Hi everyone,
Thank you for being so active on this topic and helping each other out. I read all your comments and shared a summary with the relevant teams. We’ll look into why after upgrading to Android 13, some Fairphone 4 devices experience a black display during/after boot.
It seems there is a connection between this issue and a previous installation of a custom ROM. The exact cause is still unknown so we can’t say if this affects every device with a custom ROM (or even devices that never had one).
Most importantly, what can you do if you encounter this issue after the upgrade? There are two options.
Option 1 - Try to fix it at home
Some users above had luck with the following steps:
- Connect a USB-C dock to your Fairphone. The dock must support HDMI output as well as input from a keyboard (and optionally a mouse).
- Connect an external monitor and keyboard to the dock. If all goes well, your Fairphone’s screen should appear on the monitor, even if the phone itself has a black display.
- Using the keyboard and mouse, first make sure all your data is backed up.
- Follow the instructions in the article Installing Fairphone OS Manually to unlock your bootloader and install a fresh copy of Fairphone OS with Android 13.
This will wipe your data.
This option can be great because it lets you back up your data and in most cases will take less than an hour. If you encounter any obstacles, feel free to ask for help in this topic.
If you are not comfortable with manually re-installing Fairphone OS or you don’t have access to the necessary devices (dock, monitor, etc.), consider the next option.
Option 2 - Contact our Support team and request a repair
Follow this link to fill out our contact form. Our Support team will help you send your device to our repair center.
As I am writing this, the reply time to new requests is 3-4 working days. To help speed up the process, make sure to upload your proof of purchase in the contact form.
We are aware of one instance where the performed repair was unsuccessful. This has been escalated to the relevant team and shouldn’t happen again.