most wanted core apps to run ubuntu as daily phone OS

UKPhil

@Flohack I think my plan may have to be convert all my friends and anyone I know to Telegram, that may be easier lol. I was talking to a developer friend of my last night and he was saying that although everyone uses Whatsapp, he prefers Telegram as it has multi device support. That got me thinking that this may be a way to get more to Telegram and build up the base user numbers.

MDJ

Having Nextcloud/Owncloud account integeration is paramount for myself to use UBports as a daily driver.

Phone
SMS Messaging
Calendar (NEXTCLOUD SYNC)
Contacts (NEXTCLOUD SYNC)
Tasks (NEXTCLOUD SYNC)
Mail client (Hopefully Dekko, think it's a great app)
Web browser
Telegram (I've gradually started to convert my friends from WhatsApp)
Camera
Music App (I think the Ubuntu Touch app is one of the best looking music apps out there)
Clock
Gallery

Bastos

@MDJ Than you are done. Everything you mentioned is already working on my Fairphone 2

mike

i allredy happy ....
terminal ---» running
nano ---» running
flashing devices are running very stable (bq5 / nexus 5 )
ok i miss elinks browser but this is not mainstream ....
basic tasks a for mobile- phone (coreapps)
calling, messages,
For my execuse....i wish the standard-image is small as possible... makes it easyer by flashing and develope to new devices. :=)

Stefano

@Flohack why not add a functionality to the existing recoveries installed on our phones? Could it be done similar way as TWRP?
I do a regular backup of whole phone to my externalSD with TRRP, before I do any OS update and then I'm just a step away from restoring it the same way. After the backup flash the (ubuntu) recovery and do the update. I know it's too much hassle, but if there is a such a functionality build into the recoveries, it would be so much easier... but totally agree, backup app (GUI) is needed.

Stefano

an alternative Browser
fully working email client with notifications
Libreoffice reader, writer
Flash light integrated to the system
RSS
and then just add a functionality to some existing apps, like add blocking unwanted numbers in phone and sms apps, calls recording,
The web browser needs to be improved
countdown and timer in clock
Themes, icon packs -customisation should be improved
File manager should be improved as well

Apart from that I'm happy with it.

speedracer08861

i would like to see instagram with all functions working, and a better camera app than can focus on things written

L-00170

VLC
Flashlight

cpb

Contact database with custom fields.
Phone (loud).
Email client (pop3 and imap).
Reliable offline maps.
File manager (incl. archiving, batch rename & encryption).
Browser with adblocking & rss/atom/xml feed detection (sends the url to the feed-reader app).
Feed reader: rss, xml, atom. loads full article text where possible, option to not load images, display themes.
SMS messager.
XMPP messager.
Calendar with different views: day, week, month, year, agenda, timeline.
Clock with custom alarms, world-time and date calculator with timezone offset.
Calculator with programmer mode (calc with computer notation), unit converter.
Per-app security overrides, including (especially) internet access.
Text editor, works with any textfile regardless of extension.
Voice recorder, works when phone is locked.
Spreadsheet, with graphing, conditional formatting and xls compatibility.
Word-processor with pdf/doc/(clean)html export. Can easily place/resize embedded items. Can reference (rather than duplicate) content from other files, eg: spreadsheet.
Pdf editor (Xournal is probably good-enough).
Shell with all the usual goodies.
Python3 - roll your own solutions if all-else fails.
Image editor (Mypaint?).
Video editor: trim, crop, straighten, levels, watermark, text overlay.
Camera software with persistent settings/custom-presets for iso, shutter, flash, focus-mode, exposure, etc..
Picture gallery with basic editing (crop, resize, straighten, levels, temperature).

for the OS in general:
Inter-operability between contacts, phone, email calendar and maps (eg: save map-location to contact, load contact address in maps).
Copy/paste any visible text in core apps (including labels).
True Multitasking - need to be able to do other things while waiting for a slow operation.
Strict system theme (applied uniformly), can change color of every non-raster UI element, can use variables in the config files if no UI.
Dark theme (given the above).

advocatux

Hey don't forget Authenticator.

