19. OTA xyz is out but I can't install it yet. What's wrong?
OTA (Over the air) updates are rolled out over one week to all devices.
Rolling it out to only some devices to start with, allows to stop rollout in case of unexpected problems.
Also in most cases you will get a notification when the OTA is available for your device. So relax, you will get it soon. 😉

You want to know the technical details?
Every device creates a random number 1 to 100. Every couple of hours 1% is added to the server percentage.
If the random device number is lower than server percentage the update is made available.

20. Why do we need Android in a specific version on our devices before installing? And what is halium?

Every port (https://t.me/UTFAQ/5) of a device is based on a certain version of Android (or another stock rom). Simplified this part of the system , which is called Halium, is providing drivers and firmware to allow interaction with the devices hardware.

That is why, before running the Ubuntu Touch installer, the installed version of Android needs to match the version the port is based on. Otherwise the code base of the port will not be able to „talk“ properly to the devices hardware.
As a rough guideline the version of halium specified for a device generally matches the version of Android the device should have installed. Best check the devices page or if in doubt ask the porter.

For a more detailled (and mostly correct) visual overview please see this image.

21. Openstore web shows an app but I can't install it with OpenStore app on my device. Why?
There might be two possible reasons:
1.
Apps are always build using a certain framework e.g. 16.04 or 20.04. Numbers follow general Ubuntu release scheme. The framework provides a certain state of the libraries used with the OS.
The OS will see changes that might break backwards compatibility with older frameworks. So if apps are not updated occasionally, the old framework they are build with may not be supported anymore. OpenStore web lists all apps, also some with very old frameworks. OpenStore app checks your device for compatibility and lists only apps supported by your device's OS version.
2.
Phones can have different chipset architectures. armhf (32bit) and arm64 (64bit) are the most common. Depending on the code, apps may need to be build and released for every architecture individually.
Some apps are released only for one architecture. If an app is released for armhf architecture only, you can see it in Openstore web (shows all arch's), but if your device is arm64 architecture you will not see it in OpenStore app on your device because you can not install it.
What to do?
Go and make contact with the app developer. Ask if the app can be provided for either another architecture or be build with a newer framework.

22. Can you add a bot in the group to fight spam and to answer questions?
We'd like to keep human interaction when helping people. A bot would give cold stale answers, perhaps repeated answers if multiple people says something with the same keyword. People are dynamic, are able to ask follow up questions and of course can choose to answer multiple people at once when needed.

Admins are around most of the time. We discreetly use Rose bot to assist admins in some groups, but we restrain from extensive usage, to avoid the bot's messages bothering users more than spam. Generally spam never stays long. If something really lurks around for too long, feel free to ping us directly and we'll take care of it. just keep the admin's timezone in mind. But the banhammer should cover the most common timezones. 🔨

23. What is the difference between UBports and Ubuntu Touch?

Ubuntu Touch by UBports

Ubuntu Touch, or short UT, is the operation system (OS) that is running on your device [=code].
UBports is the name of our community. [= humans]
It is also the name of our foundation, that supports the development of UT and the porting of devices. The foundation is legally based in Berlin, Germany and allows to gather donations, manage finances, employ developers and much more.

24. Is dual boot supported with Ubuntu Touch?

No. There is no official support for dual boot by UBports for Ubuntu Touch (UT).
For dual boot to work, it needs a bootloader that handles that, UT bootloader doesn't.

Vollaphones do have dual boot support by Volla. With VollaOS as primary system, one can install UT on an sd card using the Volla bootmanager. Pinephone allow to boot into multiple OS from sd card. Some Redmi devices have limited/experimental dual boot support hacked together, but not officially supported by Ubuntu Touch.

BUT: (I know you saw some videos in the 🕸 doing just that... 😉)
Some users tried to implement dual boot by modifying the recovery of their ports.

