Today I was able to successfully install LineageOS 22.2 (lineage-22.2-20250430-nightly-FP4-signed.zip) on my Fairphone 4. It took a good bit of reading and research as things are not entirely straightforward, and there are several points where the various instructions diverge from step-by-step reality to give you pause. BUT it does work, and the realization that the phone is ‘Google-free’ and basically unencumbered by junk is amazing.
It is interesting to know that following the LineageOS update the phone is now running Android 15.
I absolutely recommend doing this upgrade. Kudos to Fairphone for not making the process even more tricky, or indeed impossible.
It is free of preinstalled Google Apps and background services as well as possible bloatware. That’s quite something, and a job well done (by LineageOS and by you managing to install it).
“Google-free” would still be a different rabbit hole, though, that’s not the mission of LineageOS. There are other Android OSes trying to avoid as much network contact to Google services (LineageOS doesn’t do this), and then there are non-Android OS efforts, as Android OSes in all their shapes and forms are still all based on Google’s groundwork and rely on Google’s stewardship of the realm.
I don’t have any experience with /e/os, so I can’t say. However it seems
extremely stable and the phone performs very well as far as I can tell.
I have been able to add chat and VPN apps in spite of only having access
to F-droid and WiFi.
That’s the problem, after one month of use, my fp4 with /e/os (installed by me) isn’t stable. I need to close app several times because they stuck…and sometimes even the launcher. I wait to see if it get worse or not.