I'm from Volla. We think, that a convenient VPN app for Ubuntu Touch would be a good idea, because the VPN from in the settings is only for experienced users. I think of a simple login in form and a selection of the country.

We are working with Hide.me for the Volla Phone, who provides a simple REST API for the available server and OpenVPN scripts. Further more they will publish soon the source code for a Linux WireGuard command line tool.

Is someone interested to work on this app? We could spend a Volla Phone as a thank you for the effort. Let me know.

We are planning a community event with hackathon from May 18th to 19th to promote an open source alternative for Android and iOS. We invite developers but also founders and entrepreneurs to discuss possibilities and cooperation with us and to work on some practical topics.

For Ubuntu Touch on the Volla Phone I'm looking for a solution to extend the system UI with the Volla Springboard. It's a new approach for a simplified user interface for quick actions without the need to open apps. You may have a look at our project page.

One idea is to modularise the system UI to replace the content of the left sidebar with an app. Another clever idea on our Volla Community Days last week was, to use the finger print sensor to trigger an event to open an app or bring it to the front.

Some more ideas, comments, estimations of feasibility? Is someone interested to work on that challenge? We could spend a Volla Phone as a thank you. Let me know.

If I follow the recommendation in the documentation, I should use crossbuilder for platform development and clickable for app development. The suggested editor is Atom. Unfortunately I have no idea, how install the mentioned plugin.

I wasn't able to install the Unbuntu SDK, that seems to be out of maintenance:

What's about Qt Creator and a setup with the libraries and dependencies, that are necessary for UBports?

I have doubts, that the system settings could fulfill the requirements for VPN.

• Dynamic server list
• Country selection
• Kill switch
• App specific VPN settings

VPN apps needn't be a hack. It’s a standard for Android, iOS, iPadOS or macOS. So UT could learn from this operation systems.

For sure a VPN app usually asks to related permissions. Afterwards the VPN would occur in the network settings.

Anyway, the improved system VPN settings could be a short term solution like in Sailfish OS. Is someone interested to work on it? Or does someone know anyone else?

Does someone know, wether it’s technically possible to develop a VPN app for UT and publish it n the store? We would like to promote it with our partner.

@dobey Thanks. Very clear answer. Do you have a recommendation to resolve the crossbuild issue? Or is it sufficuent to use cmake and make commands?

@ingo Thanks for your recommendation. The installation did work, but then a system update of UBports has detroyed my Fairphone. No, problem, it is a developer device. I was able to recover my Fairphone and install Anbox abein with the android tools as described on the documentation page: https://docs.ubports.com/en/latest/userguide/dailyuse/anbox.html

I could mange to install FDroid from a download and then Yalp Store within FDroid. Running Yalp Store seems to be to abitious. Yalp Store crashes while logging into the Play Store. So, in general Anbox is working on my Fairphone.

Sometimes the interaction with Android apps is liettle bit tricky because of the missing back navigation button on the system level. Alien Davlik adds a navigation bar with a back button. Maybe this could be an approach for Anbox either. The disadvantage would be a smaller screen.

I use to develop apps in small interation of coding and testing, that includes showing a UI in an emulator. This is a common approach in Xcode, Android Studio and Qt Creator of the Sailfish SDK. Do I have to deploy an app to the developer device each time, if I develop for UBports? What is the best practice?

Is there anyone who is working on an improved, modern UBports system user interface that is more oriented towards mobile use than the Ubuntu desktop user interface? My company is thinking about developing something towards Sailfish OS or Nemo Mobile. Instead of a fan of opened apps there are thumbnails of opened apps in a grid arrangement. Synergies for this development would be welcome.

I'm working for the Volla Phone. The EU law requires to ship a smartphone with a printed user manual. We even need to translate the manual for each European language.

Our idea is to keep it simple like a leporello. On the backside we would print legal staff like warranty. On the front side, we would like to give a small introduction with screenshots.

I assume, that some resource already exists, because of the UBports labelled PinePhone. We would appreciate some help or hints, where we could find such resources.

This work is not only for the Volla Phone but all devices with a pre-installed UT, a prerequisite to make UT popular for average consumers.

@cibersheep Thanks. Very precise and helpful answer! I appreciate the lively UBports community.

@dobey I appreciate the improvements of the UI like the support of the Suru Dark theme. Pushing themes is a good example for flexibilisation.

Improvements don't necessarily need a completely new UI. Some alternative concepts might be easy to implement lika a tile instead of fan arrangement of open apps by reusing the UI element of scopes in the fan.

However, I respect the fact that you are not open to UI changes. The current concept is not bad. It highlights the concepts of Ubuntu that many users appreciate.

