RetroFedMy First Fairphone 6 from Murena
AuroraShine
Peace be with you guys š¹
This is my first Fairphone with /e/OS and Iām really excitedš. It arrived within 3ā4 days even though the estimated time was 2ā3 weeks. That suprised me, because I live in Germany.
Everything came intact: headphones, screen protector, and phone case. They also included this little pin to get into the SIM tray slot, which I thought was great. There was no charger in the box but thatās intentional on their part. Doesnāt matter to me since all modern chargers work anyway.
Itās really easy to use and murena has its own browser. The default search engine is Qwant, which I donāt use because of Bing. But honestly, my main goal was F-Droid and using apps that reportedly wonāt work on Google-certified devices starting in September. Iāve already downloaded my own apps like IronFox and Iām happy š.
Now Iād love to hear your opinion: I think Google has shot itself in the foot with this decision. By closing down Android further, more people will switch to de-Googled systems.
Thatās my take, what do you think?š¤
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@AuroraSine As a Fp5 user, I've always been satisfied with both the hw and the sw of the phone. I wish you the same! Enjoy your new device! š
Thank you very much šš¹
I ve been wanting to do something like this. but one thing Iām not sure off is the Google compatibility ššš
I canāt quit it cold turkey. for instance need Google maps and itās location sharing. i would love it if the Google apps were installed on this phone as second class citizens. is this possible?
You could just install Google Maps? Like, still gives Google access to your location and movement, but itās a free device, you can put on it whatever you want.
You could also get a Fairphone with the Stock Rom, that should include Google Services. You could install a different Rom later.
Thereās also self hosted FOSS location sharing services, but for those, you need a server or VPS, and do some legwork to set them up.
You can (although probably the typical buyer of a deGoogled phone wouldnāt). Thereās a lot of open source of more privacy respectful maps/navigation apps available and a Murena Maps is on beta now.
Well, yes, but they specifically require family location sharing. There isnāt any privacy respecting service I know that does that, safe for some self-hosted ones (which might not be easy to set up for the average user).
I donāt know about Murena Maps (because itās not yet ready for a daily use) but neither CoMaps / Organic Maps / OsmAnd nor the preinstalled Magic Earth seem to require family location sharing. I agree that having a complete selfhosted setup may be requiring too much from the average user. The OSM based solutions are a good compromise to me, arenāt they?
They, as in the user, require that feature.
Oh ok, now I understand better!
Iām not sure that if I install Google maps on this, will location sharing still work reliablyā¦
As I said - the non-murena version of the Fairphone ships with a ROM featuring the usual integrated Google Services.
Another option I could see - buying a new device doesnāt brake your old one. You could keep running your current one till you found a way to set up a degoogled device with all the services you need.
thatās a fair point. Iāll switch data over to the new phone. but if I need this one I can run a hot spot
Hi, thx for your Comment.
Iām aware that you canāt stop all at once. For me it was also step by step until I could boycott everything completely. Anyway, I looked into it for you. Thereās an "App Lounge" where you can log in with your Gmail account to access Google apps. You can also browse there anonymously. I think itās like the Aurora Store, but Iām not really familiar with that. As for Maps, Murena apparently has its own map app, but I use the one from F-Droid āOpenStreetMapā. I hope I could help you.
thanks. it looks like I can install Google maps from here. but Iām not sure it will allow location sharing to work as that needs to run in background and constantly update location
Youāre welcome. So Iāve done some research and apparently many features wonāt work at all because the necessary Google background services are missing (de-googled system). I can really recommend OpenStreetMap as an alternative to you.
I use Organic Maps (which uses Open Street Map Data) on my Murena Fairphone 6 and itās doing a decent job.
That said, it IS a downgrade. The search is not as forgiving of typos. Also, you often wonāt find a local buissnes at all when searching for it by name. So i look the address up and search for it on Organic maps.
