To anyone having issues with apps (especially Banking or Business apps) on Fairphones with \e\OS

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1

Hey chat,

I’ve got my Fairphone 6 about a week ago and while most of the transition was quite smooth, I ran into many problems with some of my company and banking apps, and of course, no one knows how to handle a phone that is not a Google/Samsung/Apple device. I had many issues finding a fix online, and I think I’m not the only one. Today I found the fix here: Possible solution for failed first sign-in to the Microsoft Authenticator App - Applications - /e/OS community

and after a bunch of tests, it fixed ALL the apps I had issues with. For the lazy ones, below a summary of the solution:
Issue stems from the fact that those apps make it mandatory to have a Google Service ID, so you need to remove the apps, enable the ID from microG, open the app and do whatever setups you need to do, and then disable the ID again.

The SOLUTION:
1a. Do you already have the App on your Fairphone?
Uninstall the APP from your Fairphone to completely and cleanly remove any prior sign-in or registration attempts.
1b. Reinstall the APP, but do not open it yet.

2a. Go to Murena’s Settings.
2b. Type “microG” into the search bar and tap “microG” in the results.
2c. Turn “Google device registration” ON.
! This is not great for privacy, but we do it temporarily.

3.In Murena Settings go to “APPS”.

4a. Open the APP you want to work with and do the following:
4b. Tap “Permissions” and allow “Notifications” fully.
4c. Set “Camera” to “Ask always”.
4d. Deny “Location” entirely — this is better for your privacy.
4e. Under “Mobile data usage” turn everything ON, except the last option (the “unrestricted…” item).
4f. Under “Battery usage” set the switch to ON (the “Background usage…” option).
4g. Set “Manage app when unused” to OFF.
4h. Set “Appear on top of other apps” (or “Display over other apps”) to ON.

5a. Now start the APP.
5b. Follow your instructions to set up the account.

6a. Is the APP set up correctly?
6b. Test it.
Did it succeed?
6c. Type “microG” into the search bar and tap “microG” in the results.
6d. Turn “Google device registration” OFF.
Your privacy should now be preserved as much as possible, and the APP should work normally each time you sign in to your school or work account.

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2

Thanks for the info. I’d be keen to hear from anybody using iodéOS whether this procedure works for them (I think one small difference is the search for MicroG settings brings up two items and you have to tap MicroG Services, then ‘Additional settings in the app’.) Can you change any of the app settings afterwards or do they all have to remain stuck that way forever more?

I’ve yet to fiddle with MicroG, I hate mobile phones and I hate apps a million times more, but I’ve just had the dreaded message from my bank that authentification via SMS will be replaced by an app in less than a month from now. So if this is the only workaround I guess I’ll have no other choice. Until Google put a stop to pesky people who work around their duopolising nonsense.

3

Hey Pierre,

I did change them afterwards, yes. I mean, notifications I’ve left on. But I did tweak the rest yes, with no issues. Thank you for the correction on the two items when searching MicroG. My bank has the same system … no more authentication via SMS since last year :expressionless_face: . I did flag this to my bank and my company and honestly they both weren’t aware and I told them that they should look to remove the mandatory Google ID since it’s really not very “Security focused” the fact that working with them involves me opening myself up to multiple risks … and they honestly had nothing to say to that :rofl:

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