider needs to approve updates and there are many possible causes for not doing so. Maybe you can ask there?
A carrier cannot directly block an OTA update on a non-carrier-branded phone (like the Fairphone 4) in the sense of pressing a ānoā button ā but they can indirectly prevent the update from reaching your device by controlling whether the update is offered to devices connected to their network.
Below is a clear breakdown of how that works.
How a Carrier Can Affect Updates on a Non-Carrier-Branded Phone
Even when the phone is factory-unlocked, carriers still participate in Androidās update eligibility logic because of network-dependent components like:
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IMS (VoLTE / VoWiFi)
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Emergency calling profiles
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Network configuration bundles
These require the carrier to approve or certify the firmware.
If the carrier does not approve the new build for their network, OEMs can choose not to offer that update to devices using that carrierās SIM.
This happens even on unlocked phones.
Mechanisms Carriers Use to Delay/Block Updates (Indirect but Effective)
1. Using the SIM to Determine Update Channels
When the phone checks for updates, the device reports:
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MCC/MNC (country & network code of your SIM)
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Device model
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Current firmware
The update server (Fairphone or Google) replies with the firmware appropriate for that network.
If Fairphone has not received approval from Orange Belgium, they simply donāt enable that update for devices whose SIM identifies them as Orange BE users.
This feels like āblockingā even though the carrier isnāt touching your phone.
You may not receive the update until the carrier finishes testing.
2. IMS Certification Delays
Carriers must ensure new Android builds donāt break:
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VoLTE
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VoWiFi
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SOS calls (112/911)
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LTE handover
Until Orange confirms the build works, Fairphone may not distribute the update to phones connected to Orange networks.
Again: this is not a hard block on your device, but it blocks the update at the server level.
3. Regional Rollout Profiles
Fairphone may have different āprofilesā for:
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Retail purchased FP4 (OEM-unlocked)
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Carrier-certified profiles for networks like Orange, Vodafone, Telekom, etc.
Even if the FP4 is not sold by the carrier, the network profile alone may place it into a ācarrier-certifiedā bucket.
If the carrier has not certified the newest firmware:
That bucket does not receive the update.
4. Carrier May Not Support New Features Yet
If an update includes changes to:
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radio firmware
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modem configurations
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carrier configuration apps
The carrier may ask Fairphone to hold the update for their network until testing completes.
What the Carrier Cannot Do
Carriers cannot:
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Push their own firmware onto your FP4
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Modify your OS
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Install bloatware
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Lock your bootloader
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Force downgrade or interrupt your manual installation
They only influence the update availability, not the device itself.
How to Bypass Carrier-Based Update Restrictions on an FP4
1. Remove the Orange SIM and check again
With no SIM or a SIM from another carrier, the phone may switch to the generic Fairphone update channel.
Many users report this works.
2. Manually install the update (official packages available)
Fairphone offers full OTA and incremental OTA zip files on their site.
This method:
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does not require root
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does not void warranty
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bypasses all carrier restrictions
3. Use Fairphoneās āFP4 Firmware Downloaderā or ADB sideload
Advanced but effective.
4. Use a VPN to another region
Sometimes the rollout is staged by region rather than carrier.
Summary
Carrier-branded phones get updates through carriers.
Non-carrier-branded phones should get updates directly.
BUT if a firmware build includes carrier-specific network profiles (IMS configs), the update server checks your SIMās network code and only delivers the update if the carrier has approved it.
This is how a carrier can indirectly block a software update without owning or branding the phone.
3 Likes
There is so much wrong or not relevant for fairphone.
Whats relevant is the first mechanism, the rest is afaik not happening
Also all the bypass things are not relevant or wrong in the details.
Please donāt post AI slop if you are yourself not sure about that itās correct
If we want to use chatGPT, we can do it ourselves but we donāt have to ask in a forum for it
10 Likes
Thatās not a very constructive reply. Not everyone knows or can use AI. Also, itās better to have this info than nothing. This info is otherwise hard to find.
In a nutshell: FP4 does not release the new firmware to customers with carriers/operators that have marked the firmware is unsuitable for their network.
@all we have speculated about that in various topics ad nauseum, based on vague facts. FP cant/want to share the details, and is only sharing this.
Thus I kindly ask that we dont speculate here further, as this isnt leading somewhere we havent been before.
