Just wanted to take a quick moment to thank everyone who helps contribute in any way.
The camera fires right up, VOLTE worked with no messing around, system performance everything feels snappier, bunch of new applications, cheeky little tweak for the the time from another post here, best keyboard mods I have ever found in there as well, and so much more.
Big thanks to everyone who helped make it happen!
@johndoe
FP5 here running 24.04 with VOLTE working just dandy.
I will agree that most "normies" who just want to run XYZ app regardless are not well suited for ANY mobile Linux OS at the moment.
Personally I find that hardened Android (I am talking no GAPPS) is a really similar experience to UT, with all the yucky feelings associated with Android and its spyware.
For me, something new and fresh with say a weather app that is made to show you the weather and not catalogue your every move and sell them to any data broker willing to pay is well worth not running some applications. I not going to use Waydroid in any capacity, everything can be done in a browser on a PC. Since I switched to UT my relationship with my cell is a lot healthier, a lot of the time I just leave it home which was unheard of when I used Android/IOS.
Greetings from Florida, USA,
I have installed Ubuntu Touch a couple of times already and I have to say its a lot more stable this time. As soon as I can find a phone this works on to make calls with Volte I will be daily driving it and dumping Android for good.
Unfortunately I don't have any coding experience to contribute, but I do work in IT as a tech and have a few decades of troubleshooting and I want to help out. I am very much over Android/IOS at this point, and feel the time is right for a Linux phone to really shake things up given the current state of mobile OS. Plenty of experience with Ubuntu desktop having daily'ed it from Warty Warthog to Yakkety Yak, and I am still on Linux desktop, just another distro btw...
I found the strangest coincidence possibly but I think it potentially solved this whole issue. Here is what happened.
Re-downloaded and deleted all images/installers I had been using for both Android and UT
I am not sure if this is the fix coming in beta 2, but its miles better than my experience yesterday!
I would just like to share my experience with UT, maybe get some ideas on things I did not try and possibly share some that may help.
First things first I would like to thank anyone who had a hand in getting UT to where it is today, I think this project is incredibly important and in my opinion the mobile OS space is at a turning point and really needs something like UT in a big way.
What/Where/Why:
What - Fairphone 5 on T-Mobile (GSM)
Where - US
Why - Ownership, in today's day and age a mobile OS that the end user has any shred of ownership over is just about nonexistent, especially where I live.
What I expected:
Going into this with the knowledge that I may need to do some work to get things running and not everything from any major smartphone is going to work. That is perfectly fine and worth it for what you get.
My basic needs are: Calls, text messages, quick web search for an answer, maybe some music while making dinner.
What I found:
This may vary, and I understand its dependent on all of the factors from who where why.
Calls work as expected
Web search (specifically on the FP5) has a weird bug where apparently it thinks the screen is 9" and everything is zoomed out. Bit of an annoyance with my aging eyes.
Text messages this is where I really had some trouble, RCS is a major sticking point as its forced by other devices and even MFA codes. Even SMS has a 10 min delay and is delivered with a current timestamp so for me it looks like it just got here, but to my wife who sent a text from the car asking for help carrying groceries in I ignored her.
Its not all bad though, there is plenty to like. Its very stable even running a nightly release on my device as the devel had a weird WIFI bug. My phone was 99% what I expected out of it. The gesture control was WAY ahead of it time when Ubuntu Edge was announced and UT along with it, since then all the major players have copied it in one way or another.
Some ideas (from a non programmer):
I know that there was some chatter about RCS somewhere, but its hard to tell what is relevant anymore as there is a lot of outdated information floating around in the ether. A somewhere official with the current state of affairs that is not on telegram would be a big help I think. Maybe I simply overlooked it, I would do a search for a feature, find a github page that moved to gitlab (or something else) that is now dead or had a link that sent me back to github.
I am willing to bet everyone is elbows deep in getting 24.04 stable and pushed but I do have a wish list I would like to share.
