Installing /e/ on the FP2

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This is an attempt to provide all the necessary info for the installation in one single guide. Feel free to improve and also probably still check the links and don’t rely on my info (which might become outdated)! :wink:
(The below steps should work for an unencrypted phone – maybe somebody could add which additional steps would be necessary for a previously encrypted phone (if any – and then either way delete this comment?))

  1. Backup Apps – This heavily depends on the state of your phone, Apps, your needs, etc. So take this only as inspiration, and not really part of the guide (there are many #backup guides here in the forum)
  • I backed up the user data of every relevant App individually (leaving out things like maps, which can be downloaded again): Contacts, Signal (which finally properly backs up everything incl. group messages!), ToDo-Lists, Podcast metadata (listened episoded, subscriptions), Photos/Movies + OpenCamera folder, …
  1. if necessary: reinstall TWRP (depending on the OS you used before there may be a different recovery system installed)

  • download TWRP img

  • install adb and fastboot
    in Linux:

    • sudo apt-get install android-tools-fastboot
    • sudo apt-get install android-tools-adb

    in Windows:

    • You’ll find a good adb and fastboot installation guide on the LineageOS pages.

    in macOS:

    • You’ll find a good adb and fastboot installation guide on the LineageOS pages.

  • activate developer settings in your phone:

    • Settings > About phone > Tap the build number 10 times
    • Settings > Developer Options > ON

  • activate USB debugging in the developer settings

    • you might have to allow the connection from the computer by confirming the dialog popping up on the phone screen (now or later)

  • open a terminal on the computer and cd into the directory that you downloaded the TWRP img into

  • test whether your phone is recognized by adb: adb devices

    • if not, you might have to add it’s ID to ~/.android/adb_usb.ini – see here (file will be in similar folders for Win/macOS)

  • reboot into bootloader: adb reboot bootloader

    • phone will show black screen with FP logo and blue LED will blink slowly

  • test again if connection works: sudo fastboot devices

  • flash TWRP: sudo fastboot flash recovery twrp-3.4.0-0-FP2.img (replace version number accordingly)

  • reboot by sudo fastboot reboot

    • if TWRP is being overwritten by the stock android recovery again, supposedly it should help to press VOLUME UP while sending this command and keeping it pressed during reboot.
    • if TWRP it still not permanent after the next reboot: Repeat above steps (incl. reboot with VOLUME UP) and then in TWRP do “Reboot” > “Recovery”. Then confirm the query about whether to allow it to make changes (to avoid TWRP being overwritten).
  1. TWRP Backup
  • consider this, but as for “step 0” backing up is probably a bit different for everybody.
  • backup via the corresponding TWRP menu
  • remember to back up to SD and ideally copy the backup to the PC to be on the safe side
  1. Flash /e/
    Guide for flashing /e/ is taken from here with some small modifications:
  • download the /e/ install package that you’d like to install from here:
    https://images.ecloud.global/dev/FP2/
  • if you aren’t already in recovery mode, reboot into recovery mode (i.e. TWRP):
    adb reboot recovery
  • in TWRP tap “Wipe”
  • now tap “Format Data” and continue with the formatting process. This will remove encryption as well as delete all files stored on the internal storage.
  • return to the previous menu and tap Advanced Wipe.
  • select the Cache and System partitions to be wiped and then Swipe to Wipe.
  • install /e/:
    • one option is “adb sideload” but this might fail, depending on the TWRP version you are using & they used: Sideload the /e/ filename.zip package (replace filename accordingly):
      • on the device, select “Advanced”, “ADB Sideload”, then swipe to begin sideload.
      • on the host machine, sideload the package using:
        adb sideload filename.zip
    • instead, you can:
      • push the .zip file to the phone:
        adb push filename.zip /external_sd/ (check the path to your SD! it might be /sdcard/ instead of external_sd; also, you could copy it anywhere but i guess sd makes sense)
      • via Install in TWRP: browse to the .zip file location, select it for installation with unchecked signature verification (fails due to unmatched TWRP versions. and you already checked the MD5/SHA 256 sum on your PC after downloading the .zip file, right? :wink: )
  • once installation has finished, return to the main menu, tap “Reboot”, and then “System”
  1. Copy back necessary data from backups
  • It again depends on the individual apps and your backup strategy.
    You can check the #dic:backup guide for more information.
    (Maybe this will be relevant for many: for Signal make sure to follow their instructions precisely since you cannot play back the backup later. That is, copy the backup back to the correct folder on the phone before starting the Signal app again on the new system!)
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