New software update Kola Nut 1.8.5 is ready

Hi all,

We’re excited to announce that the new software update Kola Nut 1.8.5 is here. From Tuesday 19 May, the update will be available once you connect to a Wi-Fi network. Your Fairphone will check for the update automatically, or you can open the Fairphone Updater app yourself to begin the process.

For the list of changes, please have a look here.

How to update:
There are three steps to install the new software update. You can see how these steps work in detail in the interactive tutorial we’ve created (available in German, Dutch, French, and English).

Here’s a general outline on how to update:
Step 1 is a preliminary step. The latest version of the Fairphone Updater app will be installed.
Step 2 will download and install the Kola Nut 1.8.5 software update.
Step 3 will reinstall Google Apps. If you wish to exclude Google Apps from your Fairphone, you can skip this step.

Please note: Users who already updated to the postponed software update 1.8 last December will lose the arrangement of their icons when updating to Kola Nut 1.8.5. We recommend to take a screenshot of your home screen icon layout before updating to 1.8.5.

Users who want keep using this version 2 Launcher (introduced in 1.8) in the future can download the APK file here. Visit this link with your mobile browser to install the v2 Launcher directly on your device.

Thank you for your patience! We especially want to thank the people who were part of the beta testing for contributing valuable community feedback.

Cheers,

Rick
The Fairphone Team

8 Likes

This post is no longer a Wiki. I created a new Wiki topic here:

###The problem with the storage updater has been fixed and it’s now available again. For those who updated before and are now stuck without Google Apps a solution will hopefully come soon.###

##Things to do before you update##

  • :warning: First of all make a thorough backup!!! E.g. with Titanium Backup
  • You’ll need a Wifi connection, so if you don’t have one at home find a hotspot.
  • Many users reported that after the first restart the update process stops. To avoid this go to settings > developer options and tick “keep screen on” and then start the update with your phone plugged in.

#Problems that might occur:#

#google related Problems##

  • Before reinstalling Google Apps be sure you finished every step of the update process and you have no problems so far. (Except for missing GAPPS) Trying to reinstall GAPPS sometime in between will increase chances of something going wrong.

  • After re-installing GAPPS you have to restart again and maybe add your Google Account again (Settings > Add account > Google).

  • If the wifi symbol stays grey and/or your contacts/calenders/mails/… are not synced, download any app from the play store and wait a while.

  • For users who installed the 1.8.5 storage upgrade before May 20th and are now stuck without GAPPS here is the official fix.

  • If you have further problems there is a discussion right here.

#launcher related Problems##

  • If you use a custom launcher you might loose your home screen setup. Some launchers offer backups of that setup but they don’t save everything. You’ll probably need to reconfigure your widgets.

  • If you update from 1.8 you’ll loose your home screen setup as mentioned above. If were used to the launcher with the big icons introduced in 1.8 and want it back go to this discussion.

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I don’t see the Pre-update Kola Nut 1.8.5 in the Fairphone Updater, even after following these instructions https://fairphone.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201860198-I-see-no-software-update-sent-to-my-Fairphone-What-can-I-do- I just see versions 1.5 to 1.8 when clicking on Fairphone OS in the Updater app. Can somebody help?

You are one day to early. :wink:
Tomorrow you’ll recieve a notification when the update is ready.

Oh man, knowing what date it is would help ;). Thx

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Taking a screenshot doesn’t work on my FP1U. I have Fairphone OS 1.6 (Cherry), and nothing happens if I press volume down and on/off. If I press both keys very long, my Fairphone makes a hard reset, but still it doesn’t store a screenshot.

I found this old topic about problems with screenshots and it suggests that for some people it’s not easy to press both buttons simultaneously. But with the right timing it should work. Also you only have to hold the buttons for a second so there is no chance to do a hard reset.

PS: If you don’t get it to work at all you can also use apps like AndroSS or ChronoSnap (I haven’t tried them) or take a pic with some other camera.

Thanks. It seems to have been a software issue. After rebooting it works fine now.

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I don’t get the new version. I’m on Kola Nut 1.8.
I also followed the instructions on Fairphone updater, but no result.

Do I have to install it manually like this? Install Fairphone os 1.8.5

@timbuktu: You’re probably just a little bit early. Yes, the update is sheduled to be sent out today, but ‘today’ is a bit elastic. Could be in the afternoon.

I upgraded manually yesterday. My Updater app says that I’m up to date, running 1.8.5 - but also tells me that the latest version is 1.6 :smile:

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Officially the latest version is still 1.6 (for 30 min ;))

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It’s out now :smiley:

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Hi all,

We’ve made the software update live. Please refer to my opening post for the installation instructions.

Happy installing!

Cheers,

Rick

3 Likes

Thank you for this update.
This time the installation was without any problem. It’s good that Google apps installation can be started from Fairphone Updater app. And it’s very good you are backporting some security fixes.

Just one question. I use Apex Launcher (sorry, I don’t like the default Fairphone launcher), after installation 1.8.5 all widgets are gone. Even restoring the backup in Apex menu didn’t help. I know, that i may be not the problem of Fairphone, but I’d like to ask, if there’s someone who has similar problem with an alternative launcher after updating.

Where did you save the backup? Maybe it was whiped during the update?

The backup was saved to the sd card. Nothing has been wiped. I used built-in backup in Apex launcher.

I have also used restoring the backup in Titanium backup, it hasn’t helped either, all widgets are gone.

I wonder why. I use many widgets, I don’t want to recreate them manually :wink:

Google Account Problem

I’ve just installed the update and reinstalled Google Apps. However, I can’t get into any Google Apps (eg Docs/Drive) as it says that no Google account can be found. Some apps (eg Cloud Print) ask me to add an account but nothing happens - no log-in box is shown.

Well then I guess neither the Apex backup nore Titanium backup saves widgets.
I use Buzz Launcher and although it saves wich widget is placed where it doesn’t save the widgets configurations. Some widgets save them themselves but all the others I have to reconfigure after each software update.

Did you installed Kola Nut after the Pre-update?

What do you see if you open up the Fairphone Updater app?

After installing Gapps you probably need to add your Google account again.

  • System settings -> Add account -> Google -> Self explanatory