Support cannot tell me what they do to fix the ghost touch issue so I doubt there is any real fix. I am pretty sure there is only a software mitigation. If there is a fix and they are unwilling to tell their users what it is then they are acting antithetical to their ethos. So much for repairability.
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Finally someone replied in the live chat (after only 10 minutes wait, Fairphone Support no longer available - #124 by Native for original post). Unfortunately the only solution offered is sending in the phone, DIY repair is not possible 
The answer to my DIY request was that the display will be replaced and some padding will be added, which is not possible to do on your own (“success of a self repair is not guaranteed”) really annoying as this means a factory reset of the phone and (according to support) 14 days without the phone… This is especially unfortunate as e.g. my banking apps require device activations via PIN letters, so quite a lot of effort…
Hopefully the repair will at least really fix the issue…
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What you are describing fits very well to my situation:
- When the phone is lying flat on a surface (not in my hand), it often does not react to input at all. If it does react, it only reacts sporadically, i.e., to some input events but not to others.
- When the phone is lying flat on a surface, it shows more Ghost inputs than when it is in my hands.
- When holding the phone only a bit at the very bottom, ghost inputs seem to happen more often than when I cover more of the phone’s back with my hand.
- I have the impression that your humidity correlation is also true for me.
- I have the impression that your “works better when lying flat on metal surface than when lying flat on non-metal surface” correlation is also true for me.
- Your theory would match with users reporting that the problem became less bad when they tightened screws, or added tape or foam to the connector, as this would leave less space to wiggle.
(I’m using the Settings → System → Developer options → Show taps option to see what’s going on)
The software update did mitigate the issue for me, but not completely remove it. Kind of ass to do a halfway software fix of to safe some bucks for a proper design fault repair and taking responsibility for mistakes… But maybe it did remove it completely for others, don’t know.
So I recently sent it in anyway because on top it started to have GPS issues and the level of annoyance has surpassed my threshold of the annoyance of investing hours of temporarily migrating to a backup phone.
In the end they replaced the display and the motherboard and so far ( few weeks) it seems to be repaired now. So sending in does work. And you get a new shiny display, which is nice and kind of takes off the heat of the frustration a bit.
Offtopic: Unfortunately I forgot to mention the (also common) microphone in phone call issues, which they could have taken a look at also.. Damn. Well, but as I read FP usually is incapable of repairing this microphone issue, I’m not going to send it in for that an just accept that I have a phone which is not very good at phone calls. LOL (And incapable to allow users to limit charge to 80% in order to extend battery lifespan which is kind if ridiculous for a company claiming to do sustainable designs aaaaaaaahh insert sad cat meme here.)
What does that mean for your future decision which brand of phone you will buy?
I think for this kind of decision you have to see the whole picture.
Albeit the rather questionable policies in that regard, the fundamental idea is still great and hopefully they are improving and learning with their future phones.
However, if there are other companies who also take care of manufacturing rights and sustainability, I would consider it. So far afaik Apple does take some care and there’s one other android competitor.
Nevertheless, we do have to communicate our protest about this. I mean, also consumers will punish this by less likely buying again or recommending it to friends (which I will only do with a lot of caveats, telling them about these rather bad practices). I think both will have an impact, even if not seen directly.
Thank you for sharing your opinion on this. Pretty much what I think about that.
Has anybody here recently updated to Android 15? If so, did it have any impact on the ghost inputs, at least as far as you could tell?
Have the 15 update. Input feels better now. Even on non conducting surfaces it works right now.
But since there are other 15 issues, you should wait for the update
I had these ghost inputs and shaking screen, too. My solution was to replace the display by a new one. Now the phone works fine without that problems.
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We have two FP4 in our household with one having huge ghost input problems. The update did not fix it.
Furthermore, both phones are really laggy sometimes now and suffer from the apps beeing killed more aggressively (which causes camera pictures to get broken if you close the app to fast)
kindly dont discuss this here and there is a FP4 topic
I suggest you search this topic for “connector” as this has been found by many to be at the origin of their problems.
I posted a while ago in this thread if you want a little more background.
Ghost touch issues, no. So at least the software fix still works.
