I recently got my FP6, preinstalled with Android (came with my new provider contract). I unpacked it and as a good user I immediately installed the latest android patches. Then I tried to install e/OS with the web installer. It fails by telling me, the security patch level is newer than the one from e/OS.
When I check the security level on the FP6, it shows August 5, 2026.
When I check the manual installation page, the security level is shown as 2026-09-05. But when I follow the download link, I end up on a release date 20260815 (which would be at least newer than the security level of my FP6 - but is not in september!).
I would like to point out that I have definitely no issue in reading all those dates, having done logparsing for SIEM in the past showed me a lot of different formats I wonder why there are 3 different dates that are somehow not really related to each other. And maybe why there is still no september e/OS release for the FP6.
I just want to know if the web installer is still not a good option for the FP6 and if I can safely trust the manual installation using the - mentioned above - image from 15th of august?
The release day of an OS update is not the same as the included Security Patch Level (SPL). SPLs only have the 1st or 5th of a month, that is when they are released by Google, and then the manufacturer of the OS (here: Murena for /e/OS) has to integrate it into their next release of their OS.
For /e/OS news your covered better at their forum, I just happened to see that they withdraw a recent update for the FP6: Week 40, Development and Testing Updates - #3 by Manoj - Development Updates - /e/OS community
Maybe the web installer therefore saw the previous, older than your current SPL while you found a newer in the manual installation directory, pointing to the rolled-back one?
Several people here in the forum have mentioned they have had issues with the web installer and prefered the manual install, but I never tried any of them.
Just as a note: /e/OS is Android as well. You bought yours with Fairphones Android-flavor, now you want to switch to Murenas Android-flavor called /e/OS
Hey, thanks for the good answer. So another forum it is
But maybe the rollback could explain why the august build has the september security patch included (at least from the manual install page status). I have also no issue with going the manual way, I flashed a lot of Androids so far with various tools and ways. Is there a similar safeguard that would stop flashing if the security level is really lower? I will try to figure out how I can check the security level of the image manually.
If they just rolled-bak their release, you would be back at what they released in August. And there was no September SPL in August yet, that cannot be included. Just watch that thread, I’m sure they will re-release it soon.
Not as “hard” as in the web installer. Via manual installer you can brick you phone if you try to.
There’s a nice manual here in this forum on how to install, also explaining how to check before possibly bricking: A safe guide to install /e/OS on your Fairphone
(those links might change, but currently there is no September version but it’s indicated on the install page - most likely because of the reversion from murena).
I will report back if I end up with a good looking paper weight
Edit: All went fine. Only thing, when I unlocked the bootloader and should do the critical_unlock, getting into fastboot mode, it was a bit messy as the phone constantly wanted to boot into system. But pressing Vol-Down and Power solved it eventually.
Congrats for successfully installing /e/OS!
So just for others possibly reading along here:
there’s no real danger of bricking the device when just manually flashing an /e/OS version (even with older SPL).
Just if you decide you to relock the bootloader - then the step of relocking the bootloader is the critical step!
Ok, thanks for the reply - yes, the flashing went completely easy, especially with the script (had done the partition flashes before when I pushed LineageOS to my Poco F3 some years ago).
One question regarding the relocking (as I now received the official 4.3 OTA update, there should be no risk with this either): Will this also format the device like unlocking is doing?
Otherwise everything runs fine so far, just struggeling with some nextcloud sync issues that I will ask in a separate thread and most likely on the /e/OS forums (where it belong ).
Yes, there should be none. But no guarantees here… You’re safe if you make sure that “oem unlock ability” is “enabled/1” (you find this in developer mode or via fastboot get_unlock_ability in fastboot mode). In that case you could unlock again if something goes wrong.
Will this also format the device like unlocking is doing?
Ah cr*p (wow, what a strange word filter!) - than thats a no-go for me anymore. I already put a lot of stuff onto my FP6. Well, on the other hand I had unlocked all of my phones so far after flashing a custom rom, so this shouldn’t be too much of a problem
I was using Fairphone OS first , then when it finally get official I’ve switched to LineagOS. I did not like that the camera app was not recognising all the sensors, so switched back to stock android after short while.
Now I am on e/os after few attempts to install it. I had few problems with web installer and as well as manual one.
What probably done it for me is that when I was on Stock android few days before end of a month the new update was supposed to kick in . I checked that the security patch was going to be updated , so I’ve looked on e/os official website if the patches will be aligning with new version , which they did , so I am now on e/os which is OK for my use . i did have few glitches thou . i had to do factory reset twice to make my phone work properly with all my notifications.
As far as I remember e/os releases updates a bit later then official Fairphone stock android hence the confusion with security patch dates.
For future reference please check your phone in fastboot mode , it tells you on what security patch date you are currently on.
Googles anti rollback feature is a right pain in the neck, but thanks to many people on this forum we can use our phones the way we want to.
I wonder why there are 3 different dates that are somehow not really related to each other. And maybe why there is still no september e/OS release for the FP6.
Security fixes