Need feedback about Anbox apps as a daily practice
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Hello, I was using and monitoring Ubuntu Touch from time to time (Nexus 5, Nexus 7, Meizu Pro5), and I have seen that Anbox is installed by default since OTA 16.
For me, this is a game changer. My phone is having issues I don't know if it is hardware or software and it is possible that I buy a Nexus 5 (for the price and because I like it a lot) and I install UBports in it.
Before that, I want people to feedback about their experience with Anbox:
- what works well / not well?
- Do the notifications work and if so, how do they fit in the Ubuntu Touch interface?
- Is the battery drain problem still present?
- Last but a bit off-topic : is Nexus 5 capable to play videos (I know that hardware acceleration isn't enabled so I just would like to now if there is stuttering at 720p for instance)
Thank you so much for your kind reply !
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@prog-amateur This is probably the quickest way to explain the current state of Anbox https://forums.ubports.com/topic/5907/open-ubuntu-touch-to-all-android-applications/19 other than it is very hit and miss.
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- I don't know, I don't use it. I'll let others answer this
- I don't think it works. I doubt android apps can connect to the UT notification system
- I think it is. But I'm not certain of it
- It plays videos but it is hard to view 720p with UPlayer or other CPU decoding players...
Streaming works fine in my experience.
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Hello, I appreciate your feedback !
I see on a youtube video that the apps are not smooth, but I need anbox only for a couple of apps, not so much and especially light apps (for instance, 5MB) so I hope it would do the job.
I hope there will be some updates on the above thread you have shared. Anybody who wants to share her/his experience with Anbox can do it here. Thank you very much !
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@prog-amateur Indeed Anbox is in a very early development stage.
As you could see above, a campaign has been launched to try to make it a little better in the medium-term.As by now, only a few apps are decently working in Anbox, including Whatsapp.
In my own experience, most of them do crash a few seconds after launch, including Aliexpress, Wish, Project MakeOver, and a lot of others.
Apps that need to be "signed" by the Google plays services won't work neither.
Apps within Anbox are not able to communicate with the hardware device (no microphone, nor localization, camera, etc...)
As Yalpstore seems to not work anymore recently, only F-Droid (AFAIK) is able to run as a download / update manager on the device. Note that all F-Droid apps are quite open-source.
Aurora Store, Google Play Store, and other kind of stores are currently not able to be installed / or not working (best is to manually install your .apk through the terminal, and repeat the operation when a new version is released)
Installing Anbox will install as default a few Android apps, such as another camera app, files, gallery, emails client, contacts, clock, Android settings, etc... But most of them just won't work (you can disable them if you wish in Android settings)
You may frequently get duplicates Android apps on your springboard, just refresh the screen by pulling it down and release it to erase the duplicated icons.
Anbox is also known to quite drain the battery down, so ensure to close all Android apps when not using them anymore.
To conclude, I would say that Anbox is almost not daily usable now. (But the best is to make your own experience, as there is no listing of functional applications in Anbox).
But above all, Anbox does not intend to make the Android ecosystem a priority over Ubuntu Touch. We will always favour the use of open source applications from the Open-Store, or even webapps that we can easily create ourselves.
The developers of the UBports community who make a great job need our support too
Hope this feedback will help you
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I think the best is to have a device that allow dual boot between uTouch and, when really needed (bank apps for instance), android.
I know they are quite 0 devices in this case, but that comes... and it's called "Android Boot Manager" : https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/dualboot-android-boot-manager.4195929/Or Astro Slide 5G ^^
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Thanks, you point out a lot of useful information and tips for me.
I agree that when we leave Android for Ubuntu Touch, we make the choice to escape also the tracking from applications, from the OS and the Play Store. Unfortunately, the Open Store doesn't always offer the applications you're looking for (I'm speaking for myself), and the majority of the applications are webapps. There is for example Axolotl which allows you to chat on Signal, but it lacks some critical features like push notifications, or E2E calls (and video?). Where the Signal apk from Aurora Store allows to have all this "missing features", it's this kind of small details that count a lot.
Sometimes, it's also a totally personal taste choice: I like for example the UI of some RSS applications (e.g. Feeder, Nextcloud News, etc.) on F-Droid, more ergonomic and modern compared to some available on the Open store (I hope that developers do not take it wrong, it's a personal taste, not a troll). These often light
.apkcan bring the small lack I felt when I was using Ubuntu Touch a few years ago.Regarding the bank apps, I think the safest thing is to make webapps by myself. Personally, I think that there might be more trackers on an application from the bank itself than on a self-made webapp + integrated privacy settings.
