- No. OrangeFox (or any other recovery) cannot encrypt anything. Encryption is done by your ROM.
- So, if you ever see anybody claiming that OrangeFox encrypted their phone, please tell them that this is absolutely impossible - because only a ROM can encrypt a phone.
- Good! This is a very good security measure, and you
should keep your phone encrypted.
- Note that, on some devices, MIUI can be
very unhappy with unencrypted devices. You have been warned!
- If for some reason you don't want your phone encrypted, then, before flashing the ROM, format your data partition (to get the phone decrypted), reboot OrangeFox immediately, go to the "OTA & ROM" settings, tick the "Disable Forced-Encryption" box, and then flash the ROM. In most cases, this should prevent the ROM from encrypting your device when it boots up for the first time. This feature is not available for some devices.
- On some devices (eg
Lavender), the "Disable Forced-Encryption" box is unticked automatically every time you boot OrangeFox. This is a deliberate development decision, which requires you to tick it manually every time you enter OrangeFox. If the developer has made this decision for your device, then you should understand that it is considered a very bad idea to tick that box at all - because some things will not work properly or at all (eg, security settings in the ROM) if the device is not encrypted.
- On native Android 10+ devices (ie, devices that shipped with Android 10 or higher), that are running MIUI, you must not try this approach. It will probably end in a bootloop.
- If you do anything to make your device remain unencrypted, then know that
you are on your own. Do not come and ask any questions about whatever you experience.
¶ I am using OrangeFox, and now when I set a password or PIN in my ROM, they are rejected as being wrong
- You will get this behaviour if you are using Lavender, and your device is not encrypted. This is the result of bugs in Lavender, which means that, if the device is not encrypted, then passwords/PIN/fingerprint will not work. The only solution at the moment is to encrypt your device.
- This is not an OrangeFox issue (so, please do not ask OrangeFox developers any questions about it).
- It is also not a ROM issue. It is a Xiaomi bug in Lavender.
¶ I am using OrangeFox, and now my fingerprint is not working/I can't find fingerprint settings
Same answer as above.
¶ I am using OrangeFox, and I am being asked for a password (or PIN). But I have not set a password (or PIN)
- If your device has FBE encryption and you have set up a password/PIN in the ROM (or if it has FDE encryption, and you enabled Secure Startup in the ROM) then you will be asked for a password (or PIN, or whatever) - just supply the ROM's lockscreen password/PIN.
- If you did none of the above, then this is usually a sign of broken encryption (you may have flashed a ROM which has different encryption protocols from the ROM that you had before, or you may have flashed a firmware zip which uses an incompatible keymaster module - or whatever other reason).
- If this is the case, then you will need to format your data partition (which will also wipe all the contents of your internal storage). If you have no backups, then that would be most unfortunate.
- If you experience a situation where you have set a pattern/PIN, but the recovery asks for a password (or vice versa, etc), then you must ask your ROM devs to fix their ROM by applying this patch.
- This is not a recovery issue, so please do not ask us to "fix" it.
- Alternatively, you can always open a terminal in the recovery (or via
adb shell) and run this command - twrp decrypt password.
¶ On Android 12 (or whatever) my file names are all gibberish
- Android 10 and Android 11 decryption are supported for most ROMs.
- Android 12 and Android 13 decryption are work-in-progress. Support has been added for some devices, and some may be added for other devices in the future.
- Any Android 12/13 support should be considered to be work-in-progress. Adjust your expectations accordingly.
- Some devices will
never get any Android 12/13 decryption support. If your device is one of them, then that is tough luck.
- To know whether your device has any Android 12/13 decryption support, check on the OrangeFox download site.
- Do
not ask whether or when a device will get Android 12/13 support. If you ask, you will only receive a warning.
- Android 12/13 decryption issues are not an OrangeFox problem, so do not ask us to "fix" the problem.
- This sometimes happens. If it does happen, then wipe the data partition, then reboot OrangeFox immediately, and then try formatting data again.
- If this doesn't solve the problem, then try the following steps:
- Connect your device to your PC via usb cable;
- Reboot to bootloader;
- Run the command:
fastboot -w
- Reboot to OrangeFox Recovery immediately;
- Format data again.
Encryption issues may be caused by several factors. Many encryption problems can only be solved by formatting (not just wiping) the data partition.
