The hardware is good and I like the idea in principle but Fairphone's support and software QA is dreadful and you need to hope you never need the former because of problems with the latter. My FP5 was bricked by an update they pushed out and after six weeks of trying to get a solution from their support (four weeks of which they didn't respond at all) I ended up claiming on insurance and buying a Pixel. According to the forums this problem is far from unique to me.
this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2025
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I've been running FP4 for about 2 years now. the software bug fix cycle leaves something to be desired.
for example, the first 16 months of my ownership had every single phone call screaming at me. I mean, the volume was loud enough it was quieter than the speaker phone.
the did eventually fix that bug, but not two months later there's a bug that breaks my running processes button(square at the bottom). as of right now there's no fix other than using the OEM shitty launcher. so, 5-10 times a day I have to go to settings > apps > default apps > launcher > bliss launcher > running apps > settings > launchers > my launcher > close what I just had to use > go back to what I was just doing.
I enjoy the phone, don't get me wrong. I just wish they performed better software testing on their own hardware.
I got the phone for the ethics, reparability, and privacy. I'll never go back.
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I wish importing phones were an option for my country, but no. Even if I secured a way to bring it here, it takes 1000 dollars just to register its IMEI to use here.
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Really wish Fairphone would come to the US. I'd spend the money on it, but they only half-ass sold the last gen phone here on the US.
I don't even understand why. They support most 4G and every mid and low band 5G in America. Even if I could just import it, I'd be happy.
AT&T has a whitelist system, they check IMEIs often and if your device is not approved, cell service stops working.
For Verizon, you have to call customer service to do a manual override.
Only T-Mobile allows any phone to work without explicit approval.
Probably some reason like they don't want people complaining the service is bad because they use a "no-name brand" phone, so they just cut you off and blame your phpne because it's easier for corporate. (Yay, capitalism! 🫠 /s)
I heard that Australia now has a Nationwide whitelist system that even block unapproved phones from calling the emergency number.
Technology is really getting enshittified. 😓
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Unfortunately it's not available in the US though.