About Android apps, I don't want them. It's OK to me if someone wants to develop and app like Anbox but it shouldn't be a core app.

rom4nb

Basically, I'd support the lists posted by MarkDJ and by many other users here in the thread.
But I would like to emphasize some additionals remarks:

Carddav Sync should be integrated graphically (same as it was finally possible to graphically add Owncloud-Account/Calendar)
Contacts app should show birthdays of contacts (they are stored in the contacts but not shown)
If possible, the e-mail app should directly use the emails stored in the contacts (I dunno if this is possible with all the app confinement taking place in UT)
Phone app should contain the possiblity of SIP at some point. The missing IP phone feature is one of the most missing features of a modern daily-driver smartphone at the moment. (via terminal I already got linphone running using apt (and crashing my system with the next OTA), via Libertine I got Qutecom installed but was not able to configure it with my SIP account, Linphone in libertine crashes ...)

Off-topic part:
Regarding transporting app: I agree that it should not be a core app similar like gas station app etc. But it is an important application for a phone. Fahrplan is a great app but has some limitations and unfortunately is not developed anymore. The by far best open source transport app, I've seen so far on F-droid:
https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=transportr&fdid=de.grobox.liberario
Different transport networks selectabl, real-time information about delays, map, walking included into navigation ...
Would be nice if something like this would be ever seen on UT. But as discussed before: I don't see it as an core app but already as a specific user case app. Sorry for this off-topic part of my post.

Leppa

I agree with @cbp.
But I'd also like a "lite" option; without all the features, but without using so much space either.

mpnegro

Hi
I need this app OpenVpn editor APP
http://news.softpedia.com/news/ubuntu-touch-openvpn-support-gets-a-prototype-ui-here-s-how-to-install-it-498543.shtml

cheniek

@flohack we can't/want have whatsapp because it is a proprietary app, we can't have Telegram and Signal (open source as far as I know) apps because they change/add the features all the time and Ubports team have no man-power resources to update them (am I right?). On the other hand I think we need to have this kind of app in UT, what is an alternative then? I visit this forum just from time to time, maybe I've missed something, is there available any app to make internet voice calls possible (as with Telegram/Signal)? I remember that I once got a reply from You in January and You mentioned Linphone as possible to be available on UT. It would be great but as far as I know there is no any update reg. the work progress of this matter. There is one link to the Telegram group but I do not use Telegram anymore as probably many of other UT users. Sorry if I'm wrong.

advocatux

@cheniek another interesting messaging app is uMatriks.

There are some webapps for video chats too, like Hublin, Appear In, or Vidme. You can find them in the OpenStore.

Stefano

@cheniek There will be Anbox for Android apps. It's being developed as we speak. There is a beta version for some devices available, but that's just the begging. Patience, my friend.

flohack

@cheniek So to summarize this quickly, sind those things are unchanged for some time:

Yes, WhatsApp will probably never come to UT, unless they write it themselves. Anbox might help there, but we dont know if WhatsApp will run flawlessly in Anbox.
With Signal we are still in discussion in which way we could have a kind of cooperation, after that is finished we might have some options here.
Telegram: We are making a completly new App that will more closely follow the official ones. Here are the biggest possibilities since its now based on their official open sourced lib - tdlib.
Linphone: Is being worked on, but we do not have massive resources here. Any help is welcome.
Matriks: The same, but we are doing progress here. Expect some updates and then at least push notifications will be coming here.

But keep in mind, currently telephony makes little sense, since Apps dont execute in the background due to the design of the OS. Some Apps might get exceptions for the lifecycle, but it creates some potential issues if too many Apps run with that.

I dont think that many UT users do not use Telegram anymore, since its still the best working messenger we got.

BR Florian

A Former User

I have to say it: a core app for me is a simple note-taking app. I personally really like the functionality of get-notes on my desktop:
It keeps all notes on the computer, but can sync to a cloud
It has a kick-ass search function
The notes are saved automatically.

I would absolutely LOVE to see a mobile version of it on UT.

advocatux

@3arn0wl have you tried turtl-ut (https://open-store.io/app/turtl-ut.cibersheep)?

A Former User

I have, @advocatux - it's just not the same. Thanks though.