I am okay with that. Itās okay to loose some convenience for not supporting an american megacorp. But i do understand that this is a personal decision to make.
@Gloomy @AuroraSine CoMaps is an Organic Maps fork maintained by former Organic Maps developers, due to the opaque governance of Organic Maps, which is meant to become more proprietary in the future.
You can take a look at CoMaps' open letter :
comaps.app/news/2025-04-16/1/
Embarrassingly enough i was aware of said letter and just messed up the two when i switched phones some weeks ago š
Thanks for bringing it up, i switched to Comaps now (again).
@Gloomy @AuroraSine comaps on Android here. Agree with your comments totally except it being a downgrade... it is just different.
No no. Itās not a downgrade. When it comes to privacy, Organic Map definitely progress. I wouldnāt use Google Maps even if it teleported me to the place. Itās just different, like you said. Took some getting used to, like I said, but thatās for anything new. Itās easy for me right now to use it. Most people arenāt just ready to give up comfort though, and I see that every single day. š
Iām totally agree with you. With all!! Organic Maps is a bit unusual at first, but it does good work. Sacrificing some convenience isnāt the end of the world.
thank you. I use open street maps already. but for location sharing I need the other people in my family to also use it. unfortunately thatās not on the cards right now.
Ah yes, thatās true. I know that problem too. My family doesnāt use it either. Sorry I couldnāt be more helpful.
Honestly, as a FP4 user currently running e/OS, I never use the app lounge. Itās frequently glitchy and missing apps. My most used installers are Aurora (will get you basically anything thatās on the Android store) and F-Droid. I also recently installed Accrescent specifically for its IronFox app support.
Still havenāt figured out if thereās any way to buy paid apps, though.
Hello, Iām really sorry, but I donāt know anything about buying apps at all. Unfortunately, I canāt recommend anything to you. But I think that you have to do that directly via the Google Play Store.
As for Aurora Store or the App Lounge: I avoid them completely. I know, Itās still better, and privacy-friendly, than downloading directly from Google Store, but there will always be a tiny bit of Google in the system. And I donāt want that.
I try to use my phone really free of Google, and I searching more with my browser, IronFox, because in my opinion you have much more control in a browser than on an app.
I assume using it through the browser doesnāt let you do the location sharing how you need?
yeah through browser it wonāt update your location when backgrounded. I leave it on 24/7
I never try it, but I dont think so. When it comes to location, Iām really clueless. I meant Instagram, TikTok, even Lemmy. Sorry I kind of sidestepped your actual question. I meant it in general.
What about openstreetmap.org?
I use it already. but convincing the family to switch and use that is not easy. (we location share constantly for safety)
Very cool. Maybe Iāll get one, depending how the partnership between Motorola and Graphene goes. And on the pricing. 599ā¬ for the Fairphone 6 with e/os is a little expensive for me, but I donāt know how much a Graphene Motorola would be.
The battery life seems surprisingly good, which could convince me to get it. Can you confirm if the 54 hours mixed use claim on their website is any accurate?
Two small notes. The sim tray pins are included with practically every phone. Iām not aware of any manufacturer that doesnāt include them. And the lack of charger is due to EU law. Maybe they wouldnāt include it anyway, but at the moment the EU is forbidding including chargers with phones to āreduce e-wasteā.
Not sure what their mixed use criteria would entail, but my current stats for a charge ~19 hours ago with 2 hours of Lemmy scrolling:
Ah, I didnāt even know about that EU law. The Fairphone is the first phone I actually bought myself, so it wasnāt obvious to me.
Anyway, the battery life is really good. Though it depends on how many apps you have running in the background. I donāt have that many right now.
About the price: With everything included, it was definitely more than 600ā¬. With the headphones, case, and screen protector, the price naturally went up. But Iād been saving since the beginning of this year, so I didnāt break a sweat. The news that Google was going to close down Android was basically the kick in the ass I needed to step on it.
