Updating a rooted Fairphone 4 (February 2022)

A couple of months ago I rooted my Fairphone successfully but now the OTA doesn’t work. Which isn’t a big surprise as the signature is modified by installing Magisk. Fortunately, there is an easy method to fix this. Unfortunately, you will root your device again, but this time I was able to do it without any data loss (yeah! 🥳)

Update 24/04/2022: Works for update FF3T.A.0107
Update 01/06/2022: Successfully updated from A.107 to A.128

I assume you already have successfully rooted to phone, so I’m not going to explain how to enable developer options and that sort of thing. But basically, we will:

  • Unroot (Remove Magisk)
  • Install OTA + Reboot
  • Root the device again with the same method I used before

Ow, and just like last time:

⚠⚠⚠ WARNING  ⚠⚠⚠

This guide is provided as is and comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; during the process the phone will be wiped and you will lose data. There is also a reasonable chance the phone gets bricked. Perform these steps is at your own risk and the writer, the community or Fairphone are not liable for any damages caused by following this procedure. Continue on your own risk.

Unroot (Remove Magisk)

  • Simply open Magisk and click on Uninstall Magisk
  • Click on RESTORE IMAGES

Install OTA

Once you have unrooted your phone, you should be able to perform the OTA update. Important: after this step you need to reboot your system. If you root the system again using the method “Install to Inactive Slot (After OTA)” in Magisk, you end up without wifi after the reboot.

Root the device again

For this I refer to my previous post: Fairphone 4 – Root -December 2021 – Stijn D’haese (stijn-dhaese.be)

  1. Download the latest Image
  2. Patch
  3. Boot using the patched image
  4. Root using Magisk
  5. Profit

Quick fix (if you messed up)

As mentioned before. I don’t provide any active support and everything is at your own risk. But if you would brick your system, the easiest fix is to change the active partition and hope that one still works. To do this:

  • Connect your phone using a USB-cable
  • Reboot your phone in Fastboot Mode by pushing the volume down button when the phone starts
  • Get the current active partition by entering the following command in a command prompt: fastboot.exe getvar all
  • Change the active partition to a or b using the command: fastboot.exe --set-active=b

And yes, the fact that I can provide a screenshot does mean I bricked it and needed to apply this fix. 😐

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