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

[mariogrip]

Hey everyone,

Starting a new bug fixing project for Ubuntu Touch called Smooth Edges (name pending). The idea is simple: fix the bugs that make people give up on UT or prevent them from trying it in the first place.

The Problem
Look, we all know Ubuntu Touch has rough edges. Some bugs are annoying. Some make daily use frustrating. And some make people pull out their old Android phone after a week. We need to fix those bugs first. I'm not talking about theoretical issues or edge cases that affect small amount of users. I mean the stuff that actually stops UT from being a usable daily driver.

How This Works
Instead of just going through the bug tracker randomly, we're prioritizing based on impact. Two questions:

What bugs stop people from switching to Ubuntu Touch?
What bugs make current users switch away?

Simple as that. Real-world impact over everything else.

Priority Levels
Breaking bugs down into 5 categories:

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

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

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

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

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

QtWebEngine Upgrade
This is a big one. The browser affects almost everything you do on a phone. We're planning to upgrade QtWebEngine, which should improve a ton of daily use cases.

Finding the Bugs, We're looking at:

Forum posts, support tickets, social media complaints
Comparing UT to Android/iOS to see what's missing
Actually using UT as a daily driver (dogfooding)
Testing

Timeline (really rough estimate)
Roughly 20 weeks broken into phases:
Weeks 1-2: Figure out what needs fixing and how bad it is
Weeks 3-10: Fix the critical stuff (Priority 1 & 2), start planning the QtWebEngine upgrade
Weeks 11-18: Fix daily use bugs (Priority 3), get QtWebEngine upgrade done
Weeks 19-20: Test everything, make sure we didn't break anything

What Success Looks Like

No critical bugs in stable releases
Phone features that just work
You can actually use UT daily without workarounds
People stop complaining about the same issues
UT becomes a real option vs Android/iOS

Not shooting for perfection, just want UT to be solid enough that you'd recommend it to someone.

Need Your Help
This only works if the community gets involved:

Tell us what's broken - What bug almost made you quit UT? What stops you from daily driving it?
Report bugs properly - Help us reproduce issues
Test fixes - Volunteer to test updates
Spread the word - Help gather more feedback

Tracking Progress
We'll measure:

Crash rate
Number of Priority 1-3 bugs
Boot time, battery life, app performance
Community feedback (less complains = winning)

So What Do You Think?
What bugs are driving you nuts? What would it take for you to daily drive UT? Drop your thoughts below.

[gpatel-fr]

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

make people give up on UT or prevent them from trying it in the first place

IMO these are very different points.
First point concerns advanced users who are trying advanced features.

Second, not so much. Here is where 'polish' has a much more important ranking than fourth. It's first I think. A phone is a status object, if you show it off to someone you must not have any reservation. If the someone points at an obvious defect on the screen, you are stuffed :-). Now on my Fairphone 5, the general first approach is very good: one can feel that good designers have worked on it. However, since the designers have worked, things have moved: the FP5 has a rounded screen, and there is a notch for the front camera. As a result the upper task bar is not displayed correctly.
This could be shown as a mere detail, however it can block an influencer to want to dedicate a part of one of their show to UT. Or worse, it can be part of a dressing down. We have a saying in my country: the first impression is alsways the good one, when it's bad.
I know that this is worked on, however there is only one developer, and it's a feature more difficult to get right that it may appear, so it's not yet there. I certainly would hate to make this appear as putting pressure on this person. All I am saying that it's more important for new users than setting wifi on or off randomly rebooting the phone.

Another pain point for first users is the installer. Again, it's mostly good software. There is some good design. However for an installer, it's not enough to get to 95% right. The last 5% of polish are enough to get or stop many thousands of potential users around the block. Even the last 1% toward perfection is very important. I have used it and my first try blocked the phone. I had assumed the process was hanged and I pressed on the continue button displayed on the phone. Bad move, that cost me a reflashing of Android. Could it have been avoided ? Possibly with some appropriate warning on the installer screen. Another gripe I remember is the displaying of raining arrows. I'd hasard after having completed a successful install, that the meaning for the developer of this feature was 'downloading in process'. Well, at the time I was baffled and did not understand what was happening.

[domubpkm]

Hello

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

QtWebEngine Upgrade

Hello Marius.
The work of all the developers contributing to Noble is titanic! Thanks for everything!

There are many bugs that annoy people and may deter them from continuing with UT.

But despite all these drawbacks, in my opinion (although it is not immediately blocking for me because I do otherwise), updating QtWebEngine and Morph-browser must be an absolute priority, because without an up-to-date browser, we don't do much! And I know there's a lot of work going on on it. My encouragement.

[Mario.CH]

Hi @mariogrip,

Thank you very much for all the work done by everyone involved to date.

Your suggestion in “Priority Levels” is sufficient for me, i.e. all telephone functions and Bluetooth are very important to me.
So:

• VoLTE

• SMS/MMS replacement RCS Rich Communication Services

• The device port maintenance information is also very important, not just a note such as → Last commit on 10/4/2025, but also why or for what.

• The backup function should be included in the UT installer, or at least a tutorial or other instructions.

That's what I would like to see.

Greetings Mario
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

[Ida_]

This is an awesome initiative! I really love the idea, and how you see the potential in every community member to help with this project.

The one thing that gets me again and again is the keyboard crashing while I'm in an ongoing chat/SMS-exchange. That one really gets my pulse going.

[CiberSheep]

Hellohellohello.
I know, my case here is very specific: I can't quit UT and obviously I have no idea what other OS do, and I may or may not care at all. I use Unity on the desktop since 2012 and on the phone/tablet since 2015.
I'm in a place that wish for me would be do not break the OS language and philosophy.
Have been said so, the specifics could be:

Priority 2

• Morph.
  • I think that's all been said there. It's old and falling behind.
  • App menu is looooong (12 actions) and redundant (Desktop mode again?) -> use ToolBar for additional actions
  • Downloads are not integrated in the indicator since Oxide (1)

Priority 3

• OSK

  • Predictive text is getting in the way
  • Weird behavior when typing and deleting text
  • Paste is not working in between apps

• Date indicator

  • Tapping on a date doesn't show all entries in the calendars

Priority 4

• Round corner and camera thing (I can't find my proposals XD)
• App counters (I have on idea how those are called, badges? ie the number of missed calls on the Phone app). Use notifications indicator. One place for all notifications, I shouldn't have to go app per app to remove those.
• Core apps scatter UI (using random icons, different app designs, etc)
• Notes app. I know, it's kind of abandoned. But it could use some love
• Audio is always feed to earspiece and speaker (1)

Priority 5

• faster GPS
• audio playback speed (1)
• Some core apps force a specific view port, and they shouldn't (eh? Clock app, I'm looking at you)
• Dash filters for apps

Thanks for reading my podcast (does that joke translate good here?)

[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.