I think that getting something like flatpack running would be very beneficial to the platform as a whole. To break dependencies on Android (which I will get into) and Two for the same reasons that they are easier for linux distro's containerized/one "package" works everywhere/ and to really broaden the availability of applications for the platform.
Breaking dependency from Android, I understand there is a layer involved with helium, but Google looks to be merging Chrome OS and Android. They have stopped providing build trees for Pixel phones which seems to have had a negative impact on GraphineOS presumably other AOSP roms like Lineage. It also coincidentally aligns with the leads at CalyxOS stepping down and them pausing all new releases.
Now I am not saying these are all linked or some conspiracy, but I do think relying more on Linux for apps or low level device support and not Android would be a net positive. Again I am not a dev, just a passionate end user.
I don't even mind not having all the apps ever in the whole world either, if something like RCS was working where I can communicate with my family in a timely manor UT would be perfect for my daily needs.
IF you have suggestions, ideas, comments I am more than open to input on how to make that happen today.
Thanks!
@Zardozor25 What happens when you try "fastboot devices"?
Also if this is happening on Windows I had the same trouble. I resolved this by using Linux and installing android-tools. Windows absolutely refuses to see my FP5 in fastboot no matter what.
@gpatel-fr Can confirm Fairphone 5 VOLTE works as expected on 24.04.
Battery life has been great, SMS works, MMS (I have not tested with the final release of 24.04 only a RC) worked but only with WiFi off AS OF 9/16/25.
Otherwise I think its fairly solid device and works well with UT.
Hopefully this will helps someone else here.
This has been my experience with 24.04-01
Stable: Fingerprint sensor broken
Daily: Audio Broken (did not test BT)
RC: Everything is working
I am not sure if this is the right place for this, and even then it comes from a high level of ignorance to software development on my part.
I am sure some of you folks have seen the news about Google's impending removal of the ability to side-load any applications starting September 2026 and rolling out through 2027, as well as requiring any app developers who wish to publish apps to android in any capacity to register with them and upload a government ID.
In a recent interview F-Droid has warned that it could effectively kill alternative app stores entirely. While no one can know the exact ramifications of something like this it's easy to imagine this will likely have a negative impact and possibly leave some developers of open source apps on a platform like fdroid without a platform at all.
I am sure that porting an android application to run on UT is not a simple switch that can be toggled.
However is there a guide, roadmap, or toolkit in any capacity to do so at this point?
If not it may be worth putting something together and possibly welcoming impacted developers to an open store with a community that I am sure would be happy to welcome and see them there.
@sixwheeledbeast
Ebay will not hear it, and there is no way that I can find to modify my initial review and warn other potential buyers to look elsewhere.
I am hoping at best this post can save someone else the headache and money wasted by that seller. I still think you may be able to find an honest seller out there on ebay but I am not certain I would trust someone else given my experience.
The fact that you can not send your device in and get a new mainboard from Fairphone was fairly alarming though. In no other product does replacing a main component equal replacing the entire thing, and I think suggesting it greatly discounts the devices repeatability and the right to repair in general.
Here is an example: If the engine in your car dies, you can have it replaced with a used or re-manufactured engine. The serial numbers on those components will not match the rest of your car similar to an IEMI number. But by no circumstances do you now have a new car.
The same goes for any components for a PC that have embedded addresses like a mac address.
Regardless of your view, if you offer to pay the manufacturer who assembled the device and sold it to you with an IEMI that you did not own before (even if its considered a new device now) there is no reason you cant do that again.
On a side note, I reached out to Murena as their os installer bricked my phone and they sell the devices with the OS pre-installed. They were much less helpful, did not want to re-flash my device sighting that it was not initially sold with /e/OS (like the ones they sell have some different hardware). But they do offer a re-flash service for EU residents only for 99 euros which is 50 more than Fiairphone will charge.
I am pushing on with the mail forwarding service and having the phone re flashed by Fiarphone I doubt this will be a quick process, but I will keep you updated here.
