But what makes me curious: I thought FPOS image is only included to extract firmeware related stuff. Security patch levels come from LOS. At least that was my understanding. I.e. when you look at upstream LOS releases Release LineageOS 23.2 for Fairphone Fairphone 6 (FP6) · arian-ota/ota · GitHub it says Security patch: 2026-02-01.
UPDATE 3: Lastly, the developers confirmed that there is no rollback protection if the device isn’t re-locked.
Yes thanks, somehow my cut paste skills were left wanting in this instance. Fixed
Now to patches, it is confusing (at least to me!). If you look at “System Settings > About Phone > Android Version > Details” you will see there are 2 fields:
Android security update: I think is what we would call the “OS / software update level” and comes from upstream LineageOS. It is this that can update even after a manufacturer abandons a device.
Vendor security patch level (SPL): this is what comes from the vendor / manufacturer, but it does get incorporated into / used by the OS as well (this is the confusing bit). So it is issued by Fairphone but it is incorporated into the Android base (in this case LineageOS). It is moving to an older version of this that will trigger the “rollback protection”. When it gets incorporated into upstream LineageOS and when the iodéOS build is made determines what level is included at the time. It is a “timing dance” to try to wait for it to build the next round of iodéOS, but if there is a slight delay then the monthly build may precede it getting incorporated, thus we are “a month behind”. I have requested that the iodéOS builds would include the included SPL date in the build name, but that isn’t implemented (yet?).
As an example of the above in action, my old Pixel 3a XL shows this “vendor SPL” of May 5, 2022 since that is when Google abandoned the device. But I have a “Android Security Update” of March 1, 2026 since I am running iodéOS 6.13 (created by me ) on the device.
Thank you for the detailed explanation I wasn’t aware that RBP was using vendor SPL.
Anyway, I commented out the bootloader (re)locking at the end of the script and everything worked like a charm.
Just a few notes from my side, maybe it helps others (or you can add/change your instructions if you like):
The instruction steps 3&4 just say unlock one after another. But instead after accepting unlocking (step 3) the phone rebooted to stock FPOS. I had to go through initial setup steps and had to re-enable Developer options as well as USB-debbuging.
Same thing applied after unlocking critical (step 4).
During this reboots with Device unlocked & Device critical unlocked in Developer options, the option OEM unlocking was grayed out saying something like “Device is already unlocked”.
In iodéOS the toggle for OEM unlocking is activated, and toggled on, although my device is still unlocked. But wouldn’t it make sense to greay it out like in stock FPOS when device is still unlocked?
/EDIT
One thing I missed yesterday: Point 1 of your instruction says “Follow instructions from FP”. There, the first point is “Make sure you’re running the latest available software version.” When doing this, people will most likely have a newer vendor patch level than iodéOS. So people who want to relock should probably skip this step…?
So, what would be the SPL date for iodeOS v7.4 for Fairphone6? I am expecting my device to be returned soon with /e/os flashed to it and I want to make sure not to trigger the FRP again…
I got a new FP6 and everything went smooth with the installation. While running the script, i chose not to relock the bootloader. After testing it, i did lock the bootloader through fastboot commands later on. Everything works good. I do however get the - you are booting an alternative system- warning message though. I did not have this message on my FP3 running iodeOS for years….
Anything i should do on my FP6?
Ah. i should have read the other posts in the forum first. my mistake. I was just wondering while i did not have this message with my FP3….anyways, I am happy with everything. Thanks again.
@rik since the official LineageOS 23 is now available for FP6, can we expect Fairphone specific apps to be ported to iodeOS, like the Fairphone Moments ( which is already available in F-Droid) Fairphone Camera app etc?
The Fairphone camera app won’t be integradet into upstream LOS, as Arian has explained on several occasions.
It requires system privileges to function. So as long as iode doesn’t integrate it (as with eOS), I’m afraid it won’t be supported.
@rik There is a change regarding signing and bootloader relocking between unoffical from Arian and offical builds from LOS. Maybe you can pass this to the devs. Might be helpful when they switch upstream to offical.
How about AptX HD codec? Can we expect it to be incorporated into the LOS build for Fairphone 6? My understanding is aptX HD is open source unlike AptX Adaptive or Lossless…
I wasn’t aware that RBP was using vendor SPL.