Just wanted to share a frustrating experience as a warning to anyone thinking of importing a Fairphone 6 to the US or Canada.
I got my new FP6 from Germany about a week ago. For the first week, it was fantastic and worked perfectly here in the US. Then, I installed the latest system update. Now, my phone is stuck in a constant reboot loop anytime it’s connected to a cellular network, making it useless.
After digging into it, I realized this isn’t a bug—it’s a deliberate regional lock that Fairphone just activated.
Here’s the deal:
Before the update: The software didn’t care where you were. You could use a Fairphone 6 in North America without a problem.
After the update: The software now checks your location. If it detects the phone (which is certified for Europe) is connecting to a North American tower, it forces a reboot. This is an intentional geofence.
The worst part is, they can fix this with a simple patch, but they won’t. It’s a legal move. By disabling these uncertified phones in the US, they avoid getting in trouble with FCC regulations.
And here’s the undeniable proof. The Murena Fairphone (which runs a different OS on the same hardware) had the exact same problem. Their official changelog for the fix says it all, word-for-word: “The unnecessary reboots happening with 3.1.3 in North America have been fixed and the device now passes FCC certification.” https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/os/releases/-/releases/v3.1.4-a15#-security-fixes
So, Fairphone, a company supposedly built on fairness, knowingly sold a phone that worked in North America, let people like me spend their money to import it, and then pulled the rug out from under us with an update. If this was their plan, the lock should have been active from day one, not months later. It feels like a total bait-and-switch. And it’s exactly why the company has been completely silent about this—they know what they did.
TL;DR: A recent software update deliberately disables any Fairphone 6 used in North America by putting it in a reboot loop. The phone is only certified for Europe, and Fairphone just started enforcing a regional lock. This is not a bug and won’t be fixed. Do not import this phone for use in the US/Canada.
I wonder if these reboots were intentional or if E Foundation simply worded this release note poorly. Maybe they meant to report two notes under “Fairphone Gen 6”, that the fairphone no longer reboots AND it passes FCC standards, but maybe these two issues aren’t necessarily related. But maybe I am also being too nice.
But if what you are saying is true, I wonder what would happen if someone just travels from Europe to a non-European country and uses a sim card from there.
I work in Germany but originally from Jordan, and I often visit my parents in Jordan. While there, I buy a prepaid simcard because I find it cheaper and the network much more stable than paying my German carrier (Vodafone) for the “international” package.
So what if a European fairphone user who has the new update travels to Canada or the US and buys a sim card there? Will Fairphone just disable their phone??
Also, have you considered changing to a custom ROM? The phone won’t be completely useless anymore. You could install eOS or wait for other custom ROMs to release an official build, which you can flash GApps on if you need Google Services
As fas as I know, A phone without an FCC certification should not work in NA. The phone does have EU certification so it is good anywhere in the EU. But if somebody from the EU travels to the US, they won’t be able to use the Fairphone in the US or Canada because it is not certified. That the whole point of the certification. I think I will sell it on ebay or something. Maybe I can return it to Vireo. I has only been 1 week since I got it.
Your proof that FP is doing this on purpose is, that another company developing another system also had this bug? Seems a bit far fetched in general and on reddit its reported they reached out and asked for logs, why should they do this if they dont want to work on this?
Murena fixed it by adding the FCC certificate so that it would work in NA. Fairphone Android is not going to add the NA FCC certificate to our phones. If the FCC certificate is added to our phones, then great! That means that the phone can be sold in NA.
If Murena had the same rebooting issue, wouldn’t you think the Fairphone team should already know about it? Why do they keep asking for logs and information when they know the issue? It’s been two days, and they have been completely quiet.
What can the team do? develop a piece of code to avoid FCC regulations? That is highly illegal. The team will have to either come up with the FCC certificate or leave us hanging.
I hope you are right. I hope this is just a bug that is very similar to the Murena problem and that the solution has nothing to do with the FCC or a location tracker.
I don’t think this is intentional - if this turns out to be the issue. Most likely Fairphone got the go ahead from European carriers and unlocked phones from their test groups worked fine across Europe - which is their primary market - and the phone worked just fine in the US before, so they had no reason to assume it suddenly wouldn’t. I believe them collecting logs is proof they want to figure it out, if only so it doesn’t happen to roaming visitors - which would end up benefiting users with local SIM cards also. This is frustrating for all of us (and not a good look for Fairphone, let’s be honest) but I’m still confident we’ll be getting a resolution down the line, and probably fairly soon since if it should affect core market users traveling that would create massive trust issues for the brand.
As I think there is currently zero proof that FP did this on purpose, especially as rebooting issues still seem to occur in e/OS, I will amend the title into a question
The support team has reached out to me in DMs to help figure out and solve this issue after I replied to the main issue thread about it, and they’ve been proactive in helping to prevent it from happening going forward.
So I doubt they would do this. They don’t sell to the US so the FCC is not their concern
But consider this point: Why would they fix an issue that helps them get around FCC rules? Changing it could put the company at legal risk. I don’t think they will fix it. They will remain silent for their own good.
You are again spreading non-validated information. They are not selling it to NA so they need no FCC cerification. Everyone importing it from European reseller does it on their own risk.
Either way this topic here is for the issue, leave the speculation in your topic
Bit of insight - they have FCC certification and it is a requirement for any phone USABLE in the United States.
It would be illegal for, let’s says, a European tourist to switch their phone on in the United States if it wasn’t FCC approved. The FCC approval is here https://fcc.report/FCC-ID/2AUWUFP6
This is a simple bug one that by all accounts will affect anyone roaming in the US or Canada and might affect certain users regardless. They are actively investigating it.
Edit:
Those of us here have either made a very conscious choice or are phone nerds who have additional devices. The reason the phone is not sold here outright is, well… now probably also the tarrifs, but mostly that our market is completely different and largely dominated by Apple and Samsung. Even Google Pixel and OnePlus are somewhat niche brands here, Xiaomi etc are unheard of. It would make no economic sense for fairphone to sell the phone here.
Thats for the FP4. I dont see anything for FP5 and FP6.
Edit2: as you @wallacewells changed the link above. For the FP6 there is nothing (yet?) displayed as for the FP4. As there is nothing for the FP5 I’m wondering if the cerification is due to the Murena initiative to sell the phones in the US.
Nevertheless thanks for adding the info. To stay on topic I will move the posts over to the other topic now.
Edit:
my understanding still is, that travelling with a phone not having the FCC cert isnt an issue you only need it to sell or import it as company.
My understanding is that all required certifications must be visible on the phone under Settings > About Phone > Regulatory Labels. I looked, but the FCC certification for the FP6 is not there.
Since the FCC certification is missing, I’m concerned the phone is unusable in North America.
I really hope this is just a minor bug. Maybe the certification was accidentally left out, and it mostly affects North American users. If the team can address this now, that would be very helpful.
They haven’t (not properly, yet; this may take a while), but the closest solution for now is to disable Location Accuracy (you can leave location itself on). This way, your phone doesn’t reboot unexpectedly, and you have mostly full functionality except for less accurate GPS.
Hi, this software update also blocked my Fairphone 6. I am Swiss and staying currently in Canada. So not only “imported” devices are concerned but phones from European owners travelling in NA too. I hope FP will fix this soon, otherwise I am going to replace my FP6 with a Samsung model.