@theprivacydad Hi!
First, it is strongly recommended not to install apps via apt. More technical users could explain this better, but my understanding is that it's because of the immutable root file system. Installing via the Open Store, Libertine, or Snaps are the recommended ways.

Not sure why the keyboard pops up when long-clicking to paste, but maybe cause some people are used to using copy/paste from the swipe-up menu at the bottom of the keyboard? I do love that menu for text selection.

Browsers are of course one of the main pain points right now. Morph is slated to get a major update to Qt6, but this may not happen for some months.
In addition to uWolf, there's also uFirefox, which isn't in the Openstore, but can be installed via a click package. This seems to be the most recent: https://gitlab.com/debclick/uFirefox/-/jobs/11063789436/artifacts/file/build/aarch64-linux-gnu/app/firefox.fuseteam_142_arm64.click
Download the .click file, and open with Openstore.
Not being IN the Openstore means it's not reviewed by the Openstore.. all I can say is that my impression is Fuseteam has been around UBports a long time and seems to be a trusted member of the community.
Not sure if one can make webapps from non-Morph browsers or not.

The full system access warning that you see for uWolf in the Openstore is by comparison to most apps being confined - sandboxed by default. This is a major feature of Ubuntu Touch, almost all apps are, and need permissions to access things from other apps, via ContentHub. Privacy-wise, it's a huge asset. I'm sure it makes things like KeePass harder to implement though.

My two cents, as a non-technical user who's been using UT as his sole phone since 2020, is that the longer you use it the easier it gets. There's definitely a learning curve, and sometimes it's just a question of finding other ways to do a thing that doesn't work the way you'd hoped. Some things are lacking and imperfect, but I've always found it incredible not just that there was a true Linux OS for phones that's so usable, but that it's so pleasant to use.
To my mind, as data collection grows and grows, (and as authoritarianism rises worldwide) the need for smartphone alternatives starts to seem kinda dire. AOSP-based ROMs are good until Google decides not to share anymore, which it kinda sounds like they're already starting to do.

Thanks for checking out and writing about UT! Whatever your review, good to get the word out.
Hope it winds up being a good, useable OS for you!

I know this is an old thread, but it seemed the most relevant place to report:

Today I received a cell broadcast! Emergency alert test in Ontario, Canada. Running 20.04 OTA-6 on a Oneplus 5T.
Phone was on silent, so I just heard the vibrations and saw the message.

Way to go team! Many thanks to Lionel and others who've worked on this!

Clarification for future readers of this post that might be considering Ubuntu Touch in Canada: All 3 major Canadian networks have stated that they're maintaining 3G until December 2025. Different story in the USA, where at different points in 2022, the major networks discontinued 3G.

In Canada, Ubuntu Touch is very much usable as a phone. Telephone calls, SMS, MMS photos, audio, and video all work as expected for me. (Group texts do not, and MMS has caused me plenty of headaches in general, though I think I've got a stable setup now.)

Hopefully VOLTE can work soon. I'm much too inept to be of use in that quest other than to keep donating to UBports and crossing my fingers. My enduring gratitude to those working to make UT better. It's already improved considerably since I started using it in late 2020.

Big thank yous @Moem for showing your work on this and @danfro for getting an up to date Cinny app for us all. Really, really appreciated!

A bunch of work has gone into browsers, but nothing's working perfectly for now.
For me, Morph is still doing the job for the most part. I allow it to keep tabs open from session to session, and put passwords in when I need to.
uFirefox has filled the gap for some websites that didn't work, although now there's uWolf, a fork of Librewolf, that I hear is making a lot of progress.
My understanding is that the idea is to package whatever Qt 6 components are needed with Morph in 24.04, and then we'll have a much more up to date browser. And ideally a Firefox based browser like uWolf too. There was even impressive work on a Webkit based browser, Mimi.

As for email, mine happens to work fine in Morph. I haven't used Dekko in a while. Maybe the dev has stepped back or been busy and nobody stepped up to take theIr place? I didn't realize it had so many issues, but the answer to why there isn't (x) in UT is because you and I didn't do it.
But I appreciate that you know this, and maybe others will have solutions/workarounds to specific Dekko 2 issues.

Overall, a tonne of work and resources have been going into the upgrade to 24.04 and some other major improvements, like VoLTE, and encryption. Big, big accomplishments.
After 24.04 lands/stabilizes, perhaps somebody will have time for Dekko.

Welcome back! Hope you find solutions that work for you!

@Futura Thanks for the thoughts, and the tact with which you handle UT's shortcomings for your situation.

I'm surprised by your SMS experience. I've never heard of this delay before. I use SMS and MMS and it's more or less instantaneous.
It may be the case that on some devices, VoLTE is causing issues with SMS/MMS? And I heard that it's not working yet in 24.04. But both VoLTE and 24.04 that are in beta, and are being worked on.

