Hi FP community, since a couple of weeks the display of my FP3 is flickering and is moving uncontrolled. i make a short video where you can see the problem issue.
This problem is in all situations sometimes and irregular. Sometimes every day, sometimes every second day or something else.
Do have any Ideas?
I already delete at the Homescreen the widget for Time and weather, because it was moving at the screen around when the flickering starts.
Hi and welcome to the community!
Did you already see this thread FP3 touchscreen experiences ghost inputs if ever there was anything interesting to solve your problem?
A solution is also not written, only that a couple of people send the phone back to support. I contact now also the support.
Somebody contacted me about the flickering of her Fairphone 3.
In her case it was the adaptive brightness control.
When she switch the adaptive brightness off her flickering was gone.
To de-active the adaptive brightness:
Go to the app ‘Settings’
Go to ‘Display’
Go to ‘Adaptive brightness’
See if the icon after the word ‘Adaptive brightness’ is green.
If so, tap on the icon, it will turn into grey.
I have the same problem: a few weeks ago, the screen was flickering and the phone was very slow to restart. After 2 days without battery nor SIM nor SD card, it went back to normal. (And I got no answer from the support.)
Tonight the same phenomenon occurs again: the screen is flickering once I have unlocked the SIM card and each time I restart it, it takes age to restart… until I unlock the SIM card and the screen flickers again (it is not possible to read anything nor to enter the code). For some reason, the background is gray (as an old TV screen) when I can get a glimpse at it.
I turned of the “adaptive brightness”, to no avail.
What am I supposed to do to be able to use my phone again (tomorrow I expect an important call, I cannot wait 2 days this time)?
Correction, the support asked for a video: how can I take a video of my own dysfunctioning phone?
I can only describe it: the screen is black and flashes what it normally displays, instead of displaying it continuously. During the flashes, the screen has a noisy-gray-old-TV-screen background.
Do you have another phone or a camera handy? Otherwise, you can try to install an app to record your screen (ScreenCam for example, there are many others).
Thank you for the advice. However I just cannot access anymore to my phone when the screen is flashing: its content appears for a fraction of a second, then disappears for a second, then appears again for a fraction of a second: I cannot launch any app (or should I have ScreenCam on at all times?). When someone calls me, I cannot answer. My phone is not usable at all.
I try this since yesterday an watching my phone.
You can see my video, maybe it helps !
you can find on youtube earch for: “Fairphone 3 Display flackert”
or use the link:
maybe its not exactly your problem (sounds mor heavy) but give an overview at my situation. and shows furthermore also that at this flikering time the phone is not usable. i had at Feb also the problem that incoming calls i could not answer, because i was not able to click on the button 
after a factory reset this problem is gone, at least up to now…
Thank you GiuliaM. Indeed, the flickering is more serious on my phone: the screen is black during one second, then it displays “normally” (up to the noisy-gray background) for a fraction of a second, then goes black again and so on. During 2 days last time it did it, since yesterday evening until… I do not know when, this time.
I’m having the same issue, on a Fairphone 3 less than one week old. Really frustrating; no response from the support team either. Looking for a replacement unit but at this rate am considering returning for a refund as I’m within the 14 day period.
Did you check that it is not the adaptive brightness which is causing the problem?
So we cannot use adaptive brightness on our Fairphone 3? Or else the display doesn’t work?
I turned off the adaptive brightness, so that’s not the problem.
My phone is getting worse and worse: now it is flickering/flashing/being mostly black, even when I restart it, after 45 seconds (when the blue ball starts expanding). When I wrote my first message, it managed to restart completely and to reach the point where I could enter the SIM code (but not the PIN code), it is no more the case.
Is there anyone from customer service reading this forum? or the messages sent to the customer service?
No, that’s not what I mean.
I just helped, as a Fairphone Angel, a user of a Fairphone who thought her Fairphone 3 was flickering in which case it was the adaptive brightness. Something she wasn’t used to and didn’t like.
Thanks Lidwien, that clears it up for me. I’ll keep reaching out to customer support in that case.
Sorry Lidwien, I did not want to hurt you.
Probably “flickering” does not describe my problem accurately: my screen is black most of the time, and during a tenth of a second every second it displays what it is supposed to display.
My remark about the customer service is the following: I wondered if anyone from the support service reads this forum? I don’t know how to reach the support service, as I get no answer when I leave a message at the dedicated web page.
I expect some help or indication to repair or exchange only the dysfunctioning part, not the whole of the telephone. But I got no answer about whether I have to send something back (only the screen, or the whole telephone, or…). And I have no phone.
How long did you wait? It can be sometimes a bit long (~10 days).
Not officially, but @formerFP.Com.Manager @lorahaspels do you know if Fairphone is aware of this problem, and how long the delays currently are for an answer from the support team?
This is the second time that this problem occurs to me. The first time they asked me to send a video but it is difficult to send a video when one does not have access to one’s phone anymore, and I never got any further reply. As the problem disappeared as it had appeared, I did not pursue my request. I didn’t expect it to reappear.
However it appeared again for the second time, it started yesterday evening and I sent a message today. I am getting worried about it occurring again and again and depriving me from my phone for days in a row (I was supposed to be able to answer it today, to serve as a “hotline”.)