Apps I would love to see eventually made available on UT:

Video Chat - even a single way to do this would be fantastic - whether it is via eventual support for Telegrams currently alpha video call capabilities being enabled in TELEports - or via Morph support for various web based services, or via WebRTC - whatever gives us a viable option on UT devices that is easiest to implement is all good by me.

Task List with ToDoTxt support - there are a ton of existing task list apps for UT already, but I really would like one that has ToDoTxt support, along with NextCloud syncing support, so that it could be synced to a multitude of cross platform apps, all in a "future proof" format. Info on the ToDoTxt spec is at http://todotxt.org/

Native basic Video Editing app - while there are a number of online web services that can be used for this task, it would be way more efficient and reliable if there was a UT app that could do basic functions like trim, rotate, resize and reformat for videos - especially useful for posting to social media directly from ones mobile device.

Ride share app - it would be very useful for me if there was a UT native app for either Uber or Lyft (the two most popular services for this in the USA). While these services can be hailed via an online web page accessible via Morph, the rest of the experience is definitely not as smooth as what you get on Android and iOS.

Widevine support - it would be nice if there was a Widevine plugin for Morph, allowing it to be used for movie streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. I understand the proprietary DRM nature of this makes it difficult to do this - but given that there are plugins for Linux via Chrome (that is compatible with some of the other Chromium based browsers, as well as Firefox) - perhaps there is some way this could still be implemented.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Start with installing gimp package in your Libertine Container.
Screenshot is GIMP running in Libertine Container using the Color 48 theme to make icons usable on a mobile device - https://bitbucket.org/paynekj/paynekj-gimp-scripts/raw/2e8e87faf5eaaf6036e0d8b68ff9f6f37a3f0421/themes/Color-48.7z

In order to install this theme I had to extract the 7z archive on my computer and upload the folder to the phone. Then I had to go into home/phablet/cache/libertine-container/xenial/rootfs/usr/share/gimp/2.0/themes rename the "Default" theme folder as "Old Default" - and then paste in the Color 48 theme folder renamed as "Default" (because trying to change the theme from Gimp's gui would just crash it)

Also to get the GTK menus to be sized to be useable on phone it is important to: create a file named .Xdefaults in a text editor (tedit is a good Ubuntu Touch native one for this) with a single line Xft.dpi: 280 - or whatever other dpi value which you prefer. Save this to the home directory of your chroot environment - usually .local/share/libertine-container/user-data/xenial/ in your normal home directory.

You also still need to use an external bluetooth keyboard for GIMP on the phone in order to have the gui respond.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

great and informative interview! Thanks for posting and huge thanks to TheKit for all the work he has done for UT

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Phone calls over VoLTE in the USA are now working for Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro (miatoll), using latest Focal (20.04) dev channel build! Tested using T-mobile network, calls are clear with no echoes either way, with both calling and receiving working great. SMS text and single recipient MMS photo sending and receiving work on this device with VoLTE as well. Big thanks to the UBports team and the community devs and porters for this very big step for UT!!

Best regards,
Steve Berson

I was just thinking it would be fun and illuminating, and could possibly garner some promotion for UBports, if some recent devices (e.g. Volla Phone) that were fully configured were handed to some figures that were key to Canonical's initial effort to create Ubuntu Touch (e.g. Mark Shuttleworth, Jono Bacon, etc.) and if there impressions on how far Ubuntu Touch has come in the 4 years since Canonical dropped it were recorded and posted as a video. It would be nice to hear some talk by them on what they think could have happened if Ubuntu Edge had become a reality, as well as what they think UBports can offer for the future in terms of what has become of their "baby" once it "left home."

Just an idea! - and given that UBports has now been developing UT for around the same amount of time that Canonical did (about 4 years each - Canonical did 2013-2017) maybe one that makes sense to do now.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

For those attempting to use Firefox in UT, the one option currently available to us is to use it within a Libertine container. For many devices the Firefox 84 version that is in the default repositories will crash whenever a site is attempted to be loaded. However, Firefox-esr (extended support release) 78 works stably in my testing (although slowly, due to the lack of hardware acceleration for apps in Libertine containers currently).

arm64 version is here (scroll to bottom of page to find download links to the deb package in your language)
https://launchpad.net/~mozillateam/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+build/21042451

and armhf version is here -
https://launchpad.net/~mozillateam/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+build/21042452

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Telegram is NOT hosted in Russia - servers are located around the globe, financial HQ is in London UK, operational HQ is in Dubai UAE. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegram_(software)

There are chat groups for UT also already hosted on Matrix (but that do not bridge to the Telegram groups) if one is looking for an existing alternative to Telegram.

I had never even heard of the Mattermost service prior to this post - given that there is no UT client for it at all seems one is putting the cart before the horse as far as this request goes.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Given that the current "promoted/supported devices" are now all discontinued and at least 4 years old (with the Nexus 5 now 7 years old) - doesn't it make sense to change both the website as well as support priorities to a new set of "promoted devices"? Seems to me Volla Phone, PinePhone, OnePlus 3/3T, Sony Xperia X series, PineTab, perhaps Google Pixel 3A, and whatever Xiaomi/Redmi device is looking to be easiest to fully support, would all make sense to change the focuses to as far as what is "promoted"- with the understanding that some devices (e.g. PinePhone, PineTab) need a bit more development before placing into this category.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Us users tend to fill up these Q&A's with feature requests for things we would most like to see developed sooner than later - but what things would the UBports team like to see added to UT by their fellow devs and the community first??