If you find a video that suggests it might be possible for your device,
1. Check the date. the video is likely outdated.
2. Be warned that though some porters do provide some form of support, this is not officially supported by the ubports community. As such any issues on such dual boot devices should be directed at the porter in question first.
3. Be warned that Ubuntu Touch uses a specialized recovery to download and install updates. Any modifications made to the recovery to facilitate dual booting may break the update process. The ubports community as a whole cannot provide support for such edge cases, solely the porter that made those modifications can provide any sort of support. In their absence you're out of luck.

25. Can you give me a flashable zip I can download to install Ubuntu Touch with twrp or such?

We do not support installing Ubuntu Touch with flashable zips.
Please read on to find out why:

Everyone helping in t.me/welcomeplus are volunteers helping people with install issues in their free time. As we already have to be able to provide support for over 80 devices we strive to make the installation procedure as simple and as straightforward as possible. With this goal in mind the ubports installer was created.

Ideally the process should be:
- enable usb debugging
- enable allow oem unlock [optionally depends on device]
- plug in
- run the installer
- ???
- profit

At worse volunteers in the welcome group can go through the installer logs or try an combination of simple toggles in the installer to see why with new users to see where it fails so that the process and be improved.

This makes it possible for anyone who has installed ubuntu touch on devices to assist any new user with the installation process.

Adding more ways to install, such a flashable zip or manual methods would add to the complexity to the troubleshooting process and create more work for volunteers.

More importantly those alternative methods do not guarantee a working recovery partition, which is crucial to keep the system up to date, this can lead to the wrong impression of the OS

For above reasons we can only provide support for installing Ubuntu Touch with the Ubports Installer.

26. Can I lock the bootloader once i have Ubuntu Touch installed?

No, you should not lock the bootloader after installing Ubuntu Touch. This will brick your phone. In some case you will need to contact the manufacturer to repair such a device.

For some detailed explanation on why the bootloader must stay unlocked please read this article.

27. What is offline charging?
Offline charging refers to the ability of devices to stay turned off for charging. On some devices this is broken. That means the device will turn on when you start charging it.

28. What do the version numbers of the release channels mean?

The version numbers seen in the update section are device specific, the device independent "update number" can be found in the about section of system settings.
At the moment of writing you'll see ubuntu 16.04 followed by a "update number". This "update number" follows a different naming scheme depending on the update channel:

For stable channel the update number is named with a pattern like OTA-24 (OTA = over the air) with the number incrementing with each stable update.

For release channel the updates are named after the year and week number of their release like 2022-W47 (week 47 of the year 2022). Year and week are incrementing.

For the devel channel the updates are named after the date they are released so you'll see something like ubuntu 16.04 (2022-11-24).

29. How do I report a bug 🪲?

Reporting bugs is a great way to contribute. Only if developers know about an issue can they try to fix it.

You are not sure where that issue should be reported? You think it might be a system issue? A general approach is described in our docs. Please follow those instructions (check if already reported, reproduce and document which steps exactly do cause the issue, report or comment).

Prefered is a report at a specific app or component. Decide/guess if it might be caused by a certain system component or an individual app. In most cases issues (🪲) are tracked in the corresponding gitlab or github repository of the component or app.
a) For apps check their page in OpenStore app or on the OpenStore website. There is almost always a link for the bug tracker. Report your issue there.
b) For system components you need to guess a bit. They are hosted either on gitlab or on github. Try to find the repo that you consider might be causing the issue and report your bug there. If that is not the correct place, someone will likely tell you and the report can be moved.

What to include in a good bug report:
- name of device, release channel and version of UT
- steps to reproduce
- logs if possible
- screenshots
- a description of what happened and what you would expect to see
- if known, info if other users can confirm that issue

30. Is there a way to move the launcher to the right side of the device instead of the left side?

Technically, of course everything can be done. But in UT the edges do have certain actions assigned to them like triggering the app drawer, switching between apps, opening the indicators or bottom edge. In order to move the launcher to the right, the whole interaction system for all those actions would need to be rewritten and swapped left/right. The code base would likely be bigger, that means harder to maintain.
So for reasons of workload, stability and maintainability the answer is: no, this is not going to happen.

