Stock fp3(+) (factory reset) boot loop (workarounds in first post)

Help Fairphone 3
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EDIT : I really hope for everybody that just let your phone connected to the wifi a few hours top works that easily but apart from that I would have loved to have confirmation of this before I took one hour to write a more detailed step-by-step “advanced” adb workaround :rofl:…

ORIGINAL POST :

Hi @fcpprs,

Did you try to use adb (Android debugger software) from your computer to deinstall the problematic version of the app from your phone, and then reinstall a previous (non buggy) version, like described in this post by @Pilo11 ?
ADB workaround by Pilo11

This might be difficult for most people so let’s try to give as much details as possible for each step :

  1. Activate Developer mode on your Fairphone

Boot your smartphone and type the SIM card PIN code, but don’t unlock the screen yet.
Scroll down and open the quick pane (with ariplane mode and other buttons) and click on the little Settings button.
Be ready to “speedrun” after you unlock your screen…
… Scroll to the bottom of the Settings page and click on About Phone…
… Scroll to the bottom of the About Phone and click quickly 10 times on the Build Number entry !
You will likely fail the first times, but you can do it ! Keep faith !
For official instructions on how to activate Android Developer Mode see : Android dev options

  1. Activate Debug via USB on your Fairphone

Similar as in step 1 boot and click on Settings before unlocking, then let’s go for the “speedrunning”…
… Scroll to the bottom of the Settings page and click on System…
… Click on Advanced Settings…
… Click on Developer Settings…
… Scroll down (about 2 screens height) and below a cosmetic bar find and activate the USB Debugging button.
We believe in you ! You will require multiple attempts before success, but you will do it !
For generic instructions on how to activate USB debugging on Android see : How to Enable USB Debugging Mode on Android

  1. Setup your computer to be able to execute adb commands

To be able to pass adb commands from a PC with Windows, you might want to have a look at this post from @Stanzi : Link to a lightweight adb program for Windows users

I have a Fedora GNU/Linux computer.
I have installed android-tools package. I think you might be able to only install adb, and/or android-tools-adb for Debian/Ubuntu-based distributions.
Make sure your user is in plugdev group : sudo usermod -aG plugdev $LOGNAME (see Android Developer)
Make sure your udev rules are set up for your Fairphone :

  • Use command lsusb to identify your Fairphone (mine is described as a Google Nexus device) and note its 2 4-digit ID values. (for example ID 22b8:2e81)
  • Edit Android rules file : sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules
  • In this file add the following line with the ID values retrieved from lsusb : SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="22b8", ATTR{idProduct}=="2e81", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"
  • Reload rules and restart adb : sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
  • sudo adb kill-server
  • sudo adb start-server
    For more detail on this procedure you might check at this page : Github post
    For the record I had to delete my ~/.android folder for my phone to prompt me for debug linking to my computer. (You probably do not care about it if you are not already an Android developer with this computer.)
    If you have trouble you might try to reboot your computer.

  1. Permanently authorize USB debugging from your computer
    Once you are set on the computer, connect via a USB cable your Fairphone to it (again with PIN code entered but not yet unlocked of course).
    After a few seconds try to unlock it and you should see a prompt asking you if you want to authorize your computer to debug on your phone, with a check box for this authorization to be permanent.
    Check the box to not be asked again, and accept the debug pairing between your phone and computer before your phone reboots (you can do it !).

  2. Download a fallback APK package and install it on your phone via adb
    Check that your computer can debug your phone right by typing adb devices (see part 3 if a potential problem is raised).
    Download a Google Play services fallback APK file (NB : I trusted @Pilo11’s APKMirror link on this subject but keep in mind this is not Google-owned platform, but still a widely used platform by the founder of Android Police).
    Last, perform @Pilo11’s commands to uninstall problematic package from your phone, and install this APK instead :laughing: :

adb shell am force-stop com.google.android.gms
adb shell pm clear com.google.android.gms
adb install -d com.google.android.gms_22.02.21_\(150408-428111784\)-220221039_minAPI30\(arm64-v8a,armeabi-v7a\)\(480dpi\)_apkmirror.com.apk

I hope this helped some people !

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