I’m going to buy a Fairphone 5 and I have few questions about. I did a search but I wasn’t able to find a precise answer to my questions. Also, I’m going to put here my doubts instead of posting several questions. Hope this is acceptable.
I read the Reuse & Recycle document but I don’t understand if it possible to send a non-fairphone device after buying a FP, receiving back a discount of the previous purchase.
Before shipping my current phone I’d like to receive the FP5 and transfer my own data. According to that document it seems I can only receive a discount for a future purchase. Is it correct?
what if my device is not listed? I find only some models, i.e. Xiaomi 10 and 11, but my 12 PRO is not listed. Is there a reason why only few models are available for this program?
I’m going to buy a FP5 mainly to try to use a smartphone without Google Services and with no Google apps pre-installed. As far as I understand Fairphone is one of the few out there that allows the users to get rid of those applications (not sure what other devices are suitable for this use-case). It’s not clear to me what is the role of the OS. I have no problem to run Android (otherwise I cannot install few apk I do need to use, unfortunately, i.e. for my bank account) but how much “Google” is inside Android itself?
what are the differences between the private and business section of the website? I don’t understand if the products/services are different or buying as business customer just leads to receive an invoice to a VAT ID.
1 and 2. the compnay fp is contracted with just dont accept some older phone and it just better to sell yoir phone localy as a used phone.
most banking apps wont work with the degoogled os called “/e/ os” due to not having the requured google stuff. You can use universal android debloater to rempve most google app and bloatware (like the goofle search bar)
Thanks a lot for your quick answer.
Just a clarification about the third point: does the UAD (Universal Android Debloater) works better on FP phones than on other brands?
I mean, it’s worth to buy a Fairphone 5 (already having a working Xiaomi smartphone) just to removing the Google applications?
The main difference is that the “Business” side is for large companies’ orders and additional requests (such as assistance and software). If you would like to order just a few units as a company you can do so with the standard checkout, indicating your company name and VAT ID.
As per point three I would suggest not simply removing Google Play Services, as this will lead to (partial) breakage of most proprietary apps you may be used to. Completely removing GPS is only something I’d recommend to people who have no or little reliance on applications from Google Play.
There are entire projects with dedicated developers developing not only Android without Google Play Services, but with additional features that make your phone more secure. When you use “debloating” tools you are on your own when you get stuck or find a bug, as opposed to there being decent to rigorous testing with the below projects.
I recommend this chart for details, but my (biased) TL;DR is that you’ll want to go for Graphene for security at all costs (only Google Pixels) and Calyx for a solid compromise, as it isn’t as hardened but it does work on Fairphones. Both will optionally (your choice) have almost full compatibility with all apps. While Graphene can load the full proprietary GPS in a sandbox (therefore very high compatibility with proprietary apps), Calyx uses microG to minimize proprietary code (therefore the compatibility is lower, see microG rating for your apps here).
For the least amount of effort, take a look at Murena, they’ll sell the phone to you with /e/OS preinstalled. The chart will tell you that they are slow on security updates and leak more data to Google though.
3.:
The OS (called ROMs, though they are not read-only) is like WIndows or Linux. The link from jazzforlife to the chart is imho very good. In case you know Linux: There are Debian, Ubuntu and so on. They are all Linux but are different flavors. All the “ROMs” listed are based on Android (AOSP Android OS Project) and are different flavors of Android.
Maybe the banking app won’t work. The original Android is full of Google things. The different projects try more or less to remove depencies on Google.
thanks both for your kind answers!
Yes, I’m a Linux user and I’ve used f-droid sometimes.
I use my smartphone mainly as a “phone” and I just need very few apps:
Telegram
Bank (Fineco, Italy)
PayPal
Tapo
RustDesk
OSM
Android Auto (nice to have)
These is all the stuff I really need.
The second point I don’t want Google harvest too much data from my phone, hence I’m here also to find a way to NOT use a gmail account to use my phone.
By the way, it’s odd that the most secure “ROM” (Graphene) works only on a Google device!
If it was supported by fairphone I would have bought it immediately!
Quite easy just dont add an account at set-up. For Apps like Paypal you can use Aurora Store from F-Droid Store.
I have all GApps deactivated except for Pöay Services, Maps and Play Store (as you can update important Android System apps also without a Gmail account added to the phone)
Missing above as far as I can see is btw IodeOS.
Here btw a list for all FPs and all supported OS with a lot information oslist
As far as I remember the Google phones offers a good hardware security that also is usable in a such a open source “ROM”. Maybe Google wants some orders from public offices and meets the requirements of them by this offer.
In case you don’t know NextCloud: Depending on how much work and independence you want you can have a look at Nextcloud - Wikipedia .
I used /e/ OS on an Oneplus 7 Pro before buying FP5.
They actually have improved a lot! All my banking apps worked (about 10 apps), even the special ones that are for Norway only. One of the apps, called Vipps, didn’t work if I wrote a message when transferring money. This is an app similar to paypal and working messages is not important. It worked fine without the message.
Interesting! I believed that it was just a matter of software, hence available for all devices after a cross-compilation. Where can I learn about how the hardware handles the security?
You can read the following sections on the Graphene OS FAQ section to learn about what security features are leveraged in the Pixels:
Wherever you see “secure element” that’s referring to the Pixel Titan M security chip.
I agree that it is a shame that the most secure option relies on hardware from a surveillance capitalist firm. This is simply because Pixels are the reference devices for Android (AOSP) and AOSP in turn is the only significant mobile OS that is free software (therefore auditable and therefore secure).
Projects like postmarketOS are currently in active development which should allow us to have a mobile OS that is not dependent on companies that have interests not aligned with those of their users.
3: You can buy a ‘deGoogled’ Fairphone 5 with murena eOS directly here: Murena Fairphone 5
I didn’t, simply because certain medical apps were not supported (Medtronic Minimed), but now I learned this is not supported on FP5 with Android either
Hello sorry to hear that. I have just checked the app called MiniMed, is it the one you’re looking for?
There have also been some threads tagged diabetes, perhaps you will find some helpful info there.
Yes, I can confirm that on my phone.
But the review section in the play store suggests the app does not work with most (all?) phones with Android 13 and/or 14. So not sure what to suggest. Perhaps check this link for alternative solutions?
