FP3+: Issues with Android 13 update

[shaakunthala]

First of all, I would like to thank the team at Fairphone for making the Android 13 update available for 3+ years old device.

However, software updates are sometimes not without issues. Here’s what I have encountered so far.

1. Delayed SIM unlock prompt after device restart
I have locked my SIM card with a PIN to prevent misuse. Previously, the SIM unlock prompt appeared immediately after the device restart. After upgrading to Android 13, this does not pop up immediately. It takes a few more minutes for the SIM unlock prompt to appear.

2. WiFi Connectivity issues.
a) If WiFi is disconnected for some reason, the device needs to be restarted to reconnect to WiFi. Otherwise it won’t work. In this case, if I try to manually connect, it prompts for the password again, and the MAC address setting seem to be reset.
b) When WiFi is connected, it does not show which WiFi network I’m connected to.

In order to resolve above issues, I’ve reset my network settings. But resetting did not have any effect.

3. Battery life
Battery life seems to be deteriorated after the update. the phone tends to heat up more. I recently purchased a new battery, so I think the hardware is still good.

4. SD Card issues
When I restart the device, Spotify switches back to device storage. This is likely due to a delay in mounting the SD card. I figure this out only when I see in the notifications that Spotify is downloading the whole library again. In this case, I have to stop the app, and choose the SD card manually.

5. Device is slow
The device appears to be running slower after the upgrade. The SIM unlock and SD card issues I mentioned above could also be a consequence of this.

6. Other issues
Minor issues but only appearing after the software update.

• WhatsApp does not switch to speakerphone sometimes.
• Power menu does not have the screenshot option anymore.

My FP3+ is only 2 years old. I don’t want to replace it just yet.
I would appreciate if there would be an update patch to address these issues.

Regards,
Shaakunthala

[anon9989719]

@shaakunthala

I would appreciate if there would be an update patch to address these issues.

Hi

• You may have to wait for the phone to settle, so you can also reboot it.

• I have none of the problems on either of my two FP3s

• Check your memory and clear some apps cache to ensure you have at least 6GB free
  Empty the camera bin etc.

• If you have an SD card ensure it is formatted as protable/external and NOT Internal

A little guide to... using SD cards

Android 6 introduced new options for using an SD card in your phone. When you format an SD card or insert a new SD card, you’ll have two options: Internal/phone/adopted storage or external/portable storage. The option that most closely matches older Android versions is the external option. There are a couple of things to take into account when choosing which option works best for you: TL;DR: Formatting as internal will allow you to store apps on it and have it encrypted with the system interna…

[yvmuell]

That really does not seem to be normal.

I had that issue with Spotify on the FP2 and stopped using the SD card for downloads therefore already years ago.

Try to run the device in Safe Mode (see dic:safemode) and probably without SD card.
Might be you need to manually reinstall the update.

Which Router do you use or this with all Wifi networks?

[Incanus]

I have the delayed PIN request for the SIM too, when rebooting. It takes about 30s after unlocking the phone, before the SIM Pin has to be entered.

[shaakunthala]

@anon9989719

• You may have to wait for the phone to settle, so you can also reboot it.

• Check your memory and clear some apps cache to ensure you have at least 6GB free
  Empty the camera bin etc.

• If you have an SD card ensure it is formatted as protable/external and NOT Internal

• Waiting for 1 minute to let it settle is acceptable, but 5 minutes wait time is not.
• I have 10+ GB free on internal storage, and 70+ on external storage. I’ve already cleared cache one some of the big apps, including the cache-hog Instagram. That didn’t help.
• External storage is already formatted as portable storage regardless it leads a privacy issue.

[anon9989719]

@shaakunthala

Waiting for 1 minute to let it settle is acceptable, but 5 minutes wait time is not.

Seriously it can take more than a day or two

[shaakunthala]

@yvmuell

Which Router do you use or this with all Wifi networks?

I use the ISP-provided Zyxel T-54 router and a Zyxel 7890 WiFi access point. (WiFi 6/ Mesh)

@yvmuell

Try to run the device in Safe Mode (see dic:safemode) and probably without SD card.
Might be you need to manually reinstall the update.

I started the device in Safe Mode. It runs way faster in the Safe Mode, but,

• WiFi issue still persists. It didn’t auto-connect on boot, and won’t connect at all.
• SIM unlock prompt is still delayed, but not so much compared to normal mode.

@anon9989719

Seriously it can take more than a day or two

I will wait till the weekend and see how it goes then.

[anon9989719]

@shaakunthala

WiFi issue still persists. It didn’t auto-connect on boot, and won’t connect at all.

• I had to clear the Settings > System > Reset options > Reset Wi-Fi, mobile & bluetooth, on one of my two FP3s

• I also had to temporarily enable location as in the following

[yvmuell]

@shaakunthala

I started the device in Safe Mode. It runs way faster in the Safe Mode, but,

So it might be some of your installed apps.

Never heard about those router so no ideas from me end here. Any chance to test a non Zyxel network

[shaakunthala]

@anon9989719

• I had to clear the Settings > System > Reset options > Reset Wi-Fi, mobile & bluetooth, on one of my two FP3s

I’ve done this reset already. Unfortunately it didn’t help.

I also see other users having WiFi issues too: 🇩🇪 Fp3 - seit Update auf Android 13, WLAN Verbindung instabil

[rpnid]

For my 2 cents:

For me, this update went much better than I expected.