My question is directed at all forum participants who enjoy discussing improvements to the user experience and maybe want to be practical about it.

It is very gratifying that the people behind the UBports Foundation are very open-minded about the topic.

I like by the way the concept of Android to develop and exchange a launcher like an app. It makes the implementation of ideas and innovations very easy.

@totalsonic Thanks for the post! Just one remark: The Volla Phone X, like the Volla Phone, is a small series manufactured for the Volla brand. It is not based on the GX290. Here are some specifications:

• IP68 water and dust tested
• CPU: MediaTek Helio P23 Octa-Core MT6763
• Display: 6,1“, 19.5:9 HD + IPS V-Notch, 283 PPI
• 4 GB RAM + 64 GB internal storage
• 13 MP (SONY sensor) + 2 MP dual rear cam
• 8 MP front cam
• Connectivity: 2G/3G/4G, Wifi, Bluetooth, NFC
• Interfaces: USB-C (USB 2-0), USB-OTG, headphone jack
• Slots: 2 Nano SIM or 1 Nano SIM + SD Card
• Battery: Lithium-Polymer 6200 mAh / 3,85 V
• Weight: 270 g

@bhdouglass Thanks. For any reasons. It works now. Maybe my vm had lost the network connection. The job started with a download:

clickable desktop
Using docker container "clickable/ubuntu-sdk:16.04-amd64"
Unable to find image 'clickable/ubuntu-sdk:16.04-amd64' locally
16.04-amd64: Pulling from clickable/ubuntu-sdk

Thanks for your help!!

Thanks for your questions and comments. Let me try to answer your questions and explain the idea:

In my point of view Ubuntu Touch could be a platform for innovative products with custom system user interfaces. Our long term idea is to rethink the app centric paradigm of mobile devices. However we want to start with small, realistic steps.

We plan the Volla UX mainly for Volla devices, but we want to publish the code to involve the community. Thus a customized Ubuntu Touch could be an option. However we would prefer a modularization of Lomiri to avoid conflicts of customization. I could imagine a setting to select any launcher app as a replacement of the default one similar to Android. So developers could even provide such kind of apps in the UT app store and users have the choice to select the one they prefer.

Our Volla UX for Android is implemented as a launcher app. We already use Qt/QML to be prepared for easy migration and cross platform maintenance. Just the parts for the middle ware integration like information retrieval has to be specific.

Another approach is to use a finger print sensor. Is there already an API to receive finger print sensor events in an app? Or could we create such API? This would be very elegant without conflicts with the rest of the system. The API could even be useful for other use cases like an additional authentication for any encrypted content. The app itself wouldn't access to the finger print itself, only the event.

The so called super apps of Sailfish OS could also be an inspiration to enable some customization. Jolla call it partner space in the operating system. For updates there are no conflicts, just one or more registered repositories for an update.

Are there any community events to bring people and companies together, who would like to realize ideas, innovate and make business with the Android and iOS alternative.

Currently, the alternatives are only available as after marked operation systems. Purism could be the ice breaker for further brands and phones to create a relevant market.

I would like to discuss the possibilities to port UBPorts for hardware and customize the user interface and experience.

I would appreciate any solution to make VPN more convenient. Sailfish OS provides a simple generic solution. The user can select any VPN script, for example VPN, and start and stop this VPN with a button. At the first time a modal window pops up with a username and password request. That's it.

The advantage is a very generic approach. The disadvantage is, that the list of servers usually changes and by using an API the currently fastest server could be automatically selected. Some users also my need to switch the countries for different use cases. I hope, that I can publish the repository for the Linux command line tool soon.

It shouldn't be too difficult to write a UI for this tool.

@AppLee Ok. Thanks. Is it possible to do this programmatically?

The app wouldn't be available in the app store but exclusively available on our devices. Is it possible to add further repositories to the Store like F-Droid?

To implement a convenient UX we would need a one touch call of the springboard. Therefore I like the fingerprint idea.

Otherwise we would need to modify Lomiri but I would prefer standard customization optons.

Unfortunately, there is no response for a community event for UBPorts. My company could host a boot camp or similar event for UBPorts. We also could choose a broader scope like alternativ operation systems beyond UBPorts in general like Plasma Mobile and Sailfish OS. A probable date could be in September after the summer vacation season. What do you think?

Good news. Our partner eVenture has recently published a command line tool for a Wireguard VPN connection as open source on Github:

https://github.com/eventure/hide.client.linux

It would be great to have a UI for this command line tool, so consumers can use VPN on Ubuntu Touch conveniently. Is someone interested to help us with an improved user experience regarding VPN on Ubuntu Touch?