Meanwhile, I found 3 "old" videos that I'd like to share (see the playlist here) : they show some application openings under Anbox in the Nexus 5: it's finally much more responsive than I thought!
It's a good point for the funding, knowing that we can hope for even better by fixing some bugs and making it more stable and less energy consuming is very encouraging.
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@prog-amateur said in Need feedback about Anbox apps as a daily practice:
Regarding the bank apps, I think the safest thing is to make webapps by myself. Personally, I think that there might be more trackers on an application from the bank itself than on a self-made webapp + integrated privacy settings.
Problem is not consulting bank account, that, you can do it with morph.
But with lot of banks, now, you can't pay online without validating transaction on your smartphone, only with the official app, only available on android and ios...
That's the case of my bank since last month.Before, online paiment just had to be confirmed by sms code, now, i must confirm with their bank app (that NEEDS google services to work), so i can't pay online anymore.
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@keneda Not all banks force to use Android or Ios app to pay online : my bank has introduced a new payment authentication system : a bank link received by sms that forces me to connect to the bank site to validate the transaction. It's a smart solution and i can do it all under morph-browser.
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@domubpkm said in Need feedback about Anbox apps as a daily practice:
Not all banks
"a lot of" is not "all"
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@keneda Of course. It was just to show that some banks can find imaginative solutions.
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@prog-amateur the Signal App for Android is not running at all in Anbox. It always crashes when I try to register.
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I tried Anbox on my OPO some days ago. I was surprised having a couple of standard apps on my phone I do not need - as already posted above. If you do not want/need these apps you cannot delete them, you can only deactivate them, but not all, like on the most Android phones. This reminded me why I left Android for UT. Another drawback is the installation procedure. You can't install apps with the store, e.g. F-Droid.
Ok, nice experience, but not my cup of tea. I then tried to delete Anbox again. This is not easy. In the end I flashed my phone completely new with the UB-ports installer.
IMO you can't have everything. I you want everything you need more than one phone. -
@Keneda @domubpkm : Hello, yesterday, I made some online shopping and I was surprised by the same situation as yours (no more code through SMS), I had to :
- use the URL from the SMS (for me signing from an SMS URL is convenient but dangerous),
- or download the app (but tracking),
- or to just login manually to the bank website from a standard web browser (which lead you to the code webpage).
You can easily imagine that I have login from the web browser because to my opinion, it is the safest way, but I understand that it could be not as convenient as an app for some people.
@TobsEnd : hello, did you tried Signal alternatives such as Molly or Langis (they have a 3rd party repo on F-Droid, I don't know what are the consequences about it) ?
@odo : thank you for sharing a bad experience (and I hope you feel better now with everything solved). Such things happen and it is good to share to improve Anbox integration on UT devices.
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@prog-amateur
I must say that since my bank changed its online paiment policy, i didn't had to buy anything online, so you give me the hope that they have the same workaround as your bank, with browser. -
@prog-amateur said in Need feedback about Anbox apps as a daily practice:
TobsEnd : hello, did you tried Signal alternatives such as Molly or Langis (they have a 3rd party repo on F-Droid, I don't know what are the consequences about it) ?
Molly and Langis crash at the same point of registration process as Signal.
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@tobsend too bad... thank you very much for trying !
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There is on going call for Anbox improvement if you want to participate:
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@lduboeuf Yes I saw it in the thread shared by @Lakotaubp. Thank you very much for sharing it !
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Don't know if this is much help (I'm using a Sony Xperia X), but I needed Anbox for two reasons (and it worked even thogh the Xperia is not listed as one of the supported devices):
First, I can't seem to go without WhatsApp, since most people and a few essential groups aren't willing to switch to other messengers. It's not as stable as I wish and typing takes some patience. Since Anbox installs a few standard apps I could use the settings app to change the language/keyboard in WhatsApp which makes it much more comfortable. Most of the time I get notifications about new messages in a seperate window, even when not running the app, but not in the notifications bar (like for example Teleports messages). But it's not reliable. I need to check from time to time.
Second I really don't want to miss Spotify which I also installed using the apk-file. It runs perfectly and reliably and I'm happy!
I can't really tell whether it's using much more battery power, since I installed Anbox right at the beginning.
