[Cialug] Ubuntu Touch for smartphones

[Kyle]

was super buggy last time i checked it out. was also an alpha at that time.
awesome to hear it’s doing a lot better! thanks for the update 😊

On Sun, Nov 23, 2025 at 2:51 PM Nicolai <nicolai-cialug at chocolatine.org>
wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Anyone running something besides iOS or Android? What do you run and
> why, and what are the pros and cons?
>
> I recently got an old "Android" phone (cheap for testing) and installed
> Ubuntu Touch on it:
>
> https://www.ubuntu-touch.io
>
> My initial impression is, this is awesome! :-)
>
> The installation was fairly simple despite some steps I'd never done
> before. You only need a Linux machine, a USB-A to USB-C cable for
> flashing, and a supported unlocked phone. The steps I was unfamiliar
> with all relate to Android, as I normally use iOS, and we iPhone
> commoners aren't allowed to mess with our own devices.
>
> This phone makes and receives calls, browses the web, sends and receives
> texts, takes pics, etc. There's a terminal app you can use to run some
> commands like ls etc. From what I've read, the terminal is fairly locked
> down, and if you want more than that then you can try postmarketOS which
> is intended to be real/full Linux on a smartphone. I'll try that next.
>
> https://postmarketos.org
>
> The performance of Ubuntu Touch is good, despite this phone being old.
>
> Looking around I see at least one TOTP authenticator app available but I
> haven't tried it yet.
>
> There are plenty of operating systems for people dissatisfied with
> iOS/Android or Apple/Google: Ubuntu Touch, postmarketOS, Mobian, PureOS,
> as well as some Android-based options like GrapheneOS and LineageOS. I'm
> kind of jealous of Android users because chances are, they have actual
> OS options. After this experience I feel that locked down phones are
> kind of demeaning and it's hard to imagine my next phone being something
> I don't control. Pixel and Fairphone are the most interesting.
>
> Nicolai
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