How to use your Fairphone

Important

These steps only work if your Fairphone has Android 13 or above. Learn how to Check and update your software version.

Learn how to set up a few basic features and start using your new Fairphone.

 


Getting started

For a quick video introduction, choose your phone below:

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:

  1. Press the Power button to turn on the screen.

  2. Press and hold the Power and Volume up buttons at the same time.
    (On some Fairphones, press and hold the Power button).

  3. On your screen, tap Power off.

You can change what happens when you press and hold the power button:

  1. Go to Settings → System → Gestures.
  2. Tap Press and hold power button.
  3. 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:

  1. On your phone, swipe up from the Home screen to see All Apps.
  2. Look for Play Store and tap to open it.
  3. Find an app you want.
    Tip: Look at the star ratings and number of downloads to check if the app is reliable.
  4. 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:

  1. On your phone, swipe up from the Home screen to see All Apps.
  2. Tap and hold the app you want to remove.
  3. 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).

 


Personalization

Change your wallpaper

  1. Go to Settings → Wallpaper and style.
    Or, touch and hold an empty space on your Home screen and tap Wallpaper and style.
  2. Tap Change wallpaper.
    • Tap My photos to use your own photo.
    • Or tap On-device wallpapers to use images that come with your phone.
  3. Tap Done and choose which screens will show your wallpaper:
    • Home screen.
    • Lock screen.
    • Home and lock screens.

Change your ringtone

  1. Go to Settings → Sound → Phone ringtone.
  2. Tap on a ringtone to listen to it.
  3. Tap OK to confirm.

Sound settings

Your Fairphone has three sound settings:

  • sound.png Ring
  • sound_vibration.png Vibrate
  • sound_no.png 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:

  1. On your phone, swipe up from the Home screen to see All Apps.
  2. 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:

  1. On your phone, swipe up from the Home screen to see All Apps.
  2. 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:

  1. On your phone, swipe up from the Home screen to see All Apps.
  2. Look for Gmail and tap to open it.
  3. Follow the setup process.

You can also add a non-Gmail account to the Gmail app:

  1. On your phone, open the Gmail app.
  2. In the top right, tap your profile picture.

  3. Tap Add another account and choose the type of account you want to add.
  4. Follow the setup process.

 


Other tips

Scan a QR Code

You can scan QR codes using Google Lens:

  1. Open Google Lens:
    • On your Home screen, look for the Google Search bar and tap the Google Lens icon.
      Tip: On Fairphone 4 and 5, you can also access Google Lens from the Camera app by tapping the Google Lens icon between the preview and capture buttons.
  2. Point your phone's camera at the QR code.
  3. Tap the shutter button to open the link.

Take a screenshot or screen recording

To take a screenshot:

  1. Open the screen you want to capture.
  2. Press and hold the Power and Volume down buttons at the same time.
  3. At the bottom left, you'll see a preview of your screenshot.

To record your screen:

  1. From the top of your screen, swipe down twice.
  2. Look for Screen record and tap to open it. 
    Tip: If it's not there, swipe right or edit your Quick Settings.
  3. Choose if you want to record audio and show touches on the screen.
  4. Tap Start.

To stop recording your screen:

  1. From the top of your screen, swipe down once.
  2. Look for the Screen recorder notification.
  3. Tap Stop.

Adjust your brightness

Adjust your brightness manually:

  1. 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:

  1. Go to Settings Display.
  2. 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.

Language settings

To change the language for the whole device:

  1. Go to SettingsSystem → Languages and input.
  2. Tap Languages → Add a language.
  3. 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:

  1. Go to SettingsSystem → Languages and input.
  2. Tap App languages and select the app you want to change.
  3. Choose your preferred language.
    (You can only change the language for apps that support language selection).

To change the language of the keyboard:

  1. Go to Settings System → Languages and input.
  2. Tap On-screen keyboard and select the keyboard you want to change.
    (Gboard is the default keyboard app on Android).
  3. Tap Languages Add keyboard.
  4. Choose a language.
  5. Choose a layout.
  6. Tap Done.

Quick Settings

You can find Quick Settings from any screen on your phone:

  1. Swipe down from the top of your screen to see the first few settings.
  2. Swipe down again to find all Quick Settings.
  3. Tap a setting to turn it on or off.

To move, add or remove a setting:

  1. From the top of your screen, swipe down twice.
  2. At the bottom left, tap Edit (pencil icon).
  3. 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.