Smooth Edges (name pending) - Let's Fix the Bugs That Drive You Mad

[uxes]

@mariogrip

For the following reasons, I migrated from Ubuntu Touch (Redmi Note 9 Pro, miatoll) to an iPhone about a month ago

The following list summarizes the most critical issues that prevented me from using Ubuntu Touch (UT) as a reliable daily driver and led to my decision to migrate. These points are sorted according to the priorities defined by the Smooth Edges project.

Bug List and Feedback for the Smooth Edges Project

Priority 1: Core System Stuff (Critical Bugs, Unusability)

• Random Lomiri crashes.
• Battery drainage – Is there a missing application sleep implementation (App States)? We need better implementation of different application states (running in background, running in foreground, suspended) for effective power management.
• Non-functional/Unfriendly OpenVPN: Prevents access to the corporate network. Setting up via the terminal is overly complicated, user-unfriendly, and ultimately unsuccessful.

Priority 2: Basic Phone Features (Core Functionality)

• Car Connectivity/Bluetooth (BT) Reliability:
  • Issues connecting the phone to the car (BT audio playback problems, car refuses to turn up music).
  • Contacts sync failure – When someone calls, only the number is displayed, not the name.
  • BT music issues (Unreliable music control): Play/Pause/Previous song sometimes doesn't work from the car/headphones.
  • BT music autoplay – Music continues playing after BT is disconnected.
• Answering phone calls while driving – A major issue due to unreliable connectivity/UI.
• Non-functional notifications for IMAP (outside of Gmail).
• Green email icon persistence: While the "Clear" button exists to dismiss all notifications, the green envelope icon (indicating new email) remains active even after simply viewing the notification list. It would be preferable if the icon reverted to a non-active state (lost its green color) after the user has checked the notifications.

Priority 3: Daily Use (Everyday Frustrations)

• Browser (Web):
  • Too old browser (Outdated QtWebEngine).
  • Firefox (alternative) has no clipboard.
  • Native browser doesn't support disabling autoplay.
  • Smoothness of web is bad.
• Multimedia and Files:
  • Unreliable Nextcloud photos sync.
  • Slow gallery loading (See: https://gitlab.com/ubports/development/apps/lomiri-gallery-app/-/issues/121).
  • Poor UX for video playback in the Camera app preview: When viewing a video immediately after recording it, clicking 'play' opens a separate Video application. This Video app remains running and open after the video finishes playback, forcing the user to manually close it before they can return to browse other media in the Camera app's preview.
• Navigation: Non-functional/unreliable navigation application – necessity to use Waydroid.
• Calendar reliability and function: There is a lack of trust in calendar synchronization (often failing with Google/Nextcloud), leading to missed meetings. Furthermore, links and call information from synced events are often not clickable/openable, preventing quick joins to meetings.
• Problem understanding call history – Unclear Call History Presentation: It is difficult to track the complete sequence of communication with a contact (e.g., multiple missed calls, outgoing calls, and answered calls) within the interface, making the chronology hard to parse.

Priority 4: Polish (UI, UX Improvements)

• Keyboard – The .tld button (e.g., .cz, .com) should be removed entirely. It is a major source of frustration and significant time loss. It is frequently misclicked instead of the spacebar, resulting in erroneous DNS errors when trying to use the address bar for quick searches (e.g., typing "query.czsearch.cz" instead of "query search ").
• History/Contacts: Clicking on contact from history won't just call, it delays me by only pre-filling the number in the dialer (See: gitlab.com/ubports/development/ubuntu-touch/-/issues/2295).
• Small buttons – Too small buttons (back), making them hard to tap accurately (See: gitlab.com/ubports/development/apps/teleports/-/issues/288) - not Teleports-only issue.
• Notification UI: The "Clean" button should float absolutely at the bottom, not relatively below all notifications.
• Feeling of security: Lack of security trust (unlocked bootloader, corporate data/banking inside Waydroid).
• Head-Up Display (Header) Clutter: Too many unnecessary icons in the header make it hard to see the time. We request:
  • Unconditional Removal: Remove the Rotation Lock, Bluetooth, and GPS icons entirely from the header bar.
  • Merge Dual SIM: Consolidate the two separate dual SIM icons into a single, space-saving icon.
  • Conditional Email Icon: The static envelope icon should only appear when there is an actual notification.

