No play store when using jelly bean

Hello everybody, I want to use jelly bean on my fairphone, but once installed I dont find the playstore anymore. Theres no Widget to drag on the screen either. I tryed to find sth online, but couldnt solve the Problem. Can anyone pls help me?! Cant really use the phone without being able to install any apps…

Hi @merry,

what do mean be “Jelly Bean”? The Fairphone comes with Jelly Bean out of the Box. Did you switch to the Stock Android Open Source version provided here: https://fairphone.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201576753-Fairphone-Stock-Android?

If that is the case, and only then you will probably need to install a Google Apps package containing the Play Store using recovery. But this is not for starters, so i would advise you to switch back to the Fairphone customized OS and install the Google Apps using the widget.

It is quite possible i misunderstood you, so please provide more specific details or ask anything you want. Good Luck!

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Hey ben,
This might be just my Problem.
I thought ’stock android’ was the normal Android version…
Well now that I’ve got it, I kind of like it better than the fairphone os :slight_smile: I even tried to solve the problem with recovery, but as I am a starter, I might have not done the right thing, cause nothing changed… So you’d suggest I should switch to the original? Or is there a good explanation available how to get the package?
Thanx for the quick answer

I tried that too but after installing “Stock Andriod” from the FPUpdater App i actually had the Google Play Store Widget still there (from 1.6) but as i pressed “no” and “proceed” countiniously in all the installation process it vanished after installation. Reinstalling Stock Andriod did not get it back either so I tried an ugly thing presented to me on the web - download the google play store APK from an unknown source and install it manualy. Its a risk and a hazard, i know. It did not work either so i made a factory reset and installed 1.6 again.

Having a clean install of stock android wo google play i noticed the battery was “draining” slower. I liked having the shortcuts static in the bottom of the screen and the google search in the top. It looked so simple.

(My endeavours in installing this and that right now is because i want to get rid of a screen problem that came with the upgrade to 1.6 from 1.3 and the unified storage. if i reinstall or wipe the cashe or make a factory reset the screen is great when booting up. But once i wake it up after putting it to sleep for the first time the screen got spooky trails and do random taps. there is no turning back after first sleep.)

Having the fixed icons in the bottom can sort if be emulated in FairphoneOS by simply making the same shortcuts for the bottom row on each home screen. The Google search thing on top is a simple widget that’s present in FairphoneOS as well. Just drop it in place and you’re set.

that’s true, but then you still have the issue with the menu comming up every time you want to go to the next page. that really annoys me…

@Nordlig I tried to do the same, downloading the playstore, but I couldnt get it to work. Have you been successful? Is there a good description how to do it available somewhere?

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@merry and @Nordlig,

probably it is possible to download the same zip file the Fairphone Install Gapps Widget downloads and install it via recovery ( see: https://fairphone.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201149588-How-to-boot-my-phone-in-Recovery-Mode). You would place the Zipfile on the Fairphone’s SD Card and boot into recovery as described above.

I don’t know if the AOSP contains the Fairphone Update for example and i would still recommend you to use the Fairphone OS package as this is the most supported version. The you can get to a Stock like experience by installing another launcher from the Play Store (like Nova Launcher). Android will let you choose that as a default. Then you have a very AOSP like experience and can still use the Fairphone supported package and extra Apps like Rest in Peace and the colored lockscreen.

If you really wan’t to run the Stock Android package (what i would not recommend currently) head to xda-developers. The community there is very savy, but a bit rough for newbies. However there is a forum section especially for the Fairphone with a lot of friendly people and some a probably running stock android on the Fairphone.

All the best!

I just now discovered Launcher3 on fdroid.org https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=com.android.launcher3. Installing that gives you a pretty stock Android experience.

What is it exactly? It’s not clear.

Not clear? Hehe, there is no information at all.
Could you please share your experiences with us?