Shame there is no Graphene OS support for it
this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2025
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The biggest downside of Fairphone IMO is that they don't maintain their hardware support in LineageOS and for the retail product then branch development off, add a bit of custom branding and adapt whatever Google requires these days. It would greatly improve custom ROM support in general.
Graphene isn't the best choice for everything. It doesn't have good backup solutions nor device to device backup or anything solid for complete snapshots and when restoring your so called backups you'll realize what all it truly lacks.
It's hardened and has a lot of security and privacy features but none of that matters if your opsec is bad, or it's feature set doesn't match your threat model. I am not knocking it at all. It just isn't the white knight for every case.
What's wrong with Seedvault?
Seedvault works, I've restored from backups multiple times.
However there are still many parts of overall data that aren't fully backed up.
Certain app data doesn't get saved.
Settings are but not in entirety requiring manual rechecks of all settings and reconfiguration if needed. Which saves no time because then you cannot trust it fully for what was and was not altered meaning you then must asses everything which took away the total value, and adds a layer of distrust.
Profiles must be backed up individually which creates a giant hassle to restore/maintain consistent backups, which also requires different drives for each profile to be recognized correctly.
App lists are impartial requiring a wrote down list or some form of rememberance that's not reliant on the backup list of installed apps.
I can go on with more its late in my time zone and I have to sleep so. It's a good project and has merit. It is just not where it should be to really be useful at scale. I am aware of the experimental setting to create a more comprehensive backup. Even with it checked on the backups are not complete. Thus the use of Graphene while a great project has definite major flaws. If they implement device to device backups it would be a game changer. Not high up on their list of to dos though.
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If they just didn't drop the headphone jack.
How else would they push their mediocre reviewed Bluetooth headsets and ear buds?
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That's cool. Let me know when it gets support for GrapheneOS and finds it's headphone jack again.
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I really wish this was available in the US. I've found myself able to hang on to devices longer and longer. So this would be perfect. I'm only charging my battery to 80% and discharging it to 30% before charging it again just to prolong the life of the battery because that's the first thing that dies on most devices. Having a user replaceable battery again would be an absolute godsend.
This is a 50% DoD and is considered best possible practice to prevent lithium-ion dendrite formation.
Updoot for good advice.
Proof:
If you don't mind clarifying, what do you mean by DoD?
Depth of Discharge, sorry -- 0 to 100 would be a 100% depth (the entire battery), 30 to 80 is 50%.
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I hope Graphene eventually shifts to support the fairphones. Doubtful, but it'd be perfect
No, it's the other way around. Fairphone needs to implement the things Graphene requires.
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If we could get a Fairphone with GrapheneOS, that would be the perfect phone for me. Repairability & the most secure and private Android. Sign me up!
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I wish they could implement the parts of the Pixel phones that allow GrapheneOS to be used.
What parts are these? I've always wondered what this was about, why the pixel was the only phone that could support GrapheneOS
The last I looked was that the Pixel was the only phone that allowed you to load a custom rom and relock the bootloader. Other phones kept the bootloader unlocked once it was modded.
So, graphene could be put on those phones if the devs wanted to do it, but it would be less secure since the bootloader would remain unlocked.
Also, supporting a small line a phones is probably infinitely easier than a range, of devices, but it would be nice to have another option. Especially now that the Fairphone pice is reasonable.
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I would totally be interested if they had solid Linux support, such as postmarketOS or mobian. Those systems continue to get updates long after most Android devices stop supplying updates, so it would fit really well with a repairable phone. It shouldn't be the default, but it would be awesome if they helped the Linux phone community make it the best supported hardware for the various Linux phone projects.
According to the postmarketOS wiki, audio is completely broken, so you have to use Bluetooth. That kind of sucks.
Bring back the headphone jack & we'll be happy.
Next up, make the phone compatible with Linux OSs
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I'm using this phone right now and I love it. it feels solid. Im using a degoogled ROM and it just works, there seems to be a lot of people pressing for graphene os specifically and discrediting the phone for what it is. its so easy to take apart and cheaply repair its great. it's perfect for folk who want a decent smartphone that you dont have to worry about being thrown around. sure it's not perfect but it is still a very good
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I've owned the 4, for a couple of years. Was really excited to get one.
Parts have been unavailable for a long time when I needed them. The battery is pretty dead after 2 years meanwhile my pixel which is about 5 years old still going strong. The os is the buggiest experience I've ever had, sluggish, going from portrait the landscape kills UI formatting if it switches to power save it'll skip a video. Boot loops constantly.
Never again I'm afraid it's neat I could fix things with it so quickly but they fail hard past that.
Example navigation buttons have just covered the voyager ui
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I really want this to come to the US as well..
Is this phone also more secure?
The problem we are running into right now is Apple and Google are colluding with the US government over fascism and they are supporting their Nazi regime
They have all the power and they can change all of these services overnight, they can track you and everything and you will have no idea and no way to get rid of it
We really need an open replacement. Phones are now used for everything
Is this phone also more secure?
Probably not.
Apple & Google have spent considerable amounts of time building out hardware security infrastructure for their products that I find it extremely unlikely Fairphone would have been able to match.
For example, the popular alternative Android OS GrapheneOS only supports Google Pixels, because: (Emphasis added by me)
"There are currently no other devices meeting even the most basic security requirements while running an alternate OS. GrapheneOS is very interested in supporting a non-Pixel brand, but the vast majority of Android OEMs do not take security seriously. Samsung takes security almost as seriously as Google, but they deliberately cripple their devices when unlock them to install another OS and don’t allow an alternate OS to use important security features. If Samsung permitted GrapheneOS to support their devices properly, many of their phones would be the closest to meeting our requirements. They’re currently missing the very important hardware memory tagging feature, but only because it’s such a new feature"
If even Samsung, the only other phone brand on the market they consider close to meeting their standards, doesn't support every modern hardware security feature, and deliberately cripples their security for alternate OS's, as a multi billion dollar company, I doubt Fairphone has custom-built hardware security mechanisms for their phones to the degree that Google has.
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Only 400€ to go until I can afford it.
Please get through the FCC and open sales in the USA before Fairphone 6 is made.
I really don't want to buy another unrepairable phone.
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I have the fairphone 4 and have had no issues. As long as a fairphone exists I don't see any reason I should switch.
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Aaaand it's impossible to buy in the US. Even if USians want to do the right thing, we're not permitted.
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I've had this phone for over a year with Murena e/OS/! 90hz refresh rate is so nice
Still like the idea behind it and wish there was support for GrapheneOS (going even further than /e/o) as well as better camera quality but this is the price we have to pay for flexibility and sustainability I think. Like the concept here but never tried to go with one so far.
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