Priority 5: Nice to Have (Advanced Features/Edge Cases)

• Productivity applications: Missing native support for MS Teams / Slack / Google Meet.
• Non-functional Spotify (experience is currently painful via Waydroid). Proposed solution: Investigate the possibility of easily integrating popular mainstream desktop Linux applications into OpenStore (like the official Spotify desktop client) using existing distribution formats (e.g., Snap, Flatpak, AppImage) as a simplified, performant alternative to Waydroid for key missing apps.
• Missing cloud application for notes (e.g., Nextcloud integration).
• Shared clipboard – Missing the shared clipboard feature found in iOS/Android+KDE Connect.
• Extremely unreliable QR code reader.

[kugiigi]

This is definitely something that UT needs - polish. This is awesome and hopefully this becomes a successful initiative

On top of my head, these are the things that I think matters for most people.

• Display cutout and rounded corners handling. Most phones now have them and it just makes UT look unfinished and unpolished and of course annoying for the users
• AGPS. Without it, navigation is really hard to rely on. It may work quick especially if you use it often but it's still highly unreliable.
• Cloud syncing for contacts, notes, etc. Ideally, an easy to use backup/restore solution as well.
• Video playback. I think one of the weakest part of UT since the beginning is video playback. It never worked well. It has minor issues like video flipping at the end of playback then some major issues like actually crashing the app, for example on Teleports. There are also devices where it totally stop working until you restart media hub or rebooting the device. The experience is just bad in general in my opinion
• Small back button in apps and hard to reach in one hand use. Especially if you come from Android, I think you can really be annoyed by this and more especially if you are someone who frequently use your phone with one hand. This has been discussed dozens of times but it's a tricky thing to solve. I think adding a universal back action like Android is out of the question but what else can we do? I have some solutions on my apps and in Ambot Installer calles MariKit. It adds horizontal swipe at the bottom edge which can used to trigger back action or other header actions. It's very useful in my opinion but I'm still unsure if this is the best solution and approach.

[Vlad Nirky]

Thank you, Marius, for this initiative.

Every user is different, and so is every device.

Use
I have a Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro, and I wouldn't change its operating system for anything in the world.
It is completely reliable (so why isn't this always the case for some?), lasts several days without recharging, and meets all my needs.

Browser
Personally, I rarely use my phone's browser, as I spend enough time in front of my PC that I don't need it very often.

Installation
The installation process is likely to put many people off (fear of rendering their phone unusable, complexity, limited choice).
Please, offer stable versions before development versions in the installer.

Hardware
Everything works on my phone. (A huge thank you to the porters.)

It would be nice to have the top bar display correctly despite the rounded corners and front camera.

The photo and video capture app lags far behind what Android offers. (Slow focus, macro function, wide angle, panorama.)

Bluetooth could be improved (although I find it usable with certain prerequisites).

Allowing much faster GPS positioning would be appreciated.

Activating Lomiri via the fingerprint reader would be a plus (no longer having to press and then hold your finger).

Applications
I think that a precise description of what you get by installing UT versus what you lose by changing ecosystems would help reduce disappointment.
Make a thoughtful choice and stick to it.
A few articles on which applications can replace popular Android applications.
How to get VPN or OwnCloud or ... working.

The gaps, for me, are banking software and government apps. (Hence my use of Waydroid.)

An app for backing up data and syncing with your PC. (Damn, they removed rsync.)

Offer correct and appropriate snap applications to close some gaps?

