06 Linux on the handset
Ubuntu Touch
A convergent Linux phone with a maintained device roster and no advertising identifier.
- Role
- Mobile OS
- Licence
- GPL / mixed
- Since
- 2013
- Upstream
- Project site ↗
Ubuntu Touch is a Linux operating system for phones, maintained by the UBports community since Canonical stepped away in 2017. We deploy it where a handset needs to be a computer the organisation controls.
Why we still choose it
A field technician’s device collects data whether or not anyone intended it to. Ubuntu Touch has no advertising identifier, no default cloud sync and no app store telemetry, so a fleet of phones becomes ordinary managed hardware instead of a compliance liability.
Convergence is the other half. Dock the handset and it becomes a desktop session. For staff who need one device instead of two, that is a real operational saving.
Where it fits
Field services, logistics, healthcare, and anywhere a device handles personal data under supervision. Applications are ordinary web or Qt applications, and fleet provisioning is a Nix flake like everything else we hand over.
Where it falls short
The list of supported devices is finite and you have to choose hardware from it, which decides most evaluations. There are few applications, so anything beyond the basics you will be building yourself. Anyone expecting the polish of a flagship Android handset will be disappointed.
We evaluate it against Sailfish OS and postmarketOS instead of assuming it wins, and for a given set of devices two of the three are usually wrong.