@kugiigi Last time I used UT the camera would need to ponder the meaning of life for a moment, or I would have to toggle between front and rear facing cameras before it worked. Its clear someone has put in some work here to make this function better. Also I noticed the quality of the photos had improved, but was not sure if it was my imagination. Thanks for confirming!
@diardaoin I am using the international version of the FP5 (GSM). I am in the US and using TMobile's network with an MVNO (US Mobile). I have used a few phones either international or made for markets that are not the one that I live in. I would make sure you are on the same type of network supported by the device, and make sure the phone you are looking at uses a few of the bands that your provider does for a good experience with it. Also I have seen some markets (Australia comes to mind) that have essentially a white list of devices that will activate and work on the providers services, it may be worth a phone call to check if you are in one of these markets and or the FP5 is supported.
Otherwise its fairly straightforward, I would test everything in Android 13 before flashing and as I discovered make sure you go in settings and enable 4g calling in the cell options of android prior to flashing UT.
Just wanted to take a quick moment to thank everyone who helps contribute in any way.
The camera fires right up, VOLTE worked with no messing around, system performance everything feels snappier, bunch of new applications, cheeky little tweak for the the time from another post here, best keyboard mods I have ever found in there as well, and so much more.
Big thanks to everyone who helped make it happen!
@oldbutndy
Glad its helpful to someone.
To quote Murina directly:
"Regarding the re-flash service, it is currently only available in the EU. In the US, it is only offered for Fairphone 6 devices purchased from Murena. I understand that this device is a Fairphone 5 model, and Murena has never sold the Fairphone 5 in the US. If the device can be shipped to the original purchaser, or if you are located in the EU, I may be able to arrange the re-flash service for a fee of €99. All shipping costs would need to be covered by the customer. The 99 Euro fee will still apply even if the reflash does not restores the device's state to its original one."
So essentially, if you own a Fairphone 5 in the US, or didnt buy it directly from them, they are not helping you. In addition if they do help you, they are charging more than Fairphone themselves for the exact same service.
Following up with everyone here, Fairphone email support did get back to me. It took emailing them every day for two weeks and then verbally telling them "I will continue to email until I get a responce."
The goal was not to pressure them into saying yes, but rather to even respond. No response is far worse than something to effects of "We are sorry but our policy is .... and we can not help you".
I will be adding a TLDR edit to my original post with some facts to hopefully help any other North American Fairphone owners.
And my quest is FAR from over of finding the Firehose files for the Qualcomm QCM6490. WHEN not if myself or someone else comes across this, I will be posting about it here.
If you are wondering how this saga ends, Cordon who does the RMA process is kind enough to send you a shipping label, and packing instructions. The thing is this shipping label is assuming its coming from within the EU (where if you like me needed to setup a postal forwarding service).
I am assuming the quote I got to ship it outright to said facility is high right now due to the suboptimal geoploitical implications of where I live is imposing on the rest of the world.
That said this task would consist of the cost of shipping the device to France (North of $300 USD as of 3/28/26), then dealing with the RMA process (which is daunting regardless of the company its with), then dealing with the postal forwarding service - which accoding to some reviews is known to disappear packages, then paying the insanely high shipping price back to me.
All in financially and mentally outweighs just buying another device, so I did, my new Fairphone 5 will arrive next week and my old one will be parts. If you buy this device, and live in the US, you better have access to parts.
Is this device repairable? Yes, to some degree.. Just because it comes apart doesnt mean you can replace it.
Will Fairphone help you with yours? Yes, to some degree.. I had assumed getting it there would be the hard part, and it was. But so was getting an initial response.
Will Murena help you with your Fairphone 5 in the USA? NO, even though they make the os that bricked my device, and they are the "north american distributor" they absolutely will not help you with a fairphone 5, maybe a 6 if your lucky.
Should you try the /e/OS web installer? F*** NO! If I could go back and read the fourms of people who had their device bricked by this, and the repair process I would have never attempted it.
