App to forward SMS

Thomas

Hello
I am thinking in using UT on a FP5, notably because UT offers to run Python code, and I can code in Python, whereas I cannot implement Android apps with Kotlin by myself
However, I could not leave my e/OS Android FP5 because yet, because I need some Android Apps

I was thinking in the feasability to implement an app or run code in background on UT, that would transfers SMS automatically from UT to a Android phone

I asked to Mistral and Claude if it would be possible and they pointed out that apps are sandboxed, and only the native message apps can access and send SMS

Here is my question : how to learn what is feasible or not when programming on UT ?

Best

Thomas

projectmoon

@Thomas if your app is unconfined, it can do aaaaaaaaaaaanything. But there is also a list of apparmor policies. https://docs.ubports.com/en/latest/appdev/platform/apparmor.html is it. Nothing about SMS in there. So you'd probably have to be unconfined. Which may or may not excluded it from the OpenStore.

Also, what do you mean by "forwarding?" Do you mean actually sending the SMS to another phone number?

Thomas

Hello @projectmoon
Thank you for your answer !!
Acually, I am a data scientist, not a "real" dev. I know Python for data, but I don't know what is a unconfined app...
Yes, forwarding would be sending a copy of the SMS to another phone number
Is it so risky ?

projectmoon

@Thomas doesn't really matter if it's risky or not. It matters what the permissions allow or not. Ubuntu Touch enforces permissions via AppArmor. AppArmor is an extension to the Linux kernel that can block system API calls if they violate whatever policy is defined for an application. An unconfined app on UT has no AppArmor restrictions. So it's no more or less dangerous than a typical desktop application. But because it does not adhere to the permissions model, it has to be manually reviewed by the OpenStore team.

If you are really bent on doing this, you should go download and study the source of lomiri-messaging-app.

Thomas

@projectmoon, it does matter for me not to implement risky code on my (future) phone
Can I try to implement the app on an emulator, without getting UT first ?
lomiri-messaging-app seems to be unconfined. It is implemented in C++ not in Python

Where can I find a tuto of Python implementation for UT, please. The official tool is Clickable ?

lduboeuf

This will not be possible as a confined app.
You will need a background service that listen to incoming sms and forward it.
I'm not sure if such app can be allowed in the openstore, but here is a few things to know.

First create your background service, it could be in standard python if you are familiar with.
Ofono is the service that emit notifications when new incoming sms, it uses dbus.
api can be found here:
https://github.com/rilmodem/ofono/blob/master/doc/messagemanager-api.txt (old repository but sending and receiving sms still like that )

AI can help you with a minimal script.

then when your service seems to work, you have to create all the plumbery to install/remove/run it, you can find an example with battery-saver app: https://gitlab.com/lduboeuf/battery-saver/