Also a full update would be interesting to me. I have uninstalled Google Services Framework and thus my FP3 lost its update ability (the menu simply vanished).
Android is so fundamentally broken if you cannot even receive a zip without a Google proprietary framework…
Absolutely, we DO need complete a complete update image.
Edit: One issue with an update image is, they would have to update it every time they release any patch or new version. Phones that comply with googles’ “Android Verified Boot” do not allow downgrades of the system, only upgrades. If you install any update, going back to the old version is impossible once the new version booted once, as the bootloader will remember that. So even with a full image available, you could only install it, if its the same or a newer version than what you have on the phone, not an older one. Android Verified Boot 2.0
Booting an older version is only possible if the phone/bootloader has been unlocked.
That being said, I think your problem can be fixed using adb, as the app is still in /system, just “not installed for user 0”. Try
adb shell pm install --user 0 /system/priv-app/GoogleServicesFramework/GoogleServicesFramework.apk
this should work for any apps that have been removed using
adb shell pm uninstall --user 0
as suggested in
Excuse me? You’ve been tampering with your phone’s operating system at your own risk. So don’t blame Google now.
I think he has valid critique.
Android is an open source system with proprietary extensions.
The latter is OK, because it’s Google’s business model, and people are free to build a phone or phone ROM without it. (LineageOS for example)
Or people are forced to do it without it because of political reasons, for example because a US embargo forbids Google to do business with you.
Some people might simply opt to want a phone without Google - for whatever reason (trust, privacy, political, …), and (since so far no alternate ROM is available) uninstalling or disabling the proprietary apps from Android is the only option.
The issue is, the update mechanism Fairphone uses to update Fairphone 3 only works with this proprietary google extension, which is installed in a privileged way.
That being said, how privileged are google play services (formerly known as google service framework) actually? Could a user install an open source app and use that to trigger updates (providing the update URL manually) the same way he/she could use adb to sideload the update from the recovery system?
I think that should be possible, after all the google play services don’t run as root, but should be using an android API call which needs enhanced (device administrator) privileges that the app can be given by the user.
worth looking into.
Edit: This is what LineageOS uses: https://github.com/LineageOS/android_packages_apps_Updater
Edit again: You don’t need proprietary stuff to install updates. The capability is exposed through
https://developer.android.com/reference/android/os/RecoverySystem
and
and android.os.UpdateEngine
there is an underlying daemon process running with root privileges, but that is open source:
https://android.googlesource.com/platform/system/update_engine/
So, long story short, you don’t really need Google Play Services, you could write your own app to do it. (Edit: But because Fairphone uses Google Services to announce updates, this would possibly require significant amounts of reverse engineering, see https://habr.com/en/post/446790/
)
Another issue is that Fairphone utilizes google cloud to provide information which updates are available to phones and lets them download it. But while that is using google services server side, they can be queried from third party apps as well.
Normally you can flash your firmware to an original state. Not with incremental updates. What if firmware becomes corrupted. Tough luck? I don’t think so.
OK, so I’ve discovered what happened with my lack of updates.
My problem was that I hadn’t received any update since I’d got the phone at the end of october. The security patch was September 5th.
I got a very weird answer from support saying that, as my mobile operator was Orange (France), I had to get in touch with them for the updates, even though I bought my FP3 directly from Fairphone and not through Orange. I answered saying I strongly disagreed with that, but it gave me an idea : I switched my mobile data to my work SIM which is an other operator (SFR), and I immediately had updates available, 3 to be precise : one for September, one for October and one for December. I was in fact 3 updates late.
My conclusion is that the partnership between Orange and Fairphone had led to a technical misinterpretation in considering that all FP3s with an Orange SIM were purchased through Orange and also had to receive updates through them. The problem is that FP3s like mine which were purchased directly on the FP3 website are not configured for the Orange updates and are probably refused access to the “normal” FP3 updates, or something like it.
So I would advise anybody who hasn’t received the October update to try with another SIM (or perhaps no SIM at all?).
Interesting. Did you communicate this theory back to support?
Yes, but no reply yet…
I also told them that in any case I didn’t want Orange’s updates because I’m not interested in their bloatware.
Really makes me wonder what happens with no SIM in the phone 
My updates are up to date, so I can’t tell right now, have to wait for the next one.
A partnership that cripples the phones ability to receive regular updates? This whole branding sh*t should belong to the past. Apple has proven for 12 yrs now that the OEM does not have to accept operator bloatware on its devices. Unfortunately, not every manufacturer is in such a privileged situation that every carrier wants to sell its phones …
actually, - based on how I understand the code of the AOSP Settings software:
( look for CARRIER_CONFIG_SERVICE ) Android includes an ability of the carrier of the cellphone network it is connected to to override the phone manufacturers update path (which uses google’s checkin-service through the google play services to search for updates)
this means, - short of dumping google altogether and hosting their own OTA infrastructure, Fairphone has no way to prevent that. Any carrier can tell any phone to retrieve updates from an alternate URL as soon as you have their SIM in your android phone by pushing a GSM config packet over the network to your phone. normally that only sets APNs and server URLs for stuff like MMS services, but it can override your updates!
Apparently Orange has chosen to do so with Fairphone, however without actually providing updates.
That being said, to be installed, such an update would still have to be cryptographically signed by Fairphone to be installed, so the impact to do malicious shit is somewhat limited. It just results in you not getting updates if you have their SIM.
@Monica.Ciovica: Can Fairphone please confirm with Orange what the actual update situation is and, if Orange really override the setting, get this sorted out somehow with them?
Thanks!
Perhaps she could also see if the problem is likely to happen with other mobile operators.
At least none of the German carriers–Vodafone, Telekom, MD–is doing any comparable branding. AFAIK they’re all selling the FP3 “as is”.
the nasty thing is, this will happen even to an “as-is” stock Fairphone you bought through the webpage, if you put an Orange-France SIM card in it.
I know - I have linked the official Fairphone statement on this further up this thread.
Another funny thing happened tomeyesterday : I restarted my FP3 after doing some stuff with the micro sd card and it automatically started to download all the Orange apps, which I of course immediately uninstalled.
It really does look like Orange’s servers are configured to consider all FP3s as purchased through them and to try to push all their bloatware on them. I never had that with my FP2, even though they also sold it on their online shop. Maybe because I had Lineage since the first port…
Makes me kind of impatient for a Lineage port on FP3. I hate it when third parties go nosing around in my stuff!
Even if you have an Orange SIM, there is no reason why an FP3 should contact Orange’s servers unless it has been preprogrammed to do so. The Google Play Store does not change if you change operators.
It’s not the Google Play Store that installs the Orange apps:
When an Orange France SIM card is inserted into the device, the App Center automatically installs for the main user*
[…]
App Center will install the ‘Orange et Moi’ app on the device automatically. This is a feature of the app itself and Fairphone is not responsible for the behavior and content of Orange applications.
So it means that it’s the same with all Orange plans and it’s not related to the update issue if I understand correctly.
I didn’t have that problem with my FP2, but again, I was running Lineage when I switched to that mobile operator which probably prevented Orange from pushing apps on my smartphone.