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Excellent news! Thanks so much for your work on this! So, just to check, camera and bluetooth are currently not working?

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@MarkG_108 - yeah - uNav is a bit clunky in usage in my experience - but I think offline maps for Pure Maps should end up happening within a month or two - I've been really encouraged by how well it works, and it was just ported to Ubuntu Touch a couple weeks ago.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

There is a functional native Signal client (Axolotl) now in the Open Store, and there is a beta for TELEports available that allows the UT device to initiate an encrypted "secret chat" for Telegram, and there is a clunky but functional webapp available for Wire - so there is in fact a number of ways to send and receive encrypted messages from a UT device currently.

Also - if one needs to have end to end encrypted notes, the Standard Notes UT webapp allows to access these online with an option for them to be password protected.

But it would be great if encrypting our home folders was made much easier to do in the future - hopefully a developer will take on this task at some point.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

I want to mention that for folks who do install Firefox-esr 78, if you go to update the packages in your Libertine container it is important to set Firefox to "hold" on any updates, so you don't end up replacing your Firefox with a current but unusable version.

The Terminal commands to enable this are:
$ libertine-container-manager exec -i xenial -c /bin/bash

# apt-mark hold firefox

To undo this hold enter:
# apt-mark unhold firefox

Best regards,
Steve Berson

• What improvements and fixes for the Morph Browser are marked as "definitely will happen" for OTA-6? Biggest requests I have myself is to be able to sign into sites like Dropbox, and be able to upload files to various services via the browser itself.
• Any chance that camera zoom for the OnePlus One will get fixed in OTA-6 - or is this just a serious brickwall of an issue that will likely take much longer, if ever, to fix?
• Would UBports consider hosting crowd sourcing drives for specific native apps? E.g. on the Telegram channel there were two of us that were willing to put up $80 to help fund coding for a native Wire app - and I would be willing to donate $200 myself towards a native Lyft app. Seems to me if there was a place hosted on the UBports site where people could donate towards funding specific apps they desired - with any funds held in escrow by UBports itself - then greater funds could be raised, and the donors would have the confidence that their money would not be sent without a functional app getting delivered, and the coders would have the confidence that they would get all pledged monies as soon as they delivered the functional app.
• Has the UBports team received the Purism Librem 5 developer boards yet - and based on specs known so far, does it seem realistic that it will end up being a fully convergence capable device?

Best regards,
Steve Berson

On Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro (joyeuse) - in USA.

working well:
app stores:
F-droid
Aurora

cameras:
BSG Gcam mod 8.1 (this one works great for being able to access all lenses and functions) - https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/google-camera/dev-bsg/
Open Camera
Lineage "Camera"
Focal

GSF compatibility:
microG Services Core
Signature Spoofing Checker

rotation controller:
Rotation Control (CrapeMyrtle)

video chat:
Jitsi Meet

streaming video:
Disney+
Netflix

internet browsers:
Lineage "Browser"
Brave (does not play YouTube though)
Fennec (F-droid version)
DuckDuckGo

Reddit client:
Infinity

messaging:
Telegram (F-droid version)

todo list:
Simpletask NextCloud

video editor:
Cute Cut

cloud syncing/automatic backup:
NextCloud

email:
Lineage "Email"

games:
Angry Birds Friends
Bad Piggies
Stumble Guys

NOT working:
Lineage "Recorder" (will crash on attempt to initiate screen capture)
Compass (can not access sensor)

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Some screen shots

Given that Dekko2 was recently updated for the 2.x version from using the Oxide engine to the QtWebEngine - to the best of my knowledge no critical UT native apps are using Oxide anymore. Is there a timeline to remove Oxide support from UT (from my understanding, a step that will be necessary at some point in order to free up space in the UT image for future enhancements) - and is there a way to check whether our webapps will be effected by this? Am I correct in believing that any webapp made using Webapp Creators "Ogra container" will not work once Oxide support is removed - so that these webapps will have to be updated once the change is made? And is this change expected to be made in OTA-12, OTA-13 or later?

Best regards,
Steve Berson

I think the ultimate plan (or at least one possible one) is to allow people to place widgets and launchers on the wallpaper background as if it was a "home" (same as if it was a non-vanilla-Gnome-3 desktop) - but that this will take time to code and the need to streamline the code and image size to what can be easily maintained makes the first step of getting rid of Scopes one that will have to happen in order to make any forward progress from there.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

@Aury88 said in New badge for Yumi?:

here some iterations..!

...my screen is filling with friendship...
Here the link to the svg:
https://mega.nz/#!UN0SDA7J!njORZM45c7EuA5DotnT8eW3KKdTD36mN9HL_iYIsmEo

I really like the bottom logo on this one a lot, far superior to the others in my opinion.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

UT community developer Rudi Timmermans posted a nice guide on how to get Anbox working with Volla on Gitlab here -
https://gitlab.com/Xray2000/Anbox-on-Volla-Phone

Best regards,
Steve Berson