As a FP shareholder (crowdfunding rounds 2018 and 2023) I am very disappointed with the handling of the Android15 update disaster, which has done major damage to the brand.
I am looking into available options to hold the management to account, but with crowdfunders’ Depository Receipts held by the STAK (foundation), registered at the same address as FP BV, and represented by its current CIO, i am not very optimistic what can be achieved via shareholder action. Does anybody have any thoughts or advice on this?
What’s the problem about handling the ‚disaster‘? They are reaching out to everybody who’s phone has been bricked and offering a solution. And it doesn’t happen on every phone.
So is it just you are trying to get a personal financial advantage?
Well, yes. It’s not “major damage” yet. That depends on how things develop in the near future. If you ask the various AI systems for their opinion and look at the response on the internet, the summary is as folows:
In tech and privacy communities, there has recently been increasing caution about Fairphone updates, with people advised to be careful – for example by waiting for early user reports and creating backups – because certain problematic updates have previously rendered Fairphone devices temporarily unusable. For its reputation, this means that while Fairphone still enjoys a positive image as an ethical brand, it is seen – especially among more technically savvy users – as relatively prone to software bugs and rough update roll‑outs, which can undermine confidence in its technical reliability.
For me personally, it looks like this: if, after two years, I finally get a working FP5, I might stick with the brand. Until then, I’ll be using a OnePlus 5 from 2017, which I fished out of someone’s drawer.
If I had invested in the brand, I wouldn’t change anything at the moment. A complete collapse seems unlikely to me.
I’m done with FP and decided to move on and will never look back. I’ve informed all my colleagues and friends and family that this brand that I was previously promoting has messed up so bad.
there seems to be the confusion about the issues you’re referring to.
The CS escalated issues connected with the last recalled update.
You contacted them earlier with other problems, I assume and you are still waiting for the response.
Have you used trouble shooting portal or submitted a ticket outside the portal? Have you tried the chat option?
FP’s mission is to offer a sustainably manufactured phone that keeps working as long as possible. When the management decides to prioritise new features (ie A15) over stability, for whatever reason (overconfidence, incompetence, performance targets..) it goes against the mission. Customers (people, see above) get upset, and when phones reboot randomly, it is not hard to imagine a situation where people get hurt.
It seems i am expected to spend hours on the forum trying to find a fix for my trouble. In the meantime, I continue to receive regular FP marketing emails, which i did not mind, but i have not received any email to say “Sorry, we messed this up, if your phone is affected, here is how you can solve it”. All i got was “2025 has been quite the year for us”, with lots of self congratulation - is that just the usual marketing BS or does that reflect the atmosphere in the FP office at this moment?
The management needs to take responsibility, identify how this could happen, and reassure the stakeholders that this will not happen again. That’s the email i’m waiting for, a DM from Fairphone_CM does not cut it.
I can understand users getting frustrated with their phone and the manufacturing company. I don’t get the expectations that a company that set its aims to be fair hardware wise is supposed to be angel-level perfect software wise and in general.
The mentioned update worked flawlessly for me and anyone not satisfied with the software FairPhone provides can relatively easily install a different OS.
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