Fairphone 4 OS manual installation
To update your Fairphone 4, always use the regular procedure.
If you encounter an issue, you can follow this article to perform a manual update installation of Fairphone OS on Fairphone 4 using a computer.
This article will also help you to revert to Fairphone OS if you installed a different Operative System (OS).
Preliminary steps
- Before you start with any procedure, make a backup of your data. If you do not, you might lose your files like photos, music, contacts, etc.
- Unlock the bootloader of your Fairphone 4. Those instructions cover Fairphone OS. If you have installed a different OS on your Fairphone, the instructions might be slightly different. In this case, you will have to look for the instructions yourself.
- Remove SIM cards and SD cards before you proceed. When you have completed the procedure, you can insert them again.
- Download this file to your computer:
-Fairphone OS (Android 12)-
File name: FP4_FP4-SP21-factory.zip
Version: FP4.SP21.B.048
md5sum: 25429fd4c30195d725948e0310d3cbac
sha256sum: ad62ee470066743d5163cc9097c7df15a4ae501175e1d8ca2a5ce0ee8d740320
Not sure what these are for? Click here to learn more.
-Fairphone OS (Android 11)-
File name: FP4-FP4K-factory.zip
Version: FP4.FP4K.A.179.20230116
md5sum: 3aa48a46443f538e176a60526d27b53b
sha256sum: 1f019c4fdd27b6e57086cea11acf4f81f19888efb47869200cb332812b09e510
Not sure what these are for? Click here to learn more.
- If your current Fairphone OS version is higher than the one provided, you might lose all data. To boot your device, you may be forced to do a factory reset. Make sure you back up your data.
- The period February-March '23 is transitional between Android 11 and Android 12. Users in some regions will not receive the notification to update to Android 12. If you are one of those users, do not install Android 12 manually. If you install it against this recommendation, you may be stuck outside the regular update path and will not receive future over-the-air updates. Downgrading to Android 11 after this might brick your device.
- Instructions apply to the Chrome Browser. You can use any browser, but some steps may be different.
Requirements:
- Access to a computer.
- USB-C certified data cable.
- Your Fairphone 4.
Instructions
- Complete the preliminary steps above!
- Charge your Fairphone above 80%.
- Power off your Fairphone 4 and once it's off, connect the USB-C cable.
- Boot your device into Fastboot mode.
Press and hold the volume down button (up to five seconds).
The device will display the following screen:
- Check that the red line at the bottom states the message:
DEVICE STATE - Unlocked
Depending on which computer you are using, you will have to follow a different procedure. To proceed, select below which computer you are using.
- Windows 10 (recommended)
- macOS X 10.1x +
- LinuxUbuntu-based 18.x +
If after reading the article you need more help, contact our Customer Support.