Ubuntu Touch Q&A 176 call for questions.

Vlad Nirky

@UBportsNews
First of all, a huge thank you to those who contribute to the development of UT, its community, and the porting of new devices. You are exceptional!
Would it be possible, as Felix and Sander started to do, to create sessions, webinars, or videos to explain application development under UT?
How to get started and also progress in application or UT development, how to deal with the changes linked to Noble release, with the futur use of QT6, and so one.
Thanks for reading.
Vlad

messayisto

@UBportsNews I get the impression that some new people have joined the community recently, mostly as a result of Android's stricter bootloader rules.
Have you noticed this, and how are you dealing with it? Are there new and more developers in the project?

domubpkm

What the situation for mir2.x subsurface support on Noble ?

t12392n

I am to be a user soon as I got myself a Volla Quintus but have yet to make the switch. Looking forward to see where this is going as this is AWESOME.
I have been experimenting with the phone and its setup to prepare myself and the environment I require.

I hope nope but I haven't seen any answers to my questions somewhere, otherwise my questions are as follows:

How are things going with the project, how does it feel?
I am rooting for you in the limited way I can atm! You have no idea of how many are looking for an alternative for the droid and fruit.
What are plans for applications and their adaptation?
at the moment we have an appstore which is not connected to the others, snap or apt, and so far unique to Ubuntu Touch but this slows the community developments of apps.
(I know you can activate APT/SNAP or use Libretine however it requires some knowledge and creates some risks of a bad user experience)
What are the plans for security and privacy control?
Will there be a way to control access for apps or internal services through the main UI?

captainfunk

Hi everyone ,

Thanks for the Q&A and all the work for UT !

I have a few questions :

If we stay on Focal will we still get some updates on regular core and non-core apps ?
Is there an upgrade on the kernel when we go from Focal to Noble ? And if so which kernel is shipped on Noble ?
From Noble, is that hard/complex to revert back to Focal ? where can we find a "guide" ?
Is possible or would it be possible and hard to run android apps integrated in UT without launching the full waydroid system with heavy graphical interface ?

I believe Linux mobile has a bright future considering Google is making a lot of moves toward more lockdown on Android and therefore creating problems for customs FOSS android ROM / AOSP forks. Peace

uxes

I saw that the FSF is working on this Librephone project. Do you think it could help Ubuntu Touch in any way? Maybe UBports should team up with them?

Charly

Hello community,

First of all, many thanks to everyone who made UT 24.04-1.0 possible.

It is clear that there are still some errors at the beginning.

Will there be a version 24.04-1.1 soon?

Or is the normal ota rhythm followed (every 2 months)?

Best regards
Charly

Equareo

Several apps in the open-store didn't work after upgrading to noble, like amazfish and ambot (works with latest update). This felt like a subpar experience compared to the xenial-> focal update where the apps in the store had a seperate focal branch and were expected to work. Why was it done differently this time?

grenudi

Critical Questions About UBports Development Direction

Question 1: Why Continue Lomiri Instead of Adopting Existing Mobile DEs?

Why continue developing inherited Lomiri on Mir (which has pivoted to IoT/embedded) instead of adopting KDE Plasma Mobile or Phosh and contributing mobile-specific customizations upstream to benefit the entire Linux mobile ecosystem?

KDE has maintained Plasma desktop for 25+ years, created the Qt/Kirigami framework that scales perfectly between mobile and desktop, and continues massive improvements through 2024-2025 (they're basically saints of the FOSS community at this point). Wouldn't contributing to their mobile effort multiply your impact rather than maintaining a legacy Unity8 fork alone?

Question 2: Why Maintain Core Apps Instead of Using Existing FOSS Software?

Debian doesn't develop calculators, browsers, or music players - why does UBports? Given the maintenance burden (you're actively seeking maintainers for core apps), wouldn't it be more sustainable to adopt existing FOSS applications (GNOME Calculator, Firefox, VLC, etc.) and focus development efforts on OS-level integration and hardware enablement?

Mike Gabriel is now packaging Ubuntu Touch core apps FOR DEBIAN - doesn't this prove you could just USE Debian apps instead of maintaining your own?

Question 3: Why Create a Walled Garden That's Neither Android Nor Proper Linux?

The current architecture creates a walled garden: Android apps only work in Waydroid containers, Linux apps only in Libertine containers, and native Click apps are isolated. Meanwhile, standard apt packages can't be installed normally.

Look, I have no problem with containers as wrappers/isolators where the app is unaware it's in a container and just works. But your approach makes it impossible to run existing GUI apps that aren't factored into your containers - no display output, no sound, nothing! Apps need to be specifically adapted or they simply don't function.

