Safe OTA updates for /e/OS on unlocked FP3 rooted with Magisk & not lose data?

[avamk]

Hello,

I’ve got a Fairphone 3 currently running /e/OS version 0.9-2020051454091. It has the bootloader unlocked and system rooted with Magisk 20.4 plus the Magisk Manager app 7.5.1 all running well so far.

Today I see in my Settings → Updater screen that /e/OS 0.9-2020061158052 is available for download and update.

My two questions are:

1. This looks like an OTA update. Is it reasonably safe to run it given my current setup with unlocked bootloader and Magisk root?
2. Is there any way to update /e/OS (OTA or some other way) that preserves my apps and data? If so, how?

I’ve seen a couple posts like this or this but they don’t directly address my two questions.

Apologies if I missed an obvious post that answers my questions, but can anyone give some pointers and guidance on how to reliably do 1 and 2?

Thank you very much in advance.

[Chris4]

Hey avamk,

I also have an unlocked bootloader and I had the previous version of /e/ installed with Magisk.

I had no problems updating via OTA update and afterwards rebooting to recovery and flashing Magisk again according to lost_geographer’s instructions: /e/ for FP3 (Google free OS)

I just skipped the data wiping part and it works fine.

[lost_geographer]

I can confirm that, if you have the bootloader already unlocked, you can do ota updates of /e/ without wiping data.

[avamk]

It worked!!!

afterwards rebooting to recovery and flashing Magisk again according to lost_geographer’s instructions: /e/ for FP3 (Google free OS)

Yeah that did it for me. My Magisk Manager app still reports Magisk 20.4 and Magisk Manager 7.5.1 are “up to date” and OK. My superuser apps such as AFWall+ also look functional so far, and looks my data still exists.

Thank you @lost_geographer and @Chris4!

Now if only there is a way to view the changelog of the updates…

[karloff]

Can confirm this works.

I tested Magisk “install in inactive slot (after OTA)” Feature in the Magisk APP, direct after i installed the new OTA Image and before i reboot the device.

works like a charm.

[lost_geographer]

Thanks @karloff ! I didn’t know about this feature. Now we can get rid of flashing the Magisk zip using the adb sideload !
I just put here the official procedure for the record : https://topjohnwu.github.io/Magisk/ota.html#devices-with-ab-partitions

[avamk]

Cool!!! Thank you both. Will try this during the next OTA update (i.e. remember not to press the reboot button and let the Magisk Manager app do it for me!).

[karloff]

Oh i miss the step “restore partitions modified by Magisk” this means that there are no check if something had modified before OTA is installed. We better dont tell the /e/ devs about this
But good to know that the Magisk devs already cover this case.