Privacy@lemmy.mlbyCountVlad47@feddit.org
21 hours

Thoughts on /e/OS vs Android on Fairphone?

I recently got an e-mail from Fairphone that they will be ending support for Fairphone 3(+) in a couple of months and I’m thinking about getting a replacement with /e/OS installed on it instead of Android.

All the independent information I can find seems to be from two or three years ago, so I was wondering if anyone with recent experience or knowledge has any thoughts about it?

I’m not interested in recommendations for other operating systems as I’m only considering switching from Android because there is an option for it to come pre-installed on the latest Fairphone with the bootloader locked, which may solve a few headaches. I’d just like to know if /e/OS has any gotchas to be aware of and if Ecorp/Esolutions/Murena are considered to be reputable (i.e. they’re not going to steal my data).

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    • 7eter@feddit.org
      9 hours

      Daily driving /e/ since 4 years. The only gotchas for me are:

      • no NFC-Payment possible
      • some apps might not work with microG instead of proper play services. (FindMy, gMaps, even some non Google Apps like the StreetMeasure Plugin for StreetComplete)
      • The App-Store for Play-Store access is a bit cluncky. I have to reset the App data sometimes to get it to download stuff from PlayStore. I get most apps through Obtainium or Fdroid though.

      For me those are fairly small gotchas in order to get a degoogled OS. Also you have easy control over which apps may use Google Push services and the possibility to turn on your Flashlight by long pressing the Power Button (Thanks to Lineage OS background) which is nice to have and not included in the Android Version of FP AFAIK.

      • hornedfiend@piefed.socialEnglish
        3 hours

        worth adding:

        1. whatsapp no longer works and requires attestation
        2. Banking apps are a gamble
        3. Weird quirks like stuck UI until multitasking is used and others

        Look into iodé os also. e/os/ is way to iphone-esque,but iode is sticking to a cleaner approach and also allows bootloader locking, given you pay attention to the security patch versioning “security feature”.

          • hornedfiend@piefed.socialEnglish
            1 hour

            As I read, it’s a common occurance on multiple roms (including graphene) since around 2025 with a dreaded “application is not official” or something similar.

            I’ve experienced it on my fairphone 6 running iodé os and , unfortunately and because of nfc payments, I had to switch back to official rom and Whatsapp simply started working again with the same number.

            Mind you, it only happens with new registrations, even if using the same number.

            Edit: just search the vast internet for issues like “whatsapp not official error” or something.

    • Voxel@feddit.uk
      7 hours

      So that I understand you right, you’re looking to replace your FP3 with a newer model that comes with /e/OS?

    • MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip
      3 hours

      Android is a protected name and Google has a strict certification program for vendors, including the presence of the tracking framework Play Services (on which the Play Store and some (from Android Studio automatically embedded) convenience libraries rely, but mostly ad libraries).

      e/os has none of that, so if it comes preinstalled, go with e/os.

    • currawong@lemmy.ml
      9 hours

      I’ve used e/OS for two years. I don’t like the interface, it’s like iOS and I can’t see what people like in it. It’s hardly customisable. A lot of apps didn’t work back then (I think I tried it last 4 years ago). I’m back to LineageOS.

      • Sonalder@lemmy.ml
        7 hours

        Couldn’t you just have install another app launcher instead of the default one provided by /e/OS nammed Bliss ?

        • Holla@feddit.org
          7 hours

          Not op, but that is possible. Personally however after trying a few launchers I realised that the default one wasn’t even that bad, only a bit messy with all the apps organised somewhere on the homescreen

    • Doorknob@lemmy.worldEnglish
      14 hours

      I’ve been daily-driving it for several years. I think it’s very good, generally, and am happy to stick with it for the foreseeable future. Murena asks you to sign up for their cloud services on first boot, but if you say no, they’ll never bother you about it again. I don’t use them, so can’t comment on whether they’re any good.

      I have found their App Lounge app (Google Play Store/FDroid alternatives rolled into one) to be spotty. Sometimes I’ve found I had to reboot the phone to get it to download/update apps. They have made updates recently that improve this a lot and I haven’t seen it presenting these kinds of issues over the last couple months, but I won’t say they’ve definitively fixed the issues. You can always fall back to Aurora store for Google Store apps and FDroid for FOSS apps if the App Lounge gives you big headaches.

      I use FOSS apps where possible over Google apps. Organic Maps is excellent, often better than GMaps. Banking apps work fine for me. Haven’t tried NFC for payments, I don’t use it.

      There’s no instances of Murena and related orgs doing anything shady about data collection or anything afaik, their big conceit is privacy and they’d be sunk if there were any scandals around that. If you have a threat model that requires an extremely high amount of security however, you may prefer to steer clear as /e/ freely admit they make trade-offs in hardening for convenience and ease of use. While they incorporate the latest security patches from LineageOS, GrapheneOS continually allege that /e/'s modifications can make their OS less secure than stock Android. How true that is, I don’t know. Assume your phone can be hacked at any time if it were specifically targeted.

      If you’re in the market for a phone that’s just good for everyday use but doesn’t have all the Google tie-ins, I can recommend it.