[gpatel-fr]

@Vlad-Nirky said in Smooth Edges (name pending) - Let's Fix the Bugs That Drives You Mad:

they removed rsync

...and Kenny too

phablet@ubuntu-phablet:~$ crackle install rsync
Installing rsync... done!
Activating... done!
phablet@ubuntu-phablet:~$ rsync --version
rsync  version 3.4.1  protocol version 32

mostly agree with your points though.

[lduboeuf]

Congrats for this initiative. Here is the list of things that come to my mind:

Considered as a blocker for me:

• Battery drains on LTE ( luckily i can still use 2G here and battery-saver app), otherwise having a phone that last less than a full day is not reliable.

"Basic" needs that still missing:

• AGPS
• Data backup and syncing

Annoying, but can be worked around:

• Random OSK crash
• Cellular network re-connection ( reboot is sometimes needed )
• Some users reports Camera freeze ( reboot needed)
• Not possible to select a default target with url-dispatcher or content hub.
• Calendar sync issues ( when it is working it works but when not, it can be painfull to make it works reliabily again )
• MMS does not work if Wifi is On

Polishing:

• back button size or position
• connect to public wifi or via qrcode
• bluetooth robustness and with carkit
• integrated app cleaning and settings for runing without suspension

Otherwise, so proud of UT :).

[pparent]

Very Nice initiative, thank you for that!

For me the most annoying bugs on my volaphone 22 on Noble are:

Priority 3: Daily Use

• It often looses celular data connection. I have to go to settings and switch from 3g mode to Lte/4g again to have access to internet again. This can make me miss notifications on top of that. Note that I use dual sim.

• Sometimes the phone will boot with only one of the 2 sim working or even none of them, and I need to reboot again. (On top of that if it boots with only the second sim, it will change all the defualt parameters to SIM2 in cellular config, and keep this even when the phone reboot with Sim1 so that I need to change it again each time).

• Gps position does not work reliably in webview (in comparison to puremaps), seemingly because of a problem of orientation/compass (see https://forums.ubports.com/topic/11572/gps-location-does-not-work-anymore-in-webview-noble?_=1764026186209 ) It's important for me to be able to ask google maps for public transportations itinerary.

Priority 4: Polish

• It's too slow to take a picture or video inside the camera app (too much delay), and sometimes it fails to record and won't let me record until I reboot.

• The interface is sometimes kind of sluggish, or will freeze for a fraction of a second (or even few seconds sometimes), it's not very fluid or snappy. And it seems to vary, during some periods it seems more fluid and other very slugish, I'm not sure what explains it. (Someone told me it will improve with next Halium upgrade for the phone, we'll see).

Other than this everything really works as a charm. I'm really starting to feel that I don't lack anything in the phone. It's way better for my everyday life than 6 years ago when I started to use UT as a daily-driver (with a Nexus 5). I should mention that battery life is extremely good for me. One charge can last 48h +.

Ps: I did not mention QtWebengine upgrade because it's an already ongoing work, but it is clearly a priority for me as well.

[ma]

Although I use Ubuntu Touch (UT) as my daily driver, I haven't been able to convince anyone to switch to UT so far. Besides the availability of Android apps, I see two main reasons for this.

1. Most phones are 5 years old or older. No one wants to invest money in an outdated phone that also has a poor battery by now. Furthermore, the future development for the selected devices is not guaranteed and heavily relies on individual contributors. A potential solution, in my opinion, would be to have a new "primary device" released every two years. This point might be classified as priority 0.

2. People interested in UT often have a strong focus on privacy and security. While the OS is privacy-friendly, I don't see adequate protection when using browsers. For me, in addition to data encryption, it’s important to easily change the DNS server and to use a secure browser that can mitigate tracking and fingerprinting, for example, through extensions. I think this is priority 5.

Thank you for starting the initiative!

