Fairphone 6 with /e/OS 4.0 - Results, results, results

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Fairphone 6 with /e/OS 4.0 - Results, results, results

Updated: July 22, 2026

In the big and vast smartphone world, practically, you only have two operating system choices.<br>Android and iOS. Well, three. Android, iOS ... and everything else bunched as one tiny niche. This is<br>not unlike the desktop world, dominated by Windows and macOS, with Linux and friends at a distant third<br>place. Sure, you can use the alternatives, but you need to be prepared for all sorts of problems, from<br>availability to compatibility. Therefore, if one wants to attempt something similar in the mobile<br>space, what sort of success should they expect?

My recent endeavors on the<br>Fairphone + Android and the<br>Pixel added to my general distrust and aversion toward the<br>smartphone stuff. So much in fact, that I decided to give the tiny niche its chance. The options are<br>many. GrapheneOS, LineageOS, /e/OS, and then some. Most of these require manual effort by the end user,<br>and often, you need a very specific device. If you don't have one, it's a rather tailored purchase, for<br>results with an unknown happiness factor. But I did find a rather nice candidate. Fairphone. It ships<br>with /e/OS as a factory option, and I already happen to have a Fairphone. Lo and behold! I already<br>did this test, what! I immersed myself into the<br>avantgarde world of mobile software. The results were, well, let's say curious. Now, we must continue<br>this adventure. After me!

Upgrade available

Read this in the iconic Command & Conquer (Red Alert) voice, if you will. Shortly after I wrote<br>the last piece, my phone told me there was a major system version available. I also did a bunch of<br>application updates, without any issues.

I'm not 100% sure what all those icons mean, especially the cloud one.

The entire procedure, download, installation, optimization and such took about 10 minutes, maybe a<br>bit longer. Then, I rebooted my phone, and it launched into its new and upgraded environment. No fancy<br>announcements, no tour, and no change to my security baseline. I didn't need to toggle/untoggle<br>anything. The weather widget now also works correctly, even with the location services disabled.<br>Good!

What else is new?

Well, the overall system speed feels unchanged. The boot sequence is a tad longer. The Browser still<br>has the old Fairphone 4 build string. Then, I also decided to create a Murena Workspace account, to see<br>how this fits into the overall scheme of things. Now, there will be an entire, separate article on<br>this. For now, some quick impressions.

TL;DR: Yes, you can have an entire suite of programs other than stock Google stuff available, but<br>then, you've never really been limited in this regard. You can already use the likes of Microsoft<br>Office, OnlyOffice, Proton apps, and then some. Murena's toolbox is another alternative, with a<br>distinct EU flavor to it. After all, it kind of makes sense, considering all the different elements in<br>the equation: Murena, /e/OS, Fairphone. Definitely interesting, but with some big bugs. There's your<br>teaser.

You get some new wallpapers, but it seems the thumbnail preview for the new set does not match what<br>you actually get on your screen. As in, the little rectangle of colors seems to be from the previous<br>bundle, or something.

Ah, I spoke prematurely regarding BlissWeather. Yes, it does work with the Location services<br>disabled, but the app still needs the Location enabled at all times as a permission. Without it, the<br>widget will be empty. So in a way, this is much like the weather problem on the Pixel. Silly. Utterly<br>silly. And counter-privacy, if you think about it.

Another super-super annoying thing - the phone disables the Do Not Disturb mode on reboot. As in, if<br>I set it, and then restart the device, it will be disabled. This is so modern software, so<br>smartphone-like. We can't have people not receiving their notifications, being all hyper and all that.<br>Worse, I set the option for DND to be turned off only manually, until I decide. Apparently, the reboot<br>does not count. Apparently, I must be "connected" to the modern experience. Not sure if this is Android<br>or /e/OS, it's silly, either way.

Conclusion

I am rather pleased with the /e/OS 4.0 update, even though it pains me to write the operating system<br>name every single time. I know the reasons for the change, but still. Anyway, the major version brings<br>in mostly improvements, be they functional or visual. Furthermore, I didn't have the usual Android<br>stress of checking every single option, to make sure nothing was toggled or untoggled without my<br>consent. And then, at the same time, there are some rather annoying details throughout, which reek<br>"modern" but not better all over the place. Like the DND double toggle (previously, one), and on-reboot<br>mi-scusi forgotten nonsense. That's your software in 2026....