No major hassles so far, in particular no connectivity probs, no extreme batt use, and no perf probs I may confirm, and even my tasker stuff seems to be happy with no mentionable efforts (except a bunch of std adjustments, of course).

At the end of the day, most problems I see in getting accustomed to Google’s design changes, and the immediately nasty things seem to be limited to

• the widgets I use to show my BT connections suffering badly from the extra padding that now seems to be around text, and
• Simple Clock’s analog widget apparently being broken big time at least with A13 and Nova.

And now for my exceptions to the above:

Delayed SIM Unlock:
This I experienced as well, with different delays every time I rebooted so far. Will see how/if this changes.

Lock Screen Quirks:
I get (in “single line” mode) another line that gives me the date, in non-“Material You” white, and (w/o any spacing) a clock symbol and a repetition of the current time plus 5 minutes. (?)

Status Bar Quirks:
In std screens, and at least with percentage enabled, it is not flush right but has an IMO nasty spacing.
Interestingly, when I expand (“pull down”), it looks as I’d expect - and gives me the current date at the left as well, though I can’t see a reason for that “bonus”.

EDIT:
Oops, here’s another one, concerning external inputs - and this looks like a real flaw to me:
With an external kbd attached, the bottom nav bar often goes berserk, ie. renders into plain white here, apparently backgrounding white symbols.
Cannot say atm if this only happens if “show virtual kbd” is set when there actually isn’t one for the current IME - but in A11 even this never gave any problems whatsoever.

[ReofSpa]

Delayed SIM Unlock:
Yes, I have it as well, but my device boots much faster on A13, so it looks like the modem is not fast enough registering on the network. For me there is no inconvenience here, just have to get used to it.

[ontheair]

I just did the update today, mostly working fine. But there are a few things:

• As others already mentioned, the phone seems to react a bit slower. Especially scrolling is laggy and stuttering. Maybe this will be better after the phone settled a few days after the upgrade and the internal optimization processes are done.

• The removal of the screenshot option from the power menu is a bit annoying. Pressing both the power and volume down button is not really ergonomical, in my view. But I guess that’s a choice from Google and nothing what Fairphone can solve.

• But the most visible bug is, as @rpnid already mentioned, this ugly and nasty spacing in the status bar (wrong alignment). We already had this in other OS versions of the FP3(+) and it took more than a year for Fairphone to fix it.

I know, this is not a serious functional bug, but it is so obvious, visible anytime in any app and really ugly.
If anybody knows a way to fix that, I would be very happy to know about!

[anon9989719]

• No slowness on either of my two FP3s
• The screenshot option sucks
• The spacing is to allow for a green indicator when the camera is on: Of course I’m sure the notifications could be moved to the right as the green dot only occurs with the camera in action

[AnotherElk]

@ontheair

I just did the update today

Interesting. Did you get the updater notification about it earlier and just today initiated the update?

I’m asking because Fairphone said yesterday that they stopped the rollout.

[yvmuell]

There should be a second Screenshot option!?

[shaakunthala]

@yvmuell

There should be a second Screenshot option!?

Thanks for highlighting this one. It seems indeed easier to work with.

[ontheair]

@AnotherElk

Interesting. Did you get the updater notification about it earlier and just today initiated the update?
I’m asking because Fairphone said yesterday that they stopped the rollout .

I got the notification days before. But I decided to watch this thread for problems, before installing it.
I was not aware of the fact that the rollout was stopped.
The problem with the fingerprint reader just affects one of my apps (Bitwarden). This is very annoying because the passphrase is very long and complicated - but I decided to install the update anyway, as keeping an older Android version for a long time is not an option, too, because of security.

@yvmuell

There should be a second Screenshot option!?

Thank you, I did not realize that!

I noticed that screen brightness is going crazy when in a darker environment. It always goes dark, bright, dark, etc. I hope that this “smart adaptive” automatism will learn about that.

And my old LED notification app is not working on Android 13 anymore. Where I can set individual LED colors for each app. Was not able to find a working alternative in the app store.
Anybody can recommend such an app?

[Krijn]

Yes, there are many issues.

I don’t really know where to go at the moment. The forums seem a bit scattered all over.

My main problems:

• some apps only start after a Very Long Time
• some apps don’t work with the fingerprint scanner anymore
• the device over all is just Very Slow
• it takes ages for the sim cards to show their pin screens
• the pull down menu from the top is very slow
• even though I switched off all fancy gui stuff, it still doesn’t do the trick

Overall, I’m not very happy about the update. A few bugs are to be expected, but this is really a lot. My bank app (ABN AMRO) takes a gazillion years to start, which is not very convenient when you need it to login (either via the web browser on your computer or when you use it as a stand-alone app). Fortunately I still have this very old card reader lying around.

Anyway, I would love to participate somewhere in reporting bugs/hanging apps/etc., but I don’t seem to be able to find that place on the Fairphone controlled part of the internet…

[ontheair]

@Krijn

some apps only start after a Very Long Time

That’s interesting. For me, apps are starting as quick as before.

@Krijn

some apps don’t work with the fingerprint scanner anymore

I did not realize that this is such a huge bummer - but it is. Typing long and complicated passwords multiple times a day, instead of using the fingerprint reader, is a PITA.
I just added another app which is not working anymore here.
Hope there will be an official statement soon about how to get this situation solved.

@Krijn

the device over all is just Very Slow
even though I switched off all fancy gui stuff, it still doesn’t do the trick

I disabled gui animations now, too. Yes, there is no difference: It is lagging and stuttering all the time, even when just scrolling through the settings menu.