[danfro]

Here some thoughts on my priorities:

1. Core features

• mobile data on sim2, although I think there is a PR already, so hopefully almost sorted
• apps not properly accessing apparmor, like camera app on my OP5T, but other devices have that too, app logs have apparmor error entries and as developer I am never sure if they are important or kind of "normal" and can be ignored

2. stoppers for using UT:

• Encryption. I know several users who don't use UT or stopped because of that. Makes you feel bad to know "everyone" can grab all data off your device in case you loose it.
• rounded corner/notch as has been mentioned, but that really restricts usage, we do rely on our indicators and they are great, but can't use them properly on affected devices (would simply limiting screen size be a workaround?)
• VoLTE, because a phone needs to be able to do calls, during the next few years even here in Europe we will need this
• keeping dekko updated or replacing it, email is a critical feature for most
• improvements in Teleports and matrix and signal apps, likely the most used apps on smartphones are messengers
• call/video call options in browser and messengers

3. daily use

• camera app (no crashes, device specific but happens on several devices), more features e.g. for white balance, multicamera support, panorama mode
• Morph has been named, work is going on there, so I am confident this is solved soon
• system side backup feature as has been named, I think for many this would make things simpler, not everyone can setup a nextcloud or syncthing services easily
• vpn integration for several protocols, because we often would like to connect to open wifi's but I would feel more save with vpn there, and some users depend on vpn in their countries

4. nice to have

• swype feature in OSK, but only possible with proprietary code, even on LOS, so likely hard to achive
• faster GPS for me is only added here, I rarely use it and mostly are then fine to wait a bit for initial fix
• app grouping in the drawer, maybe even favourites and rarely used sections would be helpful for me
• bluetooth comes here in my usage, I never use that, but agree it would be "not bad" and other depend on it, like when driving

5. polishing
I am not going to add a long list here. We all know there is plenty to do all the time everywhere if it comes to finishing touches.

[projectmoon]

Here are my thoughts. What started small turned into something big!

Priority 1: Core System Stuff - Boot loops, crashes, phone completely unusable. Fix immediately.

Sometimes on the Volla Quintus the passcode prompt just stops working. Either the number keys don't enter the characters, or the phone does not seem to respond to the full passcode being entered. This is on 1.x daily channel, so I dunno if it is a problem in stable.

Priority 2: Basic Phone Features - Calls, SMS, WiFi, Bluetooth, notifications, camera. If these don't work, it's not really a phone.

Cameras: Devices with multiple cameras don't have support for all the cameras, even if the underlying hardware + software stack is functioning. Quintus has 3 cameras, and the test camera apps can access them and take pictures, but the main camera app does not have the ability to switch between the lenses.

• Camera is too slow to take pictures, and images are blurry if there's any motion or bad lighting conditions. This might be device-specific.

Security: Encryption is a basic requirement. Thankfully, it's been recently added. But it shouldn't be optional. If possible, the entire device should be encrypted when powered off. Bonus points if it can encrypt during lock like Android devices.

Display/Indicators: Notch needs to be handled, and work is being done on this. I also think there are way too many indicators. This is part of the problem with handling notches.

• Too many icons to show. I have a dual SIM phone with one SIM on roaming, and the network indicator alone is 4 icons (two reception icons, the roaming icon, wifi/5G icon).
• Take the rotation lock icon, for example. On my phone, it's one indicator with a pull-down that has exactly one item in it: rotation lock on or off. This could easily be collapsed together with other functions.
• Similar for other indicators. Many of the pull-down shades have two items in them. Doesn't really make sense in my opinion.

Priority 3: Daily Use - Browser crashes, app store issues, keyboard problems, file management. The stuff you hit every day.

I won't mention the browser since it's obvious and being worked on.

Messaging: The native chat apps are slim pickings, but the ones that exist work well. Delta Touch is good. WhatsWeb works very well. Signal-UT is up and coming. Ideally, there should be a native Matrix client. Ideally-er, it should be disconnected from the idea of "Matrix." It's just "UT Messenger" or something.

