Fairphone 2: Which operating system to use?

The usability of a smartphone crucially depends on the operating system. Those interested in the fairphone 2 can find all the info on the possible operating systems in our guide.

The Fairphone 2 comes with the in-house Fairphone OS, but there are alternatives.

From the large crowd of smartphones, the Fairphone 2 stands out because of its backstory. When it comes to the operating system, the manufacturer allows some freedom.

Fairphone 2: Factory or third-party operating system possible

Fairphone started with the Fairphone OS, which has gone through many updates since 2015, and compatible alternatives also exist. However, it is not a complete in-house development of Fairphone OS, because the most important mobile operating system in the world is used as a basis, namely Android.

• Consequently, the updates of Fairphone OS take place in parallel with the new Android versions.
• So the first versions of Fairphone OS from November 2015 were based on Android 5.1 Lollipop, since April 2017 on Android 6.0 Marshmallow and since 2018 on Android 7.1 Nougat.
• The latest software currently available for the Fairphone 2 is called LineageOS 16.0 and is based on Android 9.0 Pie.
• LineageOS is compatible with the Fairphone 2 and offers itself as an alternative to the Fairphone OS, but does not come from Fairphone, but from the LineageOS open-source community.
• The same applies to Sailfish OS 3.0.0.8 and Ubuntu Touch 16.04: Both systems were updated in 2018 and additionally expand the spectrum.

Fairphone owners thus have several options and are not necessarily dependent on the in-house system. This freedom fits the philosophy of Fairphone, which wants to expose its users to as few constraints as possible. For newcomers or people who do not like to deal with technology, it is still advisable to work with the shipped Fairphone OS in the beginning, since this comes from the factory and tends to cause the fewest problems.