Many issues can be solved by yourself. This leads to quick solutions and prevents unnecessary frustration. Let us guide you.

In case your phone is not working upon arrival and the parcel was damaged, act quickly.

For all other situations, we recommend these sources to help you:

1. Use the Troubleshooter to find and fix an issue yourself. We made this tool to guide you in the first steps you can take to diagnose and maybe even solve an issue. It helps you also to determine if a third-party product might be the cause (a downloaded app, a broken cable, or an old SIM card for example).
   Do not worry, if you are not able to solve the problem on your own, the troubleshooting tool outcomes will then help us to help you quicker and better.
2. Consult the other support pages.
3. Consult the community forum.
4. In case you need more help, contact our Customer Support.
   In case you ordered your phone from Commown or Murena, please contact them first. 
   In case you mounted a custom ROM (alternative OS) on your phone, revert back to Fairphone OS before you contact our Customer Support.

We have some extra tips for you in case you need to address an issue.

General

Some common tips to keep your phone well maintained:

• Make sure you run the latest software update. Connect your phone to a Wi-Fi network and use go to Settings → System → Advanced → System update to see if you need to update and if so, install it.

Charging

It is possible that you charge your phone with equipment that causes the issues. To rule this out:

1. Try out at least three different chargers and different cables. Some chargers do not deliver enough power to the device. We recommend a Quick Charger, USB Type C connector, delivering 5 volts (5V) over 1 ampere (1A, 1000mA) or more.
2. You can also try to charge your phone with a computer.
3. Charge the phone without the protective back cover. This way the USB connector has a better fit to the micro-USB port. If this solves your issue we advise you to buy a new cable.
4. Kickstart the battery:
   1. Take out the battery of the phone.
   2. Wait for half an hour and put the battery back in the phone.
   3. Connect the Fairphone to a charger. If the charging light is blinking, it means that the battery was totally empty.
   4. Then wait for some minutes until the red light becomes fixed. A loading battery icon should appear for a few seconds (a short press on the power button will display it). Keep on charging for more than an hour because the battery was likely totally drained.

SIM Card

An old or damaged SIM card can cause many issues. Scratches and corrosion on crucial places can cause your phone to disconnect from the network and even freeze or spontaneously reboot.

We recommend getting a new SIM card with your network provider* if you have a SIM card older than two years, or you experience issues like:

• Calls are interrupted or you have difficulties receiving a call.
• The sound quality of the phone calls becomes worse over time.
• Your battery depletes quicker than usual.
• Your Fairphone is requesting the pin code of your SIM card randomly and not after you intentionally rebooted the phone.
• After a crash or freeze, you can only reboot your Fairphone by taking out the battery.

In case your SIM contacts do not show, restart your phone.

* A new SIM card can be issued within your current contract - so you keep your phone number - and often for free. Consult the contract you have with your provider for the possibilities.

Display

If the display stops working or misbehaves, you can try to follow the next instruction:

1. Turn the phone off.
2. Remove the battery and the screen (check our support pages for instructions and video tutorial).
3. Put the screen and the battery back.
4. Power on your phone.

Contact our Customer Support

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