2 Likes
7 posts were split to a new topic: Discussion regarding AI
A post was merged into an existing topic: Discussion regarding AI usage in forum posts
We can expect a lot of things. Doesnāt mean theyāll happen given the track record. āWeāre on itā sounds like the āRest assured, your problems are important to us, and we are doing our very best to rectify it as soon as possibleā message I got ages ago followed by total radio silence. Glad the ārelevant teamsā are on it. Sounds like that scene at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark:
1 Like
I am sorry, but why are you replying here and not to our official tickets that we opened?
We feel ignored.
The forum is not the official communication channel.
90% of people will not read this answer.
Take it as a constructive feedback: you should really improve your communication about issues of your software upgrades with users. For example, communicating to the people who didnāt do the upgrade yet that there is this potential issue being reported. You would help so many peopleā¦.but as said by other users, that would destroy the marketing. So sad, we feel we cannot trust you at all
3 Likes
Exactly. Completely unprofessional on their part. Tickets go nowhere. My wife filed a ticket for phone issues at the start of the year. Nothing happened. It seems like no one monitors the ticket system, or if they do they donāt get to them all and tickets are closed after X amount of time whether theyāre resolved or not. Given how expensive these phones are and that repairability is their main selling point the totally amateur communication is unforgivable (itās NOT a new issue for them). Itās like a company run by high school students.
1 Like
Itās a company run by people trying to make the most money possible no matter the consequences. Donāt believe it? Expense points like support have been replaced by some cheap AI. And as for their software quality, it has always followed the āJust Barely Good Enoughā (JBGE) principle of agile developing: If it compiles, release it, donāt spend any more money than absolutely necessary on anything which doesnāt have a clear and immediate return on investment. And obviously (necessarily), sweep all the complaints under the carpet so the place looks tidy and the customers all look happyā¦
.
Letās see how they handle this A15 fiasco. Timeo Fairphones et dona ferentes: All FP4 OS updates have introduced new bugs (most of which were never fixed), but the A15 one comes top: Not one, not two, but three big, showstopper bugs (reboots, background apps immediately killed, Orange/Quickstep incompatibility). Will they fix them, or will they just throw the towel and just enforce the argument that it does work for some, so the rest are just grumpy naysayers? Weāll see.
3 Likes
Hi Marc,
This is the info I got from Proximus:
De Android 15 update van Fairphone 4 is inderdaad niet beschikbaar
voor Proximus klanten omdat er te veel open issues zijn. Er komen nog
wel updates uit, maar dat zijn security updates voor Android 13 (de
huidige release voor Px klanten)Dus, je kan aan de klanten meedelen dat er security updates volgen
voor Fairphone 4 zodat ze zeker niet kwetsbaar zijn en dat de Android
15 er binnenkort aankomt nadat de problemen opgelost zijn.
1 Like
Beste,
Dat is goed nieuws voor mijn vrouw en haar FP 4, maar niet voor mij.
Ik ben klant bij Neibo die het Orange netwerk gebruikt . Wat is daarvan de status, want ik heb die Android 15 update ook niet ontvangen
Marc Desmet
Thatās good news for my wife and her FP 4, but not for me.
I am a customer of Neibo, which uses the Orange network. What is the status of that, because I havenāt received the Android 15 update either.
[DeepL/mod provided translation]
Tja, ik weet niet hoe goed dat nieuws is heeā¦ Het hangt ervan af hoe snel Fairphone die open issues gefixt krijgtā¦ Ik weet ook niet welke issue het zijnā¦
Well, Iām not sure how good that news isā¦ It depends on how quickly Fairphone can resolve those outstanding issuesā¦ I also donāt know what those issues areā¦
[DeepL/mod provided translation]
May I please ask you to keep the conversation in the original language of the post?
Marc, the Orange users in Belgium and France received a software update FP4.TP32.C.0144 with the November security patch because of some issues with the launcher
https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/4405858220945-Fairphone-4-Release-Notes
1 Like
Thank you for pointing that out. But I notice DeepL produced a very good translationā¦ 
Does anybody know when the security issues are likely to get fixed so Proximus can finally release A15 for their customers?
1 Like
FP4.QREL.15.15.2 just arrived here. No Problems so far. Deutsche Telekom, Germany.
A post was merged into an existing topic: Software Update: FP4.QREL.15.15.2
Hello, Still no update to Android 15ā¦ any news from Proximus?