    • utopiah@lemmy.ml
      16 hours

      Murena who maintained /e/OS sells FairPhones with /e/OS pre-installed so I imagine support for it is good.

      I only used /e/OS on a CMF Phone 1 for about a year and liked it. I only moved to Graphene OS as a way to get a small cheaper 2nd hand phone. In my experience it’s a good OS and I had no headaches with /e/OS.

    • inanimate_carbon_rod@lemmy.zip
      16 hours

      I have been daily diving /e/ is on an FP4 for almost a year. I’ve encountered a few weird things with calls and texts, but that might have as much to do with my US carrier not playing well with a European phone. As for the OS itself, the only real limitation I’ve come across is that Cash App doesn’t work. PayPal and Venmo are fine, and my local credit union app works great. Sometimes the App lounge hangs, but I’ve also got Aurora store for google play apps and obtainium for FOSS stuff. Other than Cash App, there’s nothing I can’t do with it that I’ve wanted to, even if it takes finding an alternative. I’ve not regretted using it, and it only seems to be improving. It won’t be as polished a UX as stock android, but I have no reservations in recommending it.

      • MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip
        12 hours

        but that might have as much to do with my US carrier not playing well with a European phone.

        Yeah, different countries use different frequency bands and they get renegotiated now and then by the carriers. They can be roughly summed up per continent and there’s some overlap but a phone made for southern asia will not have good connection in europe or america. If you haven’t bought it yet, look it up on gsmarena’s phone picker and your country/carrier.

    • dadarobot@lemmy.ml
      18 hours

      I just got fp6 with e/os, and there’s a few serious quirks i found in the couple daya i played with it before going on vacation (left the fp6 at home).

      Things i noticed do not work: google maps, google home, and pixel watch.

      So far i see this as a push into the deep end of the pool towards degoogling. I ordered a pebble round 2 to have a working watch but it wont ship for a couple months. Not sure ill be able to use fp6 as my dailydriver until then. Also a push into setting up homeassistant on my new nas which ive been procrastinating for about a year.

      So, if youre serious about degoogling, go ahead and get e/os, otherwise i’d stick with stock android. Maybe if youre not currently tied in much with the google ecosystem it can be worth it, but not for me at the moment.

        • dadarobot@lemmy.ml
          14 hours

          Yeah, i see maps as the least of the problems. However, i will say while being on vacation, having navigation on my wrist is incredibly convenient. Im sure i will fully degoogle soon enough, but im doing it one step at a time. E/os is a huge push in the right direction, despite the growing pains

          • Zerush@lemmy.ml
            14 hours

            Agree,also Fairphone is a very good solution. Maps have a lot of alternatve solutions, more now as Google discontinued it’s Streetview feature, the only thing not present in other maps. Most other Google services have also pretty good alternatives, also linkeable Android Smartwatches have it (e/OS is normally good compatible with Android aps, exept maybe limited with Google ones, due to the lack of corresponding APIs)

      • skarn@discuss.tchncs.de
        16 hours

        The Google Maps issue is fixed. I always kept a judicious distance from Google Home and Pixel Watch, so I can’t comment on that.

    • skarn@discuss.tchncs.de
      16 hours

      So, I use a FP4 with /e/OS and I like it.

      First things first: some things will break. Not many, and not often, but it happens. Mostly Google stuff, but on Android a lot of stuff is Google stuff.

      Recently GMaps wasn’t working for a little longer than a week. I was still able to use HERE WeGo (my current favorite) and others even with Android Auto, so it was no problem for me, but still.

      Banking apps and such almost always work, but there is a non-zero chance that one of those will break, even for a short while. I have three banking apps and they work flawlessly, plus itsme (Belgian gov app) and a German health insurance (this one refuses to login with fingerprint, but pass works).

      Android Auto works, but I don’t think I ever managed to get Chromecast to do anything.

      You do get something in exchange. The privacy improvements are there, and the OS-level adblocking as well.

      But you have to accept that occasionally there will be a nonzero level of discomfort.

      You could keep the old phone around for the apps that don’t behave, or you could use the old phone to test /e/OS before ordering.

      • CountVlad47@feddit.org
        6 hours

        Thanks for the info. I use Linux as my daily driver on my PC so I’m used to accepting a nonzero level of discomfort! :)

    • mortalic@lemmy.world
      17 hours

      I bought the fp6 with /e/os preloaded. It’s generally fine but there are some annoying issues. The most annoying is the brightness detection I’d awful. It defaults to the lowest setting at pretty much all times and adjusts do much that I gave up and turned it off and have been managing it manually.

      I never was able to get rcs messages to work

      Google maps has basically stopped working Which I’m actually not that upset about.

      The default launcher sucks, but I installed Fossify launcher which is great.

      There’s no digital assistant, but I ended up getting perplexity to work for that.

      On the flipside, the battery life is incredible.

      The tracker blocking is amazing.

      MicroG is really good.

    • scrooge101@lemmy.ml
      17 hours

      I haven’t used eOS myself, but in terms of privacy it is much better thsn stock Android. Just give it a try. In case you don’t lime it, you can switch back to Android.