/e/ for FP3 (Google free OS)

Hi,
will the phone pass the former known security check by certain apps like banking-TAN apps?

I just think as soon as you unlock the bootloader some apps may not work cause they tell the phone unsecure.

The /e/ install instructions finish with locking the bootloader again.
And Apps don’t only judge security by an unlocked bootloader.

Many Apps rely on Google SafetyNet for judging security.
There are no Google services on the phone. /e/ uses microG as a replacement, but microG always has to catch up with changes Google applies to its services. So even if Google-dependent Apps might work, this can break at any time for an unknown period of time.
If you are relying on Google-dependent Apps 100% working, then /e/ will not be for you.

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Hi,

I am aware of that. :wink: But I did not know thet /e/ locks the bootloader again.

I would love a google free FP3. Perhaps I ll give it a try.

So, will it be “recognized” as a Custom Rom?

Depends on the method used to detect that by the App in question, and depends on whether changes in Google services break microG, which happens from time to time.

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From Fairphone’s official announcement on their blog:

When we asked the Fairphone community to choose an alternative operating system for the Fairphone 3, /e/OS was the clear favorite.

Does anyone here remember where and when this happened? I would really be curious about this.

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Found this, but not sure Fairphone would phrase it like they did given it was @paulakreuzer who created the poll:

:fr: If you speak french, I have made a tutorial on /e/OS.
Here : http://blog.liberetonordi.com/post/eOS

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It was obviously this poll as it was mentioned a lot in the /e/ forum, e.g. here in Gaëls post

(although more than one year later it didn’t come with FP2 but FP3).

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Yeah, I remember the poll.
But that’s probably not the only thing that made Fairphone choose /e/.
As much as I like Lineage (I have 2 FP2s and one Samsung GS5 running on it in my household), it is entirely community based and relies solely on the goodwill of a limited number of people.
/e/ is a “real” company, albeit small and probably financially fragile (as is Fairphone!), with an operational team and a long term project with goals they have set and actually reached so far. It is easier to engage in an official partnership with an established company than with a group of volunteers whom you don’t know if they will still be there in a couple of years.
I’m just trying to put myself in the shoes of the people at Fairphone who realised one day they wouldn’t be able to keep up with the open source software development project and had to engage in a partnership with someone else if they wanted to keep on offering a Google free alternative OS. It’s just easier to engage in that kind of long term partnership with a company like /e/ than directly with the community.
I see /e/ more and more as a kind of software couterpart of Fairphone : the first concentrates on the software and the latter on the hardware.
Again, please don’t think I’m being critical of Lineage, Sailfish and others. I think they’re really important and necessary and I keep in mind, for example, that /e/ is largely based on Lineage. So one can’t exist without the other and the fact that /e/ exists should, in fact, be seen as a fantastic success for Lineage.

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@tomgey: fully agree with all these points.

This kind person summed it up;

This little programmer will happily continue on cleaning up the LineageOS 16 port. :wink:

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Good morning gentlemen and -women!

So I flashed /e/ today. It worked flawless. My banking authenticator app is working after installing with Aurora Store. Another app for digital signing recognizes a “modification” and does not work.

But this is no problem at all.

The really “breaker” for me at the moment is the missing ability to connect to an exchange server. As far as I have seen, there is no app and also no possibility to add an exchange-account to sync email, contacts, calendar? Am I right, or am I missing something.

/e/ is pretty cool, if this will also work somehow, it would be great!

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Afaik not in the system itself (unless you find a corporation to finance it: Microsoft Exchange Support in Mail App Is it required? - #15 by GaelDuval - Applications - /e/OS community) but I assume you can use the Outlook app.

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Works, installation was extremely simple and the bootloader is closed again, which in itself gives a better feeling.
Currently the only open question is how to get root on the system without breaking anything, because I need root rights for my firewall and anti-spam solution.

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At the moment, there is no solution to the question about root in the /e/ forum: How to get root/Magisk in /e/ on the Fairphone 3?

The e documentation will not cover rooting information as it is not required for the installation of /e/OS. You can check XDA or other web forums for more information on how to root.

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Probably not what you’re looking for but on the other side no root needed, so I still think it’s something to consider:
You can deny internet access in settings to any app which doesn’t need it to work and as an addition you can use Blokada to block tracking connections.

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Thx the outlook app works. (although it is a little a privacy hog). :wink:

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Thanks for point that out

Thanks for the Link, I will check out.
I know about this limitation in documentation, this behaviour and the look & feel somewhat reminiscent of Apple are somewhat disturbing. But all in all it seems to be useful. Let’s see how it performs in the long run.

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I did root the system flashing Magisk-v20.4.zip using adb sideload (the /e/ stock recovery comes with this function). But remember : the bootloader must be unlocked before this operation and you won’t be able to lock back the bootloader (it will corrupt the system), so I guess that it’ll be impossible to make OTA updates…

(and don’t forget to wipe data after flashing Magisk)

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Fairphone OS updates just fine with an unlocked bootloader, but the Updater doesn’t like modified partitions and checks for that.
How does that work with /e/ exactly?

Oh ok, I never had that chance with the fp3 stock rom. I will see what happens with /e/ updates… :smiley:

In order to root /e/, I did this :
Assuming that :

  • you have downloaded Magisk-v20.4.zip to your pc
  • you flashed /e/ partitions (following those instructions)
  • you left the bootloader unlocked
  • your phone is still connected to the pc via usb
  1. Boot into recovery (the /e/ recovery)
  2. Tap on “update” button
  3. Then tap on “adb sideload”
  4. On your pc run adb sideload Magisk-v20.4.zip
  5. On the phone you’ll have to confirm flashing an untrusted update
  6. At the end of the process, go back to the system and wipe the data (not the system).
  7. Then reboot normally (the system will reboot once)
  8. And finally install MagiskManager-v7.5.1.apk
  9. Do not lock back the bootloader : it will corrupt the system (but it’s quite easy to solve this problem : just flash everything back, following again the install instructions of /e/).

Final observations :

  • The developer options (in the main system menu) won’t show that the system is rooted even if it is (it will only show something like adb root and no application root)
  • Step 6, the data wipe, is just recommended once. It is not necessary when you’ll root again the system, after an OTA update.
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