Your Fairphone ships standard with an Android operating system (OS).

The recommended way to update your Fairphone 2 to the latest software is through the built-in Fairphone Updater app.

If you encounter issues when you try to update automatically, you can install the latest operating system version by hand. This article guides you with instructions on how to manually update.

• This article refers to the latest Fairphone OS version available, you can find the downloadable files of older Fairphone OS in a separate article.
• If you are interested in the open-source version of Fairphone Open OS instead, please go to code.fairphone.com.

Important preparations

You must:

• Back up your data first before you start with any update. If you do not, you can lose your personal files like photos, music, etc.
  
• Remove all SIM cards and SD cards before you proceed. When you have completed the procedure, you can insert them all again.

We foresee two possible scenarios in which you might need to manually install a Fairphone OS on your device:

1. The update through the Fairphone updater app fails.
2. Your new display stays black.

The procedure is the same in both situations. However, if your new display stays black you will not have visual feedback of what is happening in your Fairphone 2 during the process. That is why we designed very detailed instructions to better help you following the necessary steps. Be aware of the green coloured text for any exception that might apply in this scenario.

Before you begin

• The needed files are packed in a ZIP archive together with easy-to-use flashing scripts
• The user data will not be erased. If you want or need to do so, please refer to the article how to perform a Factory reset.

Prerequisite(s) for Microsoft Windows systems

1. Windows 10.
2. Your computer needs to have a working internet connection.
3. Your system drivers need to be up to date.
   To make sure of this, in your Windows 10:
   1. Click the Start menu, type Device Manager, then type the Enter key on your keyboard. A new window will open.
   2. Scroll down the list and select Other Devices. If you see an item named simply Android, preceded by an escalation dot, please keep following the step.
   3. Click the Start menu, type Check for updates, then type the Enter key on your keyboard. A new window will open.
   4. Click on the button Check for updates located in the top right part of this window and wait for a couple of minutes. Below the button, you will now see View optional updates.
   5. Click on View optional updates.
   6. Click on Driver and updates.
   7. Scroll down the list if needed and select all the drivers starting with Google, Inc - ... .
   8. Click on the button Download and install.
   9. Once done, reboot your computer.
4. The connection should now work.

Please, check the animation below for additional help.

Process

1. Download the ZIP archive below to your computer:
   
   Fairphone 2 - Binary images of Fairphone OS 23.02.0-rel.0 (~1060MB)
   md5sum: b1ca199db20e2a8a17eb66db0692dd3d
   

   
   If you experience problems with downloading the update file properly, try a different internet browser (e.g. Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox).

2. Extract the archive content on your computer. If the device is connected to a charger or a computer, unplug the USB cable and then power off the device (if in doubt, remove the battery, wait five seconds and then place it back).
3. Boot the Fairphone 2 into the bootloader (also called fastboot mode) by pressing and holding the volume down button first and then pressing and holding the power button as well until the Fairphone logo appears (up to five seconds), then release them.
   1. If your display stays black, hold the buttons until your Fairphone 2 vibrates, wait a couple of seconds and then release them.
   2. While in the bootloader, the device will not display anything besides the regular Fairphone logo and the written "Powered by Android".
      NOTE: if you are running one of the latest versions of Android 7, once the phone reaches the bootloader the notification LED will become blue.
4. Connect the Fairphone 2 to your computer with a USB data cable.
5. On your computer, execute the update script.
   1. On Windows, execute (double click on) the script flash-for-windows.bat.
      • If a window with a security message shows up, select More info, and then Run anyway.
        
        These screenshots were taken on a machine running Windows 10. The warning might appear differently in earlier versions of Windows.
        
6. The script should now be running. A black prompt shows with the text "Validate files". Wait until a list shows and is completed: then a text "Validation completed" shows. If everything goes smoothly, the process will be over in a couple of minutes and you will be asked to press Enter to reboot the device. Do so and proceed to step 8.
   However, if you see a warning message stating "WARNING: No Fairphone 2 found in fastboot mode" (see image below), proceed as follows:
   
   
   1. Please perform steps 3 and 4 again.
   2. Once your Fairphone 2 boots into the bootloader, go to the script, type y and press the enter key after the question "Do you want to look for a Fairphone 2 again?" (see image below):
      
   3. If the script starts running, wait until completion and then press Enter to reboot the device. Proceed then to step 8.
   4. If you still see the same warning ("WARNING: No Fairphone 2 found in fastboot mode"), please close the script and repeat the procedure from step 2.
      
7. You can now safely unplug the Fairphone 2 from your computer (and your new display should now work perfectly!).
8. The first boot will take a few minutes to initialize the system.

If after reading the article you need more help, contact our Customer Support.