FP5 not booting after update to Android 15

[mjceaser]

I’m also having the same issue. My fingerprint sensor stopped working only about a week ago, got the update notification today, stuck on green screen with the vertical line in the middle. Eventually reset after 7 reboots. Not sure what to do now!

[OldRoutard]

Welcome to the forum.

@mjceaser

Not sure what to do now!

In your place I would stay on A14 for the moment and wait for news.
At least one user has repeated the update attempt with no better result, and your phone remains functional.

[Georg2]

Just for the record: On the Fairphone 5 with the NOT functional fingerprint sensor and the failed A15 update: I tried it 2 times. Both times failed. In two update attempts I had to use the 7-restart method to roll back to A14.

[vs_991]

Just an additional questions as I saw this somewhere else also.
The exact steps to do the 7 restart?

Let the phone start until green line of death then remove batter.
Repeat 7 times?

Or should you do the hold power button and volume up to open the screen which name I cant remember and reboot through that 7 times?

On some reddit thread of the topic I saw similar question

[Georg2]

just hold the power button until it turns off. Then turn it on again. When it’s stuck again at the green screen with the “I” in the middle: repeat. 7 times.

[OldRoutard]

Removing the battery is fine but obviously don’t replace the back cover until the phone has comfortably reverted to A14

@vs_991

hold power button and volume up to open the screen which name I cant remember and reboot through that 7 times?

That is called Recovery mode and you can use that if you prefer. However more complicated and you can make mistakes.

But, as Georg2 says, it’s sufficient (and probably best) to hold the power button until the phone turns off. He’s had more experience of this than me

[litinvention]

Even a factory reset doesn’t fix it for me

[vs_991]

7 times restart worked rolled back to Android 14

[OldRoutard]

Could you list the actions you took in chronological order and the results of each?

[litinvention]

Rebooted dozens of times, both by holding down power button and from the recovery menu (accessed by holding down volume up at same time as power). Taken out battery, leaving for 10 minutes each time. Tried all the potential options from the recovery menu (fastboot, bootloader, etc) and finally ‘wipe data/factory reset’ several times. Nothing has any effect.

[OldRoutard]

OK. So the phone allows Recovery and Bootloader, but there appears to be no valid System version that can be booted.

@litinvention

The latest update messed around with a lot of things up in slightly annoying ways, including bluetooth not working. So I reset and now in the same cycle as everyone else

From your previous post I had received the impression that you had successfully booted A15, but then attempted to go back to A14 with a Factory reset.

Unfortunately a Factory reset is only an option if the current bootable System is valid.

We’ll have to wait for advice from Fairphone I think in this case.

[litinvention]

Sorry, misstype above. I didn’t try a ‘reset’ until much later. It was on A15 for a day or so, then the little annoyances meant that i rebooted it. And since then stuck in this cycle

[OldRoutard]

OK, so rather similar to

@OldRoutard

AndersKOlsson After initially booting into A15 after several attempts, the phone later crashed or turned off and no longer boots.

[yvmuell]

@OldRoutard

attempted to go back to A14 with a Factory reset.

Just for the records and addition as this is a common misunderstanding: a factory reset never downgrades to any previous Android Version it just deletes all user data.

[litinvention]

I took to a phone shop who couldn’t help. He tried reinstalling software by other methods but unable to as the phone was locked by security measures from someone doing that (probably a good thing!)

[OldRoutard]

The Bootloader is locked which is normal.

[anon76468197]

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:

1. To force a reboot, press and hold the power button for around 15 seconds.
2. 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)

Edit 2 by yvmuell as it was insisted thats could be important (I havent faced the issue myself so dont know)

FP5 not booting after update to Android 15

Hello from Germany. I’ve finally managed to do it after 20 reboots. My problem was that I waited too long. I only restarted as soon as the “I” was displayed. Try this: Hold down the on/off switch until the screen goes black. As soon as the word “Fairphone” appears in green and the Android logo below it, hold down the on/off switch until the screen goes black again. You do this about 7-8 times. At some point I was suddenly back in. Good luck! Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

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:

@anon76468197

Please follow this trouble shooting tool > Fairphone 5 > Stability > Fairphone 5 only: the Fairphone 5 is stuck at boot.

• 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.

Edit 3 by yvmuell:

FP5 not booting after update to Android 15

Hi everyone, Thank you for your patience and for sharing your experiences regarding the FP5 boot issue following the Android 15 update. What we’ve discovered From our diagnostics, it seems that: In some cases, the fingerprint sensor was working intermittently, which allowed the update to Android 15 to complete and the phone to boot at least once. If the fingerprint sensor then stopped working afterward, the device is recognized as having successfully installed and started Android 15. T…

Edit 4

FP5 not booting after update to Android 15

Hi everyone, Thanks for your patience while we continue to address the booting issue some of you have faced after updating to Android 15. The problem is linked to a faulty fingerprint sensor. During the staged rollout, we closely monitored reports and confirmed that the real underlying issue was hardware-related. Because of this, we have now put a dedicated processes in place: Faster identification: our Customer Support agents are trained to recognize this case quickly. Chatbot support: our …

Edit 5

FP5 not booting after update to Android 15

Update on this matter:

[litinvention]

See above- the ‘reboot it 7 or 8 times’ only works for some people

[yvmuell]

It works for majority so I think for those that are stuck the only way is to contact support and get it repaired properly