Ubuntu Touch | Installation and Review.

5 min readMay 30, 2021

Ubuntu Touch was introduced in 2013 by Canonical Ltd, the project is being developed by the UBports community. In 2011 the project was started under Canonical Ltd but after 2017 they announced that they will terminate this project lack of supports but UBports arrived and they adopt the project for further development. In the beginning, in 2013 they 1st launched Ubuntu Touch 1.0, only Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4 phone had the primary support.

Nowadays, Linux is getting popular from the server, workstation to wearables they are truly rocking the tech with millions of developers. Being an Open source project, Linux has more stability and security protection than any OS.

Ubuntu touch as a Mobile OS,

I will say still any OS or custom ROM can beat Ubuntu touch in this market, but I’m hoping best to see Ubuntu touch as a stable and primary OS for mobiles. I’ve tested the OS in my Redmi note 7 (lavender). I was truly amazed by the OS, cause using Linux based distro on a PC is cool and using a Linux distro on a phone is coolest. So let’s get to the installation part.

Installation:

Custom Recovery Method :

Please don’t try this if you don’t know proper custom OS flashing or take advice from an expert.

My device is: Xiaomi Redmi Note 7

Code Name: Lavender

Custom Recovery: Orange Fox

Bootloader Unlocked

Download 3 files for your device or follow the XDA thread for installation,

Lineage OS 16
Halium-boot.img
ubports_GSI_installer_v9.zip

To check your device please visit here :

Choose your device * Ubuntu Touch * Linux Phone

If you are using a Xiaomi device than unlock your bootloader and install a custom recovery, I recommend Orange Fox Recovery. After flashing custom recovery than boot your device in custom recovery holding your phones power and volume up button at the same time. First, make a backup of your boot and other things. Remember YOU WILL LOSE YOUR DATA IN THIS PROCESS so backup your data before flashing.

Then move to wipe page and wipe — Dalvik / Cache, Cache, System, Vendor, Data. After wiping those then move to the installation. 1st flash Lineage OS 16 and then flash Halium-boot.img and select boot in the flash section, otherwise your device won’t boot, now flash ubports_gsi_installer reboot your system. It will take up to 10 -20 mins in 1st boot. So hold a cup of coffee and wait.

UBports Installer Method :

Visit here to know about ubports installer method, they have great documentation and try to follow any tutorial from YouTube.

Install Ubuntu Touch — UBports documentation

How is Ubuntu Touch?

in words it’s great! but it’s still not usable for primary ROM or OS. Let me share some thoughts and pictures with you guys. I was amazed by the project, It was like a dream for us who develop software or do deployment things. I always wanted to have an on the go virtual server to use. So it was a great time with the Ubuntu touch. The UI was okay, but it needs to be more efficient to use, talking about the status bar or notification panel 1st time I thought it was copied from android KitKat but no, it has a gesture too. System Settings was good, but the main problem is the software or app store. There is a little number of apps are in the Software Store.

TERMINAL: The most amazing thing and workable thing in Ubuntu Touch is TERMINAL, It’s a never-ending thing for a developer to have a terminal console in his mobile, I was using TERMUX for the last 4 years, but there’s so much sacrifice was going on, less customization, restrictions, proper packages and other things. But having a native Linux terminal is the best thing for us. I’ve tested the terminal and it was good for me. Scripts were running smoothly and the local server, SSH, Port forwarding was ok. So in my case, I would say if you have a secondary phone and want to taste a little bit different then try Ubuntu Touch. Remember to follow the documentation and try to use official devices.

Issues :

It is not a stable OS so feel free to try, but it will be a buggy OS, System UI is a bit large, Only uses gestures to navigate. Little software support. The system was freezing in some cases. You can check issues on their website. If anyone has an issue with the passcode in Ubuntu touch, then It is “phablet”.