Fairphone 6 not receiving security Updates

Help Fairphone 6
1

I purchased my Fairphone 6 in August but I am still on the security patch from may (built FP6.QREL.15.84.0).

I havent had a reply from support after two weeks now so I thought I’d try here.

I tried the following:

Manually letting the phone search for updates.

Restarting the phone.

Searching via wifi, mobile network and hotspot by other ISP.

Is there a way to install them manually? Like downloading the pakage from somewhere and installing it from a file?

Thanks in advance.

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2

Do you have a SIM card installed? Which country and provider? Do you have any kind of vpn/blocker set-up?

In theory yes however if your bootloader is locked you have to set it up from scratch.

3

I am using a vpn (private internet access) but deactivated it to test, unfortunately without success.

I am using a physical SIM card by Vodafone in Germany.

Vodafone support ofcourse points to the manufacturer.

4

Actually there are issues since some time with VF SIM cards…can you borrow a SIM from someone who has another provider, best O2?

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5

Interesting.

I’ll see what I can do.

6

This has affected the FP3 before. I sacrificed about a day of my precious lifetime :wink: to get Vodafone DE to acknowledge they have a problem. I never got so far that I could even see my ticket. So I gave up. Since the FP3 will not receive updates for more than a few months, I ordered an FP6. Two (?) weeks later the FP3 started receiving updates. :zany_face:

The FP6 works nicely, does not get updates. OHHH NOOOOOOOO!

Since I did not want to experience the Vodafone Call Hell again, I opened a ticket with Fairphone. It’s open for almost a month now. I’m not holding my breath. :roll_eyes:

7

Hi there,

I just bought my first Fairphone, I love a lot but my last Security Update is from June 2025 and it shows that I am up to date !? and the Customer Support is not replying for a week.

Both… is not great.

I am with Vodafone and in Germany.

Help anyone?

Thanks

8

Welcome to the forum :slight_smile:

I moved your question here. Please see above.
Unfortunately there are regularly delays with FP updates for VF subscribers in Germany.

9

Thank you, but Vodafone is one of the biggest Carriers in Germany and not having Updates on a brand new Phone is not an option. So maybe FP shall tell Costumers in Germany that… or reply to mails.

10

VF and FP have a very old Love and Hate story. It was better for around 2 years and detoriated again around April this year? Since than all FPs with a VF SIM get updates delayed…

And FP will not give you any info about this, I think the reasoning is: contracts dont allow or something along the line…

11

I will wait one more round and otherwise return it. Thank you

12

You really need patience for this combination (Fairphone + Vodafone DE) :grimacing:.

So, you should be on release FP6.QREL.15.105.0 then. There is one after that dates august 11th with the security patch for july.

This is not a very good look for Fairphone regarding the speed of security updates and especially not for Vodafone DE, not providing an available update for over 6 weeks now to it’s customers.

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13

At least fairphone could answer my Mails for a start. so that’s not a good look either. Thank you

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16

I have the same issue with a new FP 6.

current update is FP6.QREL.15.84.0.

Provider is Vodafone, Netherlands

17

I just bought a Fairphone. Quite happy with it. But missing security updates are a real bummer. :frowning: I’m a WEtell customer (using the Vodafone network), only got the July updates.

18

No one here can change carrier?

I mean, the problem here is clearly a dumb behaviour from a carrier, so just point your middle finger to it and go see elsewhere…

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19

I received an answer from FP support.

None of you are going to like it:

“Different network carriers have different technical requirements: before we release a software update we extensively test the software. We found that, under some specific circumstances, our update might cause some issues with specific carriers, and when that happens, we do not release it.”

Fairphone isnt releasing the updates. Its not the carriers fault.

I used a different SIM to update my phone. I am now on the july update which is imo still way out of date.

I will continue to try finding a workaround for fairphones bs but i will not keep this phone in the long run.

Even Motorola managed to release updates every two months for ALL carriers.

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20

The standard bla bla not saying anything useful.

Well even if you are not directly with VF many provider use the network. WeTell is choosen for many good reasons by purpose and not because its cheap and there is no alternative. Its not always that easy

21

These are really bad news. Let‘s you question the capabilities of the software team at Fairphone as from my understanding this issue with Vodafone dates back years. Vodafone is one of the largest carriers in Europe. How can this be an ongoing problem for so long?

This, combined with generally slow security updates is a no-go for me.

I will keep my Fairphone as a second device to have a glimpse into the Android ecosystem first hand…but my daily driver will remain an iPhone for the time being.

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22

I am with T-Mobile in Germany and also do not receive any updates for this brand new phone that was guaranteed monthly updates for the upcomming years :rofl: It has nothing to do with any specific provider or country.

Support does not react at all to e-mail inquiries. Is there any official statement from Fairphone? Will they fix this and move on forward delivering monthly updates and security patches or is this just gonna be like this? Was the support as bad for the previous models?

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