Unresponsive screen, unfortunately yes. Especially now that the winter introduces much drier air, I seems to have even more problems with unresponsive screen, sometimes even when holding the phone in my hand… It’s making it harder to hit small UI elementts and the pinch zoom also has been sporadically on strike.
To reiterate my thought from my previous message and the sentiment uttered by other users as well. I can’t really recommend Fairphone to friends and family.
I did however give more thought to my own purchase behavior and might buy an FP6 or its follower when my FP4 stops working (bad enough that I can’t fix it) or stops receiving security updates, whichever comes first.
Why do I still want to give Fairphone an opportunity?… I don’t know honestly, protectionism for the EU market? National pride that the Dutch want to compete against the other handset makers?… I’ve had too many issues with my FP4 for this to be a rational decision but I’ll try another Fairphone nonetheless. The one thing the NEEDS to be better in my next Fairphone is the microphone! If I can’t be understood while on a call perhaps the brand’s name should be Fairtablet rather than Fairphone…
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I have a FP 4 that for the past several days has nearly been unusable. I believe I am experience both ghost inputs and lack of responsiveness as well. I did notice a very slight crack in the screen, really just a scratch, arcing across the edge of the camera so maybe that is exacerbating the middle-of-the-screen down from the camera sketchiness of the display/touch mechanism that others have mentioned. It is rather cold and dry where I am now the past few days. The heaters are on so the air is more dry in my office than in my house. I was about to take the display out and examine things when I tried the developer option of showing touches and I see no issues as of now. Thanks for everyone’s input/discussion.
I got my FP4 in January 2023 and was really happy with it until I started experiencing ghost touches in final months of 2024. The problem was exactly as described here, dead center up and down ghoust touches. I read on the forums that Fairphone was working on a fix, so I waited a couple months for it before contacting the support in March of 2025.
I was getting a bit frustrated but they finally replied to my request after three months in June 2025. Like for others in this thread, they said that I need to send the phone in and they will investigate the issue and replace the display etc.
Well I did send the phone in and they basically just ran a quick diagnostic, then stated that there was nothing wrong with the device and sent it back to me. There was no information on what or if anything was done to the phone. They did not replace the display or actually do anything to the hardware.
Quite surprisingly the ghost touches went away for about two months but returned before October. I contacted support again and this time it only took them two and a half months to reply, but it was the same story again, check your updates and do you have the lates software - like my phone hadn’t just been at their repair center in the summer 
I tried to explain that I don’t want to send the phone back in just for it to receive the same treatement like last time and they assured me that it won’t be like that. Well of course it was and when confronted with the repair summary they said that they had performed “preventative measures” but would not disclose what they are and why weren’t they impleneted on the first time my phone was there. The ghost touches were of course still there.
After that I was really unhappy with the way they handled the situation and did let them know about that. Now they have sent me a NOS FP4, but I’m having trouble trusting the phone as it seems that this issue is inherently with the hardware and the “new” one has the exact same mfg month as my original one. I’m also feeling a bit quilty having recommended Fairphone to friends and family - of which three have bought one but luckily none of those are FP4…
Hello
Sorry to hear about this frustrating experience. Just to clarify you have received a new phone and it does not have the issue so far?
I have received a new phone but was instructed not to install any apps on it and test it out for a couple days as it is - the usage has therefore been minimal, as I have to have my old one with me to use banking services, charge my car, social media etc. So I can’t really say for the long run but have not experienced any ghost touches on the new one yet.
I also have to say that I’m really disappointed to have to have requested a replacement. I’m used to keeping a smartphone for 4-6 years so experiencing problems that cannot be fixed with one when it’s less than two years old is less than optimal. Especially for a brand that claims to have designed their products to have a long lifespan and to be repairable.
This episode has made me cynical towards them - sending me another FP4 might just be them hoping to get over the warranty time while depleting the stock of NOS FP4’s as they must know that they can’t repair them. Otherwise they would have fixed mine and this would’ve been the preferred option to me also.
Thanks for the explanation.
I understand the experience has been sour.
I hope your new FP4 will break the bad spell though. After all there were some users not suffering from this issue.