Hi, I am brand new to the community and this is my first post. I do not own a Fairphone yet but thought this was the best place to start.
I have seen some messages on other sites dating back a couple of years that say Fairphone Support is terrible, nonexistant and so forth. Is this still the case?
Are Fairphones generally reliable? This obviously makes a difference as to how much you need support.
Would you buy a Fairphone if you knew what you know now?
I (probably like most of you) love the idea behind Fairphone and being able to replace parts to keep the phone going for many years. If I am going to be paying a slight premium over a normal, similar spec phone, then I need to know it’s worth it. I am a fairly careful, light user of phones and unlikely to need to replace parts for the normal life of a phone, say 3-5 years. If I am going to spend money on this phone, I would obviously like to extend this a lot longer with a new battery and charging port to extend its life. If support does not work then it is bound to make keeping the phone running a lot harder and worth taking into consideration. I would be grateful for your thoughts and experience, thanks.
Welcome to the Community Forum 
On the topic of Fairphone Support, I don’t know if you already noticed today’s “open letter” by the company:
On the general view of users of the FP5:
Hi thanks for the quick response. Wow it really seems like a mixed bag. One of the points I picked up was that it might be better to go for a different os. Hopefully support will improve quickly.
I have used FP4 since 2022.
I am generally happy, except for a couple of small annoyances - but that happened with every phone I had: there is always something small you cannot fix.
In the beginning there was an issue about automatic reboots when 5G connection was enabled, but the network was not stable. Eventually, there was an update that fixed this.
The screen was overly sensitive in the beginning, then an update reduced the sensitivity - but now it does not always react when the phone is lying on a surface (as opposed to being held in a hand) or when I use winter gloves with capacitive fingers (depends on the gloves, too).
I do not play games, but I use office apps and other various apps quite intensively. I used Taskbar for desktop mode. I do not use it regularly (the desktop mode on Android is not really convenient), but it worked and it worked OK.
The phone still works for me, and will work for another 2-3 years.
The phone felt superfast at the beginning. It still feels fast. I experience strange Bluetooth behaviour every now and then (the phone wouldn’t connect to one or another device or take an anomalously long time to connect, say 15 seconds instead of 1 second) - usually this is fixed with a phone reboot. So, it seems that there are some ageing issues, but not too bad.
My previous phone was LG V20, an LG flagship; I used it for ~5 years. It also suffered from ageing issues - I replaced it when it became too slow for my use.
So, I guess, the phone starting to get slower under intense use is normal: the apps get hungrier over time, while the phone does not become more powerful.
Overall, I’m very happy with my FP4, and I think it will be comfortable for me for a few more years.
yes, they are reliable, I’m happy with it. I bought my FP5 in November 2023, and it works well. One time my camera app crashed and I had to restart my phone. About 4 times, the phone became hot, same here, had to restart. There are rumours of the upcoming FP6, if you want to wait for that.
Would you buy a Fairphone if you knew what you know now? NO
I bought mine also in Nov 2023, and the concept is fine and it was working quite well. For sure some small issues (small software bugs, poor battery) and a higher price, but that is totally ok given what they do/promise about sustainability.
BUT my phone broke more then a month ago (not charging anymore), and though I tried all the troubleshoting guides and all the tips in this forum (even bought a replacement USB-C port on my own expense) it is still broken, and no response from Fairphone support since more then a month… (I was even using the chat twice, waiting the full 3 h for a reply, but they never replied)
This is unacceptable for a product like a smartphone, and indeed not sustainable, as I had to buy another phone, to stay connected. Unfortunately, looking into this and other forums, it seems I am not the only one.
I’m in the same boat. My FP4 has an issue that makes it near unusable and I’ve been waiting for a response from support for nearly 2 months already. This resulted in me having to buy another phone.
I like the phone itself. I loved being able to just put in a new battery after 3 years. The lack of support however has made me completely change my mind on the company. I will not be buying from them in the future anymore. Phones are pretty important, I can’t wait multiple months for repairs.
Thank you for your replies. I think I am going to keep my old phone going a bit longer and see if things genuinely do improve or not.
It feels like recently the customer service has dropped dramatically and that both sides realise this. Fairphone have lost a purchase from me, certainly in the near future, and if that is a guide as to how other potential customers react, they have a bigger problem. I get that there are probably 1000’s of very happy customers out there but the point is that they should have your back when things don’t work out. Perhaps more so because you are buying a pretty average phone with a relatively high price because of repair ability. I have had smart phones since they came out and have only had 2 that needed a repair, so from my point of view there’s not much benefit. Having said that, if the phone was amazing with excellent support, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy one right now if it was easy to keep running for the next 6-8 years.
Like many start ups, a great idea but if they can’t invest in customer support and services, who’s going to buy the Fairphone 6?
Knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t buy one. I had to replace in under 2 years (exactly what I was trying to avoid) because it stopped reading SIM cards several months ago and Fairphone Support never came back to me. I wrote a bad review on trustpilot, Fairphone apologised and said they would get back to me. It’s nearly a month later and no-one has come back.
Loved the idea, was perfectly fine with paying more for an average device just because sustainability and fair pay to workers, but at this point I wouldn’t buy one if I knew what I know now.
It’s great that we can fix some issues ourselves, but there are still cases when support from the producer is needed. And there is just no support, no way to get a response from them. Sustainability goes through a window when you need a backup phone anyway, just in case your FP develops an issue that cannot be repaired at home.