Final word: Itās expensive. But for me, it was worth itš Hope I could help you a little bit with your decision
Writing this from a FP6 right now, last charged Monday morning and still about a third of battery left. This includes a lengthy video call and some regular mixed use. Usually I charge it every 3-4 days.
Welcome, friend! I hope you enjoy yours as much as I am enjoying mine!
Might I suggest Lawnchair as your launcher?
I saw the link. its really cool. For now, all my apps are on one page, and it works fine for me. But later I can try. Thxš
Happy for you. Could soon be joining the club
Will fdroid stop working on my FF4 in September if I donāt switch from the stock Android it came with?
Havenāt even signed into the play store. I donāt want it. Most apps installed by fdroid, a few from APK.
By default it will be blocked, but you can enable it by setting a developer option and waiting 24 hours. Or you can install /e/os or similar
Guess I will install e/os, that takes less than 24 hours
Hello. For the answer, Iād need to know if you have a degoogled system like /e/OS. Fairphones can be delivered either with Play Protect (Google-certified) or without it. If your device is Google-certified, itās possible your F-Droid apps might stop working then. Degoogled systems arenāt affected as far as I know.
Amazing, enjoy your new /e/OS. Iām planning to buy one. Since youāre from Germany, how is your banking experience? Are you using any traditional German banks (like DKB, N26, Commerzbank)?
Thatās my only concern, but happy to hear experience from /e/OS users :-)
There are no issues with DKB on degoogled Android.
Commerzbank have recently started claiming non-Google phones were ārootedā (which is bullshit) and refuse app-to-app pushTAN communication. One must work around that using a (PC-based) browser and photoTAN. Motherfuckers.
Thanks for the information, bad to hear that from Commerzbank š
DKB asks you to call their hotline to activate your phone. Otherwise everything is peachy.
Thanks for the info
Thanks a lot! To your question: I ordered it directly from the official Fairphone website and paid with Klarna. There was no Problems. It arrived within a few days. I was honestly surprised by how fast that was.š
Thanks for your answer, but Iām asking if you installed any traditional German banking app (like DKB, Commerzbank, etc) on e/OS/, Iām curious if the bank app will work correctly in a modified Android like e/OS/. Iāve heard that some banks apps donāt work on ānon-officialā Android.
Aaaah, I see. Sorry, I misunderstood. Unfortunately, I canāt help youš. I donāt use these kinds of apps at all.
No problem, thanks for the info anyway :)
@AuroraSine @chrand Ouch, don't use klarna if you can avoid it. The company has a bit of a notoriety of wanting to sink its customers into debt. ramseysolutions.com/debt/klarna
Thanks for the warning. I knew Klarna has a bad reputation but I didnāt know this detail. Anyway, it was really just a one-time thing. My sister used her Klarna account for it. We unfortunately couldnāt pay it any other way.
But seriously, itās a shitty Show, what theyāre pulling there.
Thank you again.š¹
Buy now pay later is not specific to klarna. PayPal offer the same same, curryās in the UK as well, apple and google offer it for their phones (though I think they might be a bit better with KYC). As long as you understand what it means to take out a loan itās āfineā. To be clear, I think buy now pay later schemes are a disgusting band aid created so that we can keep spending more while everything gets more expensive, but donāt need to single out klarna for it.
Enjoy your phone! Could you tell me if RCS messages work on Google Messages?
Hello, thank you very much. So I looked into this and according to my research, RCS doesnāt work on /e/OS because there are no Google services running in the background. The system is intentionally deGoogled. But this isnāt personal experience, only research.
I got mine last year with the e/OS version (thatās whatās offered in the US). I have not used google messages specifically, but I have had trouble with RCS messages on the default messaging app
Thank you! I would like to buy a degoogled phone, too. But I really need RCS since many people donāt want to use Signal, Telegram, Matrix, XMPP etc. I may buy Motorola with GrapheneOS, not sure yet.
why do they copy iOS icon deisgn? it just makes it look cheap and horrible, applr has horrible taste in icon design
Well, Iām not familiar with iOS design. I only know the classic bar at the bottom of iPhones and find the usage really difficult for me. On the Fairphone, I had the choice between Android or iOS design, and I chose Android. The interface works like Android.