As a fellow North American, I share your desire for RCS. It's not that I'm in love with the format - personally I hope the EU succeeds in making messenger apps interoperable the way email is. The problem is that that people here send RCS/MMS with the absolute expectation that it will be received, because it's free with every plan. Major problem here when it doesn't work.
My impression is that few if any of the core developers of UT are North American, and in most places in the world, RCS/MMS is hardly used, and definitely not taken as a given for anybody with a smartphone the way that it is here.
This said, group messages aside, MMS works pretty well for most people! Photos between myself and those using iOS and Android phones default to MMS and go through fine. I've always had the odd quirk, and sometimes would miss messages without seeing any notification, but I found a carrier where I always do at least get a message that an MMS couldn't be downloaded.
Unfortunately there aren't any easy answers to get RCS. UBports is driven by volunteers, devs are expensive, and the work is time consuming. There have been a tonne of big things to solve lately, and that are being solved / have been solved! From a global perspective many things are just bigger priorities than RCS.
Often we North Americans can tend to think that the world revolves around us, and it really, really doesn't. In a UT context, we need to learn to fix our problems ourselves and not expect volunteers to want to solve problems that don't apply to them or those around them when there are bigger fish to fry.
So I guess you and I can learn to be wizards at coding, find local devs willing to take this on, or raise a large enough bounty to make it worth somebody's time. Bounties seem not to be impossible, but I think it takes a lot to make it truly worthwhile.
Meanwhile, you could play with APN settings, borrow a SIM or take a cheap plan to try different carriers, and see if you can get SMS and MMS working normally, and support the UT project in any way you can.

Flatpaks sounds great, but again, it takes somebody doing it.
Without any interest in wading into a Flatpak vs Snaps debate, I'll mention that we do already have Snaps. To my mind, effort might be better spent getting more apps from Snaps working in a UT setting. Most Linux apps aren't exactly made for mobile, and whether we have Flatpak or Snaps, it's not going to mean that everything just works.
Meanwhile, some of us get by ok without using Waydroid at all, and with more up to date browser coming along, it'll get even easier to use more websites rather than apps.

One thing that us non-devs CAN do is communicate about the current state of affairs. I've always liked the Forum for this - easily searched and read by anyone. I feel that the website Devices page does a fairly good job too, and the Q&As are great!
But we can all brainstorm the best way to communicate things, pitch our ideas, and make it happen. https://ubports.com/community-center

Hope you're already able to solve the issues you're having and are able to use UT successfully and happily!

Cool! Thanks for the demos, nice to see your progress! This is going to be very useful.
Thanks so much for all your work!

Hey @shodan,
Welcome to the community!
I wouldn't give up on the phones you got just yet. After a quick bit of searching, I can't find any such phone as a Oneplus N10 Metro. I don't know much about these things, but could the device be locked to a cell carrier called Metro, and maybe that's coming up in the installer? In searching for a Oneplus N10 Metro, I noticed there's a cell company in the USA called Metro that seems to supply Oneplus N10. Sometimes a device is locked to a carrier, but often it is possible to unlock it. May be worth searching online for how to unlock the phone from Metro? But again, I'm really not sure this is the case.

Also, I see that you have Android 11 installed. In the device page for the OP N10, if you scroll down a ways, it states that you'll need to be using a specific version, Oxygen 10.5.7 or something. The system image or whatever you call it is conveniently linked from the device page. You'll need to download that file and install that version of android before installing Ubuntu Touch.

The other main thing you'll need to do , probably before downgrading, is unlock the bootloader. Search online for how. Takes a bit of doing, but it's all doable.

General installation instructions for Ubuntu Touch are found on the installer page.

Hope it turns out that your devices are what you thought they were, and useable for UT!

@RJDan This topic is for testing 20.04 OTA 10. Sounds like you've upgraded to 24.04. There's a separate topic for 24.04.

I think apps not opening makes sense. Not all will work out of box on 24.04, and will require action by the app developer.
If you've gone to 24.04 without intending to, maybe wait for somebody more knowledgeable than me to suggest how to go back. I thiiink you should just be able to flash 20.04 Stable / RC without erasing data and that should be fine? But I'm not sure.

@atarilinux I'll start by saying that VoLTE, while being used daily by some, sounds like it should still be considered in beta across all devices.

You're right that Volla and Fairphone don't sell outside the EU, at least for now. @AppLee recently mentioned that Volla is looking into official network support in North America, so who knows, maybe they'll sell phones here one day.
Meanwhile, there is Murena, a third party vendor, that will sell Fairphones to NA, or third party shipping services, which I know little about, but will ship here for a markup.
There are also Fairphone 4 phones on eBay from a vendor called NeverMSRP that I considered for a bit. They seem to have good reviews.