Happy telephoning with UT all! I'll see you again next week flashing my new device.
Update: Day 23
I have FINALLY got a response from Fairphone support, who claim the IMEI number I had initially given to them via chat and they used to look my device and tell me the previous owner had mainboard issues is suddenly not found in the system and they can not start a repair with it.
Responding with a photo of my IMEI's on the box, lets see how long it takes to get a response and if they will have another excuse to not help this time.
20 Day Update:
I can not even get a response from Fairphone support at this point.
Email support is non-existant, and chat will not talk to you at all about it if you have a seperate ticket open and claims they will "email you that day" which is a flat out lie.
If you are thinking about a Fairphone and assuming they are a good company that will support end users, you may want to reconsider.
Due to the fact that this is essentially an IOT chip there are basically no firehose files out there to re-flash the firmware and unbrick my device without Fairphone doing it. One single file is all it would take to fix this, it looks like the firmware blobs are on github.
Update:
I set-up a postal forwarding service so I have an address in the EU. Responded to the email that was sent out after my chat where I was informed that it would not be possible to assist me in any capacity without an address in the EU.
Mind you I am paying for this and not trying to scam a warranty policy.
The do not respond, I wait a few days and send a follow up email in the same email thread, no response again, I follow up again in a few more days....
Today I receive a response, do you think they opened a repair ticket or did anything at all to assist with facilitating this process? Nope, they responded with the following.
"We apologize for our delay in responding to your message.
With this message we want to assure you that your request has been received, and we are doing our best to get back to you as soon as possible.
To prevent further delay, we would like to ask you to not create multiple requests. If your request is urgent, then please reach out to our support team via Live Chat.
We also have an Online troubleshooting tool and useful Support articles to help guide you at home.
We appreciate your patience and value your continued support.
Your Fairphone Support Team"
@sixwheeledbeast
Not to nitpick here but the Toyota Tacoma had 2 recalls to swap the chassis that did just that. You might have got a new vehicle if they agreed to buy it back.
@sixwheeledbeast
Ebay will not hear it, and there is no way that I can find to modify my initial review and warn other potential buyers to look elsewhere.
I am hoping at best this post can save someone else the headache and money wasted by that seller. I still think you may be able to find an honest seller out there on ebay but I am not certain I would trust someone else given my experience.
The fact that you can not send your device in and get a new mainboard from Fairphone was fairly alarming though. In no other product does replacing a main component equal replacing the entire thing, and I think suggesting it greatly discounts the devices repeatability and the right to repair in general.
Here is an example: If the engine in your car dies, you can have it replaced with a used or re-manufactured engine. The serial numbers on those components will not match the rest of your car similar to an IEMI number. But by no circumstances do you now have a new car.
The same goes for any components for a PC that have embedded addresses like a mac address.
Regardless of your view, if you offer to pay the manufacturer who assembled the device and sold it to you with an IEMI that you did not own before (even if its considered a new device now) there is no reason you cant do that again.
On a side note, I reached out to Murena as their os installer bricked my phone and they sell the devices with the OS pre-installed. They were much less helpful, did not want to re-flash my device sighting that it was not initially sold with /e/OS (like the ones they sell have some different hardware). But they do offer a re-flash service for EU residents only for 99 euros which is 50 more than Fiairphone will charge.
I am pushing on with the mail forwarding service and having the phone re flashed by Fiarphone I doubt this will be a quick process, but I will keep you updated here.
@Futura Doing a bit of research, Fairphone seem to have been strangled by Qualcomm with the use of EDL, unfortunately you have to send it back to them to repair - another reason I won't buy a Fairphone as that part is just not "fair" - you should be able to repair your own device!
I could not agree more with you there! I even said to a rep "well that is not very fair" after they told me I cant just buy a replacement part that would fix all of my current problems. And really the main reason I wanted to make this post. Things I wish that I knew before I spent a lot of money on a device that is now a paperweight.