How to use your Fairphone
Learn how to set up a few basic features and start using your new Fairphone.
For a quick video introduction, choose your phone below:
Getting started
Turn your phone on and off
To turn your phone on:
- Press and hold the Power button until the display lights up.
To turn your phone off:
-
Press the Power button to turn on the screen.
-
Press and hold the Power and Volume up buttons at the same time.
(On some Fairphones, press and hold the Power button). -
On your screen, tap Power off.
You can change what happens when you press and hold the power button:
- Go to Settings → System → Gestures.
- Tap Press and hold power button.
- Choose from:
- Power menu.
- Digital assistant.
Download and manage apps
If you have a Google account, you can download and install apps through the Play Store:
- On your phone, swipe up from the Home screen to see All Apps.
- Look for Play Store and tap to open it.
- Find an app you want.
Tip: Look at the star ratings and number of downloads to check if the app is reliable. - Tap on the app you want to download.
- If it's a free app, tap Install.
- Otherwise, tap on the price.
Remove or disable an app:
- On your phone, swipe up from the Home screen to see All Apps.
- Tap and hold the app you want to remove.
- Tap App info → Uninstall.
(If you only see Disable, it's a system app. You can't remove system apps. If you disable a system app, Android and other apps may no longer function as intended).
Personalisation
Change your wallpaper
- Go to Settings → Wallpaper and style.
Or, touch and hold an empty space on your Home screen and tap Wallpaper and style. -
Tap Change wallpaper.
- Tap My photos to use your own photo.
- Or tap On-device wallpapers to use images that come with your phone.
- Tap Done
and choose which screens will show your wallpaper:
- Home screen.
- Lock screen.
- Home and lock screens.
Change your ringtone
- Go to Settings → Sound → Phone ringtone.
- Tap on a ringtone to listen to it.
- Press OK to confirm.
Sound settings
Your Fairphone has three sound settings:
-
Ring
Vibrate
Silent
To switch between modes, press a volume button and tap the icon above the slider.
For additional settings, press a volume button and tap the three dots below the slider.
Communication
Make and receive phone calls
You can make calls using the Phone app:
- On your phone, swipe up from the Home screen to see All Apps.
- Look for Phone and tap to open it:
- To call a contact, tap Contacts.
- To enter a number, tap the Dialpad.
- To call a number you recently called, tap Recent.
When you receive a phone call, the caller's number or contact name will show on the screen.
- To answer an incoming call:
- If your phone is locked, swipe the phone icon up.
- If your phone is unlocked, tap Answer.
- To decline an incoming call:
- If your phone is locked, swipe the phone icon down.
- If your phone is unlocked, tap Decline.
Send and receive text messages (SMS)
You can send and receive text messages using the Messages app:
- On your phone, swipe up from the Home screen to see All Apps.
- Look for Messages and tap to open it:
- To start a new conversation, tap Start chat and type a name, phone number or email.
- Or, tap an ongoing conversation.
Set up your email
Gmail is the default email app on Android.
If you have a Google account, you can send and receive emails using Gmail:
- On your phone, swipe up from the Home screen to see All Apps.
- Look for Gmail and tap to open it.
- Follow the setup process.
You can also add a non-Gmail account to the Gmail app:
- On your phone, open the Gmail app.
-
In the top right, tap your profile picture.
- Tap Add another account and choose the type of account you want to add.
- Follow the setup process.
Other tips
Take a screenshot
- Open the screen you want to capture.
- Press and hold the Power and Volume down buttons at the same time.
- At the bottom left, you'll see a preview of your screenshot.
Language settings
To change the language for the whole device:
- Go to Settings → System → Languages and input.
- Tap Languages → Add a language.
- Choose your preferred language.
Tip: If you have more than one language, drag your preferred language to the top of the list.
To change the language of an individual app:
- Go to Settings → System → Languages and input.
- Tap App languages and select the app you want to change.
- Choose your preferred language.
(You can only change the language for apps that support language selection).
To change the language of the keyboard:
- Go to Settings → System → Languages and input.
- Tap On-screen keyboard and select the keyboard you want to change.
(Gboard is the default keyboard app on Android). - Tap Languages → Add keyboard.
- Choose a language.
- Choose a layout.
- Tap Done.
Adjust your brightness
Adjust your brightness manually:
- From the top of your screen, swipe down twice:
- To lower brightness, drag the brightness slider to the left.
- To increase brightness, drag the brightness slider to the right.
Adaptive brightness automatically adjusts your screen brightness to your environment and activities. Turn Adaptive brightness on or off:
- Go to Settings → Display.
- Tap the Adaptive brightness toggle to turn it on or off.
Tip: You can still move the slider manually to help adaptive brightness learn your preferences.
Quick Settings
You can find Quick Settings from any screen on your phone:
- Swipe down from the top of your screen to see the first few settings.
- Swipe down again to find all Quick Settings.
- Tap a setting to turn it on or off.
To move, add or remove a setting:
- From the top of your screen, swipe down twice.
- At the bottom left, tap Edit (pencil icon).
- Tap and hold the setting:
- Move: Drag the setting to where you want it.
- Add: Drag the setting from Hold and drag to add tiles.
- Remove: Drag the setting to Drag here to remove.
If after reading the article you need more help, contact our Customer Support.