I donāt think the design is terrible either. Though I suppose itās a matter of taste.
well iām ādegooglingā & de-meta-ing. just an all around de-fascist-ing. & google went to the dark side awhile ago. i hope more people make the move. i just got mine yesterday and am liking it š
do you know any resources / tutorials? iāve been exploring it, but i canāt find any tutorials except for setup and replacing parts. like, i want to add āpagesā to my homescreen so i can organize apps and add some widgets. i canāt find anything for stuff like that. yet the phones in videos do that, so itās possible. so far things are going well, but iāve already almost filled my screen w/ apps & itās too busy
Itās great that youāre boycotting all of that. And I also hope more people switch from Google. I talk about it constantly.
To your question: Unfortunately, I canāt help you with that. Sorry. Iām still exploring the system myself. Maybe you could create a post in the Fairphone community.
well, there donāt appear to be too many Murena Fairphone users here on Lemmy. too bad. this is where i expected them.
Exciting! Iād like to switch to /e/OS but I donāt know if doing so would mean my banking app stops working. Do you have any experience with your own bank app on this OS?
I use Barclays and Lloyds successfully. Biometric fingerprint login doesnāt work for Barclays but does for Lloyds.
Several Swiss banking apps work without problems on my FP4 with /e/OS.
Ooh, thatās very encouraging, thank you! At least thereās hope that Triodos will work then.
Sorry, no. I dont use any banking Apps, so i have no experience.
i wish i could get a fairphone for the united states, but the general consensus seems to be that it lacks support for bands that can penetrate underground parking garages and subways in the united states ā places where i spend 85% of my time commuting.
i also also going to get a murena phone, but when the murena ceo made it clear that he believes that only criminals want privacy; i decided to go w graphene instead.
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what evidence do you have?
Iāve used mine in a subway in the US, not tried parking garages
the biggest subway in the united states doesnāt have coverage except for larger stations by themselves and the second biggest subway only gets a weak tmobile or at&t connection; so which subway gets a good signal with fairphones?
This was the DC metro. I donāt know how strong of a signal youāre looking for, but I didnāt notice any differences compared to my previous iphone
which carrier do you use?
T-Mobile. They donāt support the fairphone 6, but its worked well
that explains it. for some reason, tmobile is more flexible than the other carriers; but experience w my chinese phones teaches me not to rely on that flexibility.
Hello eldavi. So, Iāve read some criticisms about /e/OS, but I donāt think they effect me, because how I use my mobile its a little bit different.
For example : I wonāt download anything from the App Lounge. Iāll use only F-Droid and avoid Google completely. I did the same thing with my Samsung phone before. Unfortunately, itās impossible to be completely free of Google on a Google-certified deviceš . I could only disable all the services. Thatās exactly why I wanted a de-Googled systems.
GrapheneOS apparently only works on Google Pixels, which wasnāt an option for me anyway. For me, this isnāt just about privacy, itās about boycotting big tech companies who are involved in unethical practices, whenever possible. Itās difficult, I know. Youāll never be 100% secure, but Iām trying to get as close as I can.
Your first Fairphone 6? How many do you expect to need?
Just one.
With "first Fairphone" Iām trying to say: "That is my first Fairphone in my life." I never had a Fairphone before or used /e/OS. This is my first experience.
Is it possible to use the launcher on other ROMs?
Ah, sorry. I donāt have experience with that myself. Its my first Fairphone with e/OS. Maybe someone else in the community has tried this and can share their experience?
Thereās a setting where you can hold the lock button when the screen is locked and it turns on the flashlight for a set amount of time
Hey! I tried it, but my phone opened the camera instead of the flashlight. But yeah still awesome =D