Here is an inexhaustive list of possible causes;
- You replaced a ROM with a different ROM (or a different version of the same ROM) that uses a different encryption protocol (solution = format your data partition)
- You flashed a firmware zip, either directly, or via flashing a MIUI ROM, and the firmware version is incompatible with your device's current encryption (solution = format your data partition and/or flash a firmware zip that is compatible with your encryption)
- Your ROM's encryption protocol is unsupported (solution = format your data partition, and keep your device unencrypted)
- You flashed or booted an Android 12 recovery on an Android version that is lower than Android 12 (solution = format your data partition; sometimes you might also need to flash your ROM again)
- You restored backed up data, and something went wrong with the restoration (solution = format your data partition; sometimes you might also need to flash your ROM again)
- Any number of other possible causes (solution = format your data partition; sometimes you might also need to flash your ROM again)
¶ I have an OrangeFox "A12" release that is supposed to support Android 12/13, but decryption fails
- First of all, make sure that you actually have the correct OrangeFox release for your ROM (eg, if you have flashed a ROM with FBE v2 encryption, and you are using an OrangeFox release for FBE v1 (or vice versa)), then you need to change to the correct version.
- If you are sure that you have the correct OrangeFox release for your current ROM, and you formatted the data partition after flashing the ROM, then try the following steps:
- Reboot to Android;
- Remove your lockscreen PIN/password protection;
- Reboot Android;
- Create the lockscreen protection again;
- Reboot to OrangeFox.
- If none of these solves the problem, then you need to report in the relevant OrangeFox Telegram group, and make sure that you post both the recovery log and the logcat log.
¶ Android 12/13, Custom Recoveries, and AOSP ROM Recoveries (eg, Arrow, Lineage, PE)
There are many myths about what AOSP ROM recoveries can do on Android 12/13 (and even Android 11), which it is erroneously alleged that Custom recoveries, such as OrangeFox cannot do.
Here, we try to set the records straight by providing a list of facts, rather than myths.
These are the facts:
- Some custom recoveries cannot decrypt an Android 12 ROM's data partition. In such a case, you do not, and will not, have access to the internal storage.
- AOSP ROM recoveries may be able to decrypt a part of an Android 12 ROM's data partition - but only for the purpose of running OTA updates, and so you also do not, and will not, have access to the internal storage.
- On encrypted Android 12, if the recovery is not an Android 12 recovery, the internal storage is normally not available in recovery mode.
- However, many custom Android 12 recoveries can now fully decrypt Android 12 ROMs, and so do not have this problem.
- AOSP ROM recoveries cannot access the internal storage at all. So, there is no advantage to using an AOSP ROM recovery in preference to a custom recovery.
- Custom Android 12 recoveries can flash most (if not all) zip installers (including Magisk installation zips).
- AOSP recoveries can only flash some zip installers (via "adb sideload"). But there are many zips that they simply cannot flash correctly, or at all.
- Custom Android 12 recoveries can flash downloaded Android 12 OTA updates in several ways, including via "adb sideload".
- AOSP ROM recoveries can flash downloaded Android 12 OTA updates via "adb sideload" - and normally also via the ROM's updater app.
- There are many things that can be done in recovery mode that do not require access to decrypted data. Decrypted data is only needed to provide access to the internal storage and/or to backup the data partition.
- On encrypted Android 12 ROMs, there is nothing that AOSP ROM recoveries can do that Custom Android 12 recoveries cannot do.
- Even when the ROM is not encrypted, there is still nothing at all that AOSP ROM recoveries can do that custom recoveries cannot do.
- There are very many things that custom recoveries can do, but AOSP ROM recoveries cannot do (eg, file management, full adb shell access, terminal, copying logs, backup/restore, mount/unmount several partitions, general partition management, including wiping partitions, changing or repairing file systems, etc)
- Using an AOSP ROM recovery for a custom ROM is similar to using the stock recovery (eg, MIUI recovery) on a stock ROM (ie, you get very limited and tightly restricted functionality). This is acceptable for some users, but power users would find it too limiting.
- If all that you will ever want to do is to flash a ROM and update it via OTA with the ROM's updater app, then an AOSP ROM recovery is suitable.
- If you want more options than this limited and very basic level of functionality, then an AOSP ROM recovery will not be suitable at all.