Wouldn't adopting standard Linux infrastructure (Wayland + standard package management) allow both better Android integration AND native Linux app support, making Ubuntu Touch a true Linux phone rather than a third platform that's neither Android nor proper Linux?

Question 4: Why Not Focus on Universal Infrastructure Like Halium?

With Halium providing excellent hardware enablement that even Droidian uses, why not focus UBports' limited resources on perfecting the adaptation layer between Halium and standard Linux distributions (making your hardware work universally available), rather than maintaining a complete separate mobile stack?

When you contribute to Halium, everyone benefits. When you develop a custom browser, even you suffer from the maintenance burden while creating unnecessary competition with established browsers.

Question 5: Why Ignore 15+ Years of Mobile UX Evolution?

Ubuntu Touch appears to ignore 15+ years of Android UX evolution and established design standards like Material Design, which billions of users understand intuitively. Instead, it starts from scratch with Lomiri's outdated Unity8 paradigms from 2013-2016.

Android spent over a decade perfecting their UI year by year through user testing with billions of people. This isn't just aesthetics - it's psychology. People got used to these patterns. The whole world did.

Without being dramatically better than industry standards (and let's be honest - it's not), isn't this approach destined to remain a niche product? You have to make something twice as good or comply with standards. Otherwise you end up like Linux desktop was for decades - a niche geek thing that only recently started climbing out.

Why not adopt modern, proven UI patterns or at least offer Material Design theming to reduce friction for new users?

Question 6: Why Custom Containers When Wayland is the Proven Standard?

Wayland is now the proven, stable industry standard display server used by default in major distributions like Fedora and Ubuntu. It's secure, performs well, and standard Linux apps work natively with it.

Why maintain custom container systems (Libertine for Linux apps, Waydroid for Android) instead of using standard Wayland and focusing development on phone-specific adaptations like touchscreen support, high-DPI scaling, rotation, and battery management?

It should be vanilla Linux that just factors in that you use a touchscreen instead of mouse and keyboard, that your screen is small but high-DPI, screen rotation and such. Not making YET ANOTHER custom GUI forcing EVERY OTHER software maintainer to develop specifically for your GUI!

Question 7: Why Add Yet Another Package Manager to Linux's Existing Hell?

Linux already suffers from package manager fragmentation (apt, dnf, pacman, snap, flatpak) which discourages professional software development. For developers, packaging into ALL existing package managers is pure hell already - this is why Linux development sucks for devs and there's so little professional software on Linux.

Click packages add yet another format that developers must support. Even Mozilla, a major FOSS advocate, declined to maintain packages for Ubuntu Touch's system.

Wouldn't adoption of standard package management (allowing normal apt install) lower barriers for developers and increase app availability? How can Ubuntu Touch attract professional software when it adds to an already problematic fragmentation issue?

Question 8: Custom Browser - Really? How Many Years Until You Have Extensions?

Developing a custom browser (Morph) creates a maintenance burden and unnecessary competition with established browsers like Firefox/Chromium.

Even if you succeed, even if this browser works perfectly and you have resources to maintain it - how many YEARS do you think it will take the community to develop even HALF the extensions that Firefox/Chrome have? And extension developers would need to maintain Firefox extensions, Chrome extensions, Opera extensions, AND your custom browser extensions? REALLY?!

Meanwhile, Halium development benefited everyone (Droidian, postmarketOS, etc.) because it's universal hardware enablement. Why not focus limited resources on infrastructure that benefits the entire Linux mobile ecosystem rather than duplicating existing software that already works elsewhere?

Question 9: If You Want a Walled Garden, Why Not Just Use LineageOS?

If you want a walled garden but FOSS - use LineageOS. Yes, there are vendor blobs, but Ubuntu Touch doesn't free us from them! It uses the same blobs in Halium.

LineageOS at least gives you the entire Android app ecosystem. Ubuntu Touch gives you neither Android NOR proper Linux - just isolation and containers everywhere.

What's the point? What problem are you actually solving that LineageOS OR a proper Linux mobile DE (like KDE Plasma Mobile/Phosh on standard Wayland) doesn't solve better?

Moem

@grenudi You're asking nine questions... don't be surprised if only one or two get answered! It would not be fair to have one user dominate the entire Q&A after all.

Then again, all your questions seem to come down to the same underlying question: why doesn't UT do things the way everyone else does things?

I can think of a great answer: because others are already doing that. To be honest, I don't find your line of questioning very constructive. Are you here to help, or to hinder?

Also, this thread is for the previous Q&A session.