FP4 Root Access is possible, maybe a bit risky

Help Fairphone 4
21

Yes, it’s possible to flash gapps and then you’ll get the Google experience to whatever extent you prefer. I think Maps and Gmail don’t require any of that stuff though.

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22

However i think under those conditions Lineage is the better option…

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23

I presume no update means no news but as I’m not yet familiar with the various sources of informations around the device I thought I had to ask: has there been any progress on a way to rooting device/flashing TWRP (I checked XDA but found nothing there) ?

I have another question: usually unlocking bootloader automatically wipes the device, therefore I tend to do this operation on the very first day of new device ownership so that I can start setting my environnement and be able to mess with my phone later without having to restart the painful security token/banking/… app setup that usually requires to proceed to a lot of validation steps.
As I’m about to receive my FP4 in a matter of hours now, is it perfectly safe to unlock bootloader or has there been feedback about eventual issues by doing it ?
And of course by safe, I don’t mean security vulnerabilities that are the logic consequences, but rather system failure or instabilities that would appear after doing so

24

If you stay on the original FP rom you don’t have to unlock the bootloader.
If you unlock it now right after receiving the smartphone, but later install a custom rom, all data will be deleted anyway.
depends on your use-case
you can turn and turn as you want

25

What I do with an unlocked bootloader is not really my question :slight_smile:
But I’ll answer anyway; unlocking bootloader while staying on original FP rom will allow me to root, flash kernels (I like to try different settings, play with power adjustments, set se-linux to permissive…) which will allow various apps I like to be installed (root explorer, Linux Deploy, Adaway, Flashify, Greenify, Titanium Backup…) that require root :wink:

26

Unlocking is noted on the official site so a) it should be fine and b) if it not then you can ask for official support ~ I imagine :slight_smile:

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27

Thanks for the answer, guess I’ll give a shot anyway :slight_smile:

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28

Just received my FP4, succesfully unlocked bootloader.
Though I think I should inform the procedure described is the documentation you linked is actually mistaken.

Command “fastboot oem unlock” doesn’t work anymore (maybe only valid on older fastboot versions). It will return “unknown command”.
The correct one is : fastboot flashing unlock

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29

Maybe worth letting Fairphone know :slight_smile:

Thanks for the update

30

From what I’ve read so far you seem to be aware, but for the sake of completeness (and maybe for others): some apps might refuse to work when the bootloader is unlocked.

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31

Maybe useful to have a Guide on what will not work after unlocking the bootloader.

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32

So far, Google Pay seems to be the first to protest

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33

Is this a protest at unlocking the bootloader or do you mean rooting.

I think Google Pay doesn’t like an unencrypted device.

34

Root is not possible yet.

Where did you read this and do you mean Google Pay?

35

Yes google pay :slight_smile: Have edited my previous.

Thanks

36

Yep I was expecting google pay to give me the finger after unlocking the bootloader. But that’s fine I can live without it.

Guess I’ll just have to wait for root. So far I’ve been finding the device a bit laggy in its animations, scrolling etc. I hope there’s room for improvement.

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37

First rooting may void the warranty as once you have rooted you cannot prove that any permanent problems, after restoring the default OS are not caused by you after rooting.

I don’t think Fairphone provide a rooting guide. I thought that was down to third party apps.

Do you really want to risk the 5 year warranty?

Currently I’m over year into my FP3 and have de-googled it a fair bit and unless I really want to mess with the Android 10 it’s not really an issue. It was more important years ago when I was investigating what I could do :slight_smile:

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38

I’ve been owning and rooting phones for more than 15 years now, never had any issue with warranty.
There’s always unrooting method, flag counter reset etc so I’m not worried about that.
I’m not asking advice on whether or not I should root, just asking about status :wink:

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39

Maybe, but as this is a discussion in a public forum, I guess it’s legit to post some warnings for not so experienced users.

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40

Of course that’s a fair point.

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