Hi everyone,
Thanks for reporting this and for your patience as we looked into it.
We’ve now identified the root cause of the issue: it only affects Fairphone 5 devices with broken fingerprint sensors. Android 15 introduces stricter hardware checks during boot, and if the fingerprint sensor is faulty, the phone is unable to start.
The good news is that the issue is reversible:
You can safely downgrade back to Android 14 without losing data by following a specific set of steps.
If your device is frozen on the boot animation:
- To force a reboot, press and hold the power button for around 15 seconds.
- If the device returns to the boot screen, continue to repeat this process until it fully boots into Android (can be up to 7-8 times)
If you need further assistance, please reach out to our Customer Support team: https://support.fairphone.com.
From there, you have two options:
Send your phone in for repair (to replace the fingerprint sensor) this will fully resolve the issue and allow you to update to Android 15.
Edit by yvmuell:
Wait for a software workaround our partners are currently exploring a patch that would allow Android 15 to boot even if the fingerprint sensor is broken. Please note: if this patch becomes available, the fingerprint sensor itself will still not function, but you’ll be able to use the rest of the OS.
We’re doing everything we can to support you now and will keep you updated as soon as there’s progress on the software workaround.
If you suspect that your root cause is not fingerprint sensor related, we encourage you to reach out to our customer support team.
Thanks again for your understanding and support.