But there are also people using Xiaomi phones with VoLTE, including in USA I believe. Poco X3, Redmi Note 9 Pro, and maybe others. The ports for these phones seem to be solid and supported. I found those phones hard to find domestically, but careful searches on eBay yielded international vendors who'd sell to Canada, though tariff stuff may be complicated in USA.

And then Brax3 phone and Furiphone FLX1 are both making ports of UT, though we're awaiting details. Both play well with USA networks though.

Hard time to make a decision, with VoLTE and 24.04 still in progress, but we can at least help each other be aware of the options and make the most informed decision possible.

Hi @Capsia ,
Thanks to you and any others for the excellent work on the websites!

I hope this is an ok topic to post this in. I didn't find much else pertaining to website discussion.
(TL;DR - I'm suggesting a Donate button next to porter/maintainer names on each Devices page of the website.)

Recently I tried to donate to my device's porter, and found it hard to find how to do so. I tracked down his Paypal eventually, but it took some searching, and it might not be possible to find some porters.
I thought if there were a Donate button on the website, similar to how there's an option on the OpenStore to donate to the app's developer, it might both remind people to donate, and make it easier to do so.
I asked about this idea on Q&A #157 and Alfred and AppLee were both favourable toward it.

But of course this requires work, and I have no skills with websites. I imagine it would require reworking the Contributors section on the Devices pages, and enabling an optional donate button next to the names of any contributors who'd like donations and who provide a link to their patreon/libera/whatever.
It would get more complicated when there are many developers and maintainers. Who will the user donate to? Each of them? And is it weird if some of them request donations and others don't?
But to me, it's still better to have the option, even if there are complications.

Anyway, sorry to be making a suggestion with no way to help bring it about. But I wanted to float the idea out there, to keep our porters supported!

I'm curious how the foundation works. How many employees are there? Does money for the foundation mostly go to paid workers, or to things like hosting costs?

Would more money coming in mean more coders be hired? And is this desired, or is the general preference to keep it mostly community/volunteer based?

Thank you!

Hi pals, two questions:

1. Has anyone heard from a company called SageTea, who "makes" something called the Xfone? Do they contribute to Ubports in any way, or just sell phones that they load with Ubuntu Touch?

2. Are you all aware that there are wild standing ovations going on all over the place when, for example, Marius talks of progress on VoLTE and 5G, Alfred talks of WebKit and Snaps progress, AppLee bravely starts hosting a Q&A show solo, Lionel revamps Contacts, etc? Often you announce very major things and I hope you know how enthusiastically they are received. Thanks a lot for what you do!

Thanks @AppLee, for the reply and for all your work!

Hi all,
At some point I read that some of the money that the UBports Foundation gets may go to providing phones to developers if needed.
Many of us have an old UT-capable device or two around, and many of us non-devs would like to contribute more to the project. To my mind, if there are any aspiring devs out there who might not be able to afford or find a viable phone for UT where they are, getting them a phone is important!
Does it seem feasible and worthwhile for me to try to set up a way for aspiring devs to request a phone and for existing UT users to donate one?

Thanks a zillion for all your work, and for hosting these cheery Q&As!

Hi! What do you all think about the idea of a button to donate to porters/maintainers on the Devices webpage, similar to how it works in OpenStore?

Also, a note. You folks are very patient with some of the live Q&A questions. If you ever think it needs a moderator or something, let us know. It could be nice to sift out some of the more entitled, ungrateful people demanding that miracles be worked faster by largely unpaid developers.
We appreciate you immensely!

@carl Although if you're indeed in Canada, 3G is still supported for now. Rogers has said end of 3G is July 31 2025, Telus Dec 31 2025. Bell seemingly will keep it for longer, some say til Dec 31 2026, except in Manitoba.

The Q&A was very, very encouraging on VoLTE overall, but as stated, it's unknown which devices will get it, and it didn't sound like good news for Pixel 3a.

I don't know if Alfred has moved on to other things, but he was really looking for help from people in the USA to test the Pixel 3a, and wasn't getting it. Maybe since it's supported for VoLTE on those networks, you could see about helping him?

@nogoogle I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but the whole reason that I left Telus was because they said that due to network changes, my device (then a Oneplus 5t) would no longer have functional MMS. https://www.telus.com/en/support/article/picture-and-group-messaging-changes

The linked article says "older decices", but other communication from Public Mobile said the only way to be sure was to use a phone from a fairly small approved list, which FP4 isn't on.

Maybe some kind friend who uses another network would let you briefly borrow their SIM for MMS testing, to see if changing networks would solve it.

@ikoz Wow, that's amazing that you did that! Thanks, on behalf of the community!
You spent two hours on that. It will take me longer than two hours just to understand how gitlab works and to install (build?) the app to help test
But I'll try!
Hopefully others like @Salah take notice and can help test too.
Again, thanks!

Wow! Very cool! Good video demo - your app looks very functional already. Copying folders will be a nice addition. Looking forward to using!
Merci bien!