31. Is Ubuntu Touch fully open source?

Ubuntu Touch is fully open source, however the drivers that are needed for utilizing the hardware might be proprietary. Then they can not be distributed with Ubuntu Touch. This is the reason why installing the correct Android version, before installing Ubuntu Touch, is crucial.
For more details about that interaction, please see https://t.me/UTFAQ/42.

32. Where can I get the source code?

There is not one file or zip holding Ubuntu Touch's source code.
Ubuntu Touch is based on Ubuntu. That is why we keep the Ubuntu numbering and naming for main versions like 20.04 focal or 16.04 xenial. However Ubuntu Touch does make modifications and adds new software on top of Ubuntu to provide the best convergent experience.
Ubuntu Touch's source code can be found in over 400 repositories on Gitlab and Github:
https://github.com/ubports
https://gitlab.com/ubports
The Ubuntu source code can be found in the Ubuntu code base.

33. What is this circle with dots on the lock screen about?

The dots represent the days of the month. The center of the circle gives you statistics depending on your usage like number of photos taken or messages received on that day. The size of the dot representing that day grows with the number.
More details are explained in this blogpost: https://ubports.com/de/blog/ubports-blogs-nachrichten-1/post/ubuntu-touch-lock-screen-3060

34. When will device ABC be ported for UT? When will device ABC be ported to focal?

For most devices there is no clear answer to that question. It will happen, when someone does the work. It's community work, no time frames with that. A porter would need to do it. No one except the porter (someone with that device in their hands) knows when that will be or if it will be at all. Your best option is to kindly ask the porter (contact generally on devices page).

A few devices with preinstalled UT are done by companies, Volla Phone for example. They might have time frames. Ask the company for details.

For more info on porting please see FAQ no. 3 and 4.

35. Why does GPS not work or take very long to get a fix on UT?

For GPS to work, a device needs to "know" where the satellites are roughly positioned to calculate the position intersection. This data is called almanac data.

Ubuntu Touch (currently) uses pure GPS, no aGPS (assisted GPS at Wikipedia). That means it only uses the pure satellite data to download the almanac and work out the position. This is very slow. Other systems generally provide services where almanac data is downloaded e.g. via mobile data, which much quicker.

To speed up getting a position fix you can:
- make sure you start outside with clear, unobstructed view to the sky = the satellites
- wait without moving the device, initial fix can take several minutes (up to half an hour)

Almanac data does expire over the time. Only the first fix in one area takes long. Consecutive usage of GPS in the same area will be much quicker to get a fix. If you don't use GPS for a longer time or in a different area, the first fix will again take a while, since new almanac data needs to be downloaded.

36. Is device xyz good for me? Which device is the best for me?

To be honest, this question can hardly be truly answered by anyone, because we are not you 😉.
No one knows what you wish to do with a device or wich apps you require to work. No one knows which hardware features are important to you. No one knows how much money you have available to spend on a device.

So please check yourself:
1. devices specs
Head for our Devices page. That page lists specs for all devices where Ubuntu Touch can be installed on and specific (+global) issues. Go through the feature matrix and ensure the device you pick has got all bits working that you require.
2. Apps
Head for OpenStore, our app store. See if you find all the apps you need. Be aware that you can't simply run Android or iOS apps on Ubuntu Touch.
You may be able to run Android apps to some extend with Waydroid though. Also some desktop apps may work with Libertine or as snap. But only with limited system integration.

If you then have further questions, please head to our main group and ask specific questions. The more specific a question is, the more likely you will get a good answer.

Good luck and successful searching!

37. Why is there no home screen with app shortcuts or an empty home screen?

UT is designed different than Android (its not Android 😉). It uses the launcher and the drawer to provide app shortcuts. An empty home screen would only show the background image, which you could also do in the gallery or with the show desktop app.
In earlier versions of Ubuntu Touch there where so called Scopes, that made use of the desktop. But they where removed due to instability issues and maintenance burden.
There is an app, launcher modular and home, that kind of provides a home screen with apps and widgets.
But there is right now no option to choose this as part of the system. Someone would need to integrate it. But this is difficult to make sure stability is guaranteed. It would need someone (™️) to do this work.