ATTENTION!!
- This wiki is just a list by FP4-users.
- It is there to share experience with MicroSD cards.
- It is nothing official by Fairphone.
- Fairphone does not sell any of these cards.
- This topic is closed to avoid replies, so that the topic can be bumped on the top of the recent topic when edited. Please open a new topic in case of questions or to start a discussion.
Which MicroSD cards do work and which do not? Fairphone does not have the capacity to test MicroSD cards and is not in a position to endorse the use of brands or types of cards. So I hope that the community can help to make a nice list of good MicroSD cards.
Attention!!! → Format SD-cards as external storage
You can format/use SD cards as internal storage (extension of the phone storage) or as external storage.
You will find some explanation on the support page; including pros and cons; and in this forum wiki: “Guide to using SD-cards”
Still, I would strongly advise, to use it as external storage only. If it’s internal storage and breaks, the phone will become unusable. You can’t just change the card for a larger one, should you need more storage or should you wish to play different music, stored on another card. And - finally and most important - the internal storage often leads to trouble on the FP4.
Be aware, though, that also external storage has been reported to cause trouble, see here: SD card problems although formatted as portable storage
This is a wiki, so please edit it with the green pencil above to add your SD card and FP4 experiences. It would be best to keep an alphabetical order; so feel free to add your entry in the middle of an existing list.
General Advice when looking for a FP4 micro SD-card
Here is the offical Fairphone support page for installing a Micro SD card.
It is advised to re-format your SD card directly from your phone.
You find the how-to on the support page.
Example for an Entry:
- XYC CARD x-tra 64Gb (speed warning when used as internal memory, measured read speed 40-50MB/s as external memory)
Fully functional SD-cards
Fairphone OS (Android 12)
- Samsung PRO Plus microSD (MB-MD512KA/EU), 512 GB worked out of the box as external storage (exFat).
Fairphone OS (Android 11)
- Samsung MicroSD Card SDXC EVO Plus 128 GB/512GB worked out of the box as external storage.
- Samsung EVO Plus 256GB U3 A2 V30 worked out of the box as external storage
- Samsung PRO Plus 128GB/256GB U3 A2 V30 Class 10 (factory-formatted as exFAT, R160/W120)
- SANDISK Ultra, Micro-SDXC UHS-I 128GB formatted as external storage, used to store all my MP3s, bought Dec. 2017 and previously used in FP2 and FP3
- Kingston Canvas Go! Plus 64 GB microSDXC formatted as external storage, used to store music, podcasts, downloads
- Kingston Canvas Go! Plus SDCG3 256 GB microSDXC (factory-formatted as exFAT), set as external (portable) storage, works fine, camera uses it to store pictures.
- Lexar 633x 64GB formatted as portable storage; populated with data from my previous Moto G5, used to store music, fotos.
- Kingston Canvas Select Plus microSDcard 512GB formatted as external storage, used for internal backups, offline sync for YT Music, Nextcloud, Google Maps, Google Movies, but I also store MP3s and movies/series on it. I had to format it to exFAT (with GPT partition table) on a computer first before I could format it on my fp4.
- Kingston Canvas Select Plus microSDXC 256GB, UHS-I U3, A1; formatted as portable storage; no problems with use out of the box
Lineage OS (please add the version; next to your experience)
- SanDisk Ultra 128GB microSDXC (LIneage 18.1 built by Aaanze, card is working fine as external storage without any problems)
/e/OS (please add the version; next to your experience)
- SanDisk 1TB (~1000GB), works fine as external (portable) storage /e/ OS v1.8+
- SanDisk Ultra 256GB, Android 12 /e/OS 1.17-s-20231109350748-stable-FP4, music, pics, videos
- SanDisk Extreme PLUS 256GB, OS same as Ultra above. NOTE formatted/pulled from GoPro 10 Black, music, pics, videos
- Lexar E-Series 512GB microSDXC UHS-I, 100MB/s, C10, U3, A1, V30, /e/OS 1.17+ (as above)
SD-cards, you experienced problems with
Fairphone OS (Android 11)
- Transcend 256GB microSDXC 300S formatted as external storage. Has to be formatted using a PC, the FP4 will delete the partition table when trying to format it.
- Transcend 32GB Premium 400x microSDHC formatted as external storage. Has to be formatted using a PC, the FP4 will format it as FAT32 with terrible consequences (
). - SanDisk 1TB Extreme SDXC Class 10, U3, V30, 4K, A2
Even after initializing the card in an FP4 as external memory, memory card functions erratically. FP4 frequently prompts it as a new card and prompts to re-initializes it. Can read folders at the root but not the contents. Can access some files in the root directory. - SanDisk Extreme 512GB XC1 U3 A2
- SanDisk microSDXC Extreme 128GB (Class 10, U3, V30, A2) formatted as external storage and exFAT, random malfunctions and FP4 asking to reformat after a while (I transfer a lot of large *.FLAC files for my music)
- SanDisk Ultra XC1 Class 10 512 GB - same isues as SanDisk Extreme above
- SabDisk 1TB Ultra PLUS microSDCX UHS-I, Clas 10, V10, A1 - The PF4 removes the card automatically, but if it is accepted, an error message appears when it is written and the process is aborted