Options to install Ubuntu Touch after an OTA upgrade to Android 12

fp4_a

Hello,

I have recently bought a Fairphone 4 with Android 11 (FP4.FP4G.A.170.20220920) pre-installed on the device. Shortly after starting the OS, I performed an OTA upgrade to Android 12 (FP4.SP25.B.058.20230318) and checked that the key components of the phone work correctly.

Soon afterwards, I learned that the device is well supported by the Ubuntu Touch OS (UT) and decided to give it a try. Having unlocked the bootloader according to the official guidelines [1], I flashed the UT 20.4 release on the phone using the UBports 0.10.0 application running on Debian. The application downloaded the necessary files from the Internet, transferred them to the phone, and reported a successful installation of UT. Unfortunately, UT does not boot (the process stops at the "FAIRPHONE Powered by android" screen) --- as I learned in the meantime, to be able to use the current release of UT, I should not have performed the OTA upgrade to Android 12.

Now, based on my understanding of the situation, I have at least the following two options:

wait until a compatible UT image is released, and then, reinstall UT on the device using the UBports application;
download the Android 11 (FP4.FP4K.A.179.20230116) image from [2], install it on the device [3] and let the device reboot to Android 11, and after making sure the bootloader is still unlocked, install UT again using the UBports application.

I wonder whether option 2 would be safe at this point (i.e., it would not brick the device)? Are there perhaps any other solutions that I have missed, that would allow me to boot UT on the phone?

Thank you for your time.

[1] https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/10492476238865
[2] https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/4405858261777
[3] https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/4436167982097

fp4_a

Thank you very much for your prompt replies and kind assistance.

After a few additional checks, I selected option 2 and it worked flawlessly in my case. I can now use Ubuntu Touch on my phone -- it is very nice!

arubislander

@fp4_a said in Options to install Ubuntu Touch after an OTA upgrade to Android 12:

I wonder whether option 2 would be safe at this point (i.e., it would not brick the device)? Are there perhaps any other solutions that I have missed, that would allow me to boot UT on the phone?

Unless Android has blocked downgrading for your device, it should be safe to do so.

stanwood

@fp4_a Indeed, option n° 2 is the good one.

Ensure to NOT relock the bootloader, even after the final Ubuntu Touch installation.

When using UBports installer, check "Wipe Data" and "Bootstrap partition" at the very first installation.

fp4_a

Thank you very much for your prompt replies and kind assistance.

After a few additional checks, I selected option 2 and it worked flawlessly in my case. I can now use Ubuntu Touch on my phone -- it is very nice!

qdz

@fp4_a
Also working from FP4-SP28-factory.zip to FP4-FP4K-factory.zip then ubport installer