FP6 how often do we get security patches?

Discuss The Products
1

I’m pretty sure I read once that security updates would be monthly. I’ve noticed however that while my phone is on the July patch, Google has already published both August and September patches. So I was wondering how often we get these?

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2

Fairphone 5 and Fairphone 6 get monthly updates. Fairphone 3 and 4 get bimonthly updates. And they usually contain a Security Patch Level update.

The update history is public, so you can convince yourself that they are (more or less always) monthly for 5 and 6:
Release notes Fairphone 6
Release notes Fairphone 5
Release notes Fairphone 4

The thing that differs from Google Pixels is that the Security Patch Level is not kept up-to-date within a few days of the release from Google, but something between a few weeks and 2 months later. Yet, more or less once a month Fairphone will release an update which includes a Security Patch Level (SPL) update (just not necessarily the latest one, like the last FP6 release on August 11th, only with July SPL).

The issue of being (way) too slow with publishing SPL updates has been discussed over and over (including me leaving my anger there) again and likely won’t improve. But about the initial question of “how often?” → more or less monthly.

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3

Thanks. This was the part that cleared things up for me.

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4

Not having any insights or secret knowledge, based on the update history, I would expect an update for both FP5 and FP6 still this month, and likely to contain the September SPL.

There have been cases on the FP5 where the monthly update only delivered the next month, but usually it is one per month. If early/ mid month, often with the SPL of the month before, if late in the month, often with this month’s SPL

5

I’m actually thinking maybe the FP6 update being slow this time means they are working on Android 16 and decided that they are close enough to getting it ready that it’s not worth working on A15 anymore. They mention wanting to release A16 before the end of 2025, so could be in the realm of possibility. I’m trying not to get my hopes up too high though.

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6

A16 already, I think very optimistic. But good luck to you owners of a FP6!

Nice! Do you have a source for that?

7

Here you go

I am not saying though we are getting it anytime soon.

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8

Official roadmap in general

https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/9979180437393-Fairphone-s-Operating-System

9

And another topic on the same topic

10

Still unclear if FP is an android partner or not. IF not, as suspected, FP users needs to be informed as LineageOS has done Changelog 30 - Sleek Sixteen, Streamlined Suite, Future Flow – LineageOS

  • Google no longer pushes monthly tags and patches to AOSP; and most fixes/security patches are now pushed quarterly, if at all.
  • Security patch levels may occasionally lag: we only increment them once all patches are public.
  • LineageOS 23.0 is based on Android 16 “QPR0” because QPR1’s source isn’t public yet.
    • Because of this some headline features (like Material 3 Expressive) will come later, once sources drop.
11

From what I can find, Fairphone is a member of the Android Enterprise program and the FP5 was Android Enterprise Recommended certified (Android Business Device Solutions Directory - Android Enterprise and Android Business Device Solutions Directory - Android Enterprise ). It’s hard to believe an OEM could become an Enterprise program member without being an Android partner. I’m also not sure if an OEM can ship Google Play Services with a phone without being a partner. I’d say it’s extremely unlikely Fairphone is not a partner.