VPN: There is no (usable) UI to manage VPN connections. Required for corporate users, or people who want to connect to connect to wireguard, Tailscale, etc. Telling people to install the tailscale snap and run terminal commands ain't gonna fly.

Dekko: The only email client. And it's amazing work. But if we are talking daily use issues, I have to list them.

• No HTML replies. Everything is sent out using plain text.
• Broken message forwarding. When forwarding messages, due to the aforementioned only-plain-text, forwarded messages get completely garbled and become unreadable when the recipient gets it.

Mir 2: I think migration to Mir 2 is essential. As I understand, work is underway on this. There are a ton of convergent Linux apps out there that simply do not function properly on UT either due to scaling or due to keyboard not appearing, etc. A properly functioning Wayland environment could allow snaps to be featured in the OpenStore as first-class citizens. The jankiness of the X server in general is also a huge problem (keyboard, slowness, focus issues).

Keyboard: The keyboard is very lowly positioned for me. The ability to raise and lower the keyboard is important for me, at least. Basically, replacing the system keyboard with the Ambot installer keyboard would solve all these problems. I realize it's probably not as simple as copy pasting the code, of course.

Developer Mode: Developer mode keeps getting turned on every time I boot the phone, even if I toggle it off. Not sure if this is a daily channel thing or an actual bug. It's a security issue if it's not something specific to the daily channel releases.

Priority 4: Polish - Like those tiny contact navigation arrows that are impossible to see. UI glitches. Things that make UT feel unpolished.

Volla Quintus: under-screen fingerprint reader does not yet work. I assume this will eventually come, in time, hopefully with work from Volla.

KDE Connect port! Phone <-> computer sync is very handy.

APIs: Lack of APIs for apps to access auto-fill, auto-type, and so on. This is quite relevant to the app I'm making, of course, as it's a password manager. Copying and pasting is an inefficient way of doing things, and also not super secure.

App drawer: Ability to organize the app drawer: making folders of apps, for example. The search is good, though.

Waydroid:

• Waydroid notifications need to be propagated to the main notification bar, and should function completely like native notifications, opening the corresponding Android app, etc.
• Fully functioning multiple window mode with icons appearing in the sidebar and app drawer properly.
• Copy and paste doesn't seem to work inside Waydroid, not to mention being able to copy and paste between the Waydroid container and the rest of the system.
• File access should be transparent between Waydroid and the rest of the system. Waydroid should be able to see the home directory of the user, or at least some subset of it, without having to copy files in and out using the Waydroid Files app. Also vice versa.

Priority 5: Nice to Have - Advanced features, edge cases, stuff that matters to specific users.

Update of snapz0r to allow direct installation of snaps instead of having to use the terminal.

[projectmoon]

@danfro said in Smooth Edges (name pending) - Let's Fix the Bugs That Drives You Mad:

swype feature in OSK, but only possible with proprietary code, even on LOS, so likely hard to achive

AnySoftKeyboard has an--I think--completely open source swiping implementation, and FUTO (which is not open source, but rather source-available) has (or is building?) an open swipe dataset. Not sure which license terms, but presumably fully open once they release it.

There is also an open source swipe keyboard available for Sailfish OS: Magic Keyboard. But I'm not sure if the underlying swiping is open or not.

All potential options to look into, at least.

[danfro]

@projectmoon I only know heliboard, but that requires you to download a proprietary file for swype to work. The implementation itself is opensource, but not that file. But thanks for the suggestions. Something to look into for sure.

[projectmoon]

@danfro said in Smooth Edges (name pending) - Let's Fix the Bugs That Drives You Mad:

@projectmoon I only know heliboard, but that requires you to download a proprietary file for swype to work. The implementation itself is opensource, but not that file. But thanks for the suggestions. Something to look into for sure.

Yes, Heliboard uses Google's swipe library that was originally created for AOSP. Which unfortunately is proprietary. I think Florisboard also has a glide typing implementation, but I'm not sure how functional it actually is.