Ubuntu Touch
Ranked 7 of 14 mobile operating systems by recommenders
People recommend its open Linux freedom, root access, clean interface and stable daily use. Common caveat: few apps, and volunteers now maintain it after Canonical defunded it.
People recommend its open Linux freedom, root access, clean interface and stable daily use. Common caveat: few apps, and volunteers now maintain it after Canonical defunded it.
53 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 35
- criticize it
- 18
- approval share
- 66%
Recommended in 12 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 7 years
Median of the 5 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 35 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.9 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 12 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Stable, reliable daily use
“daily-driving Ubuntu Touch since 2019 ... it is working like a charm”
Comment from 17 Aug 2026 in “Fairphone 6 and PostmarketOS working main camera” “Ubuntu Touch has a really active community and it's very stable”
Comment from 25 Jan 2026 in “Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android” “Last time I run it also seemed fairly stable/bug-free”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “A new Android malware from Google” - Comment from 20 Feb 2026 in “F-Droid: "Keep Android Open"”
- Comment from 18 Aug 2026 in “Fairphone 6 and PostmarketOS working main camera”
Good hardware support
“Even if community ports, they all seem to have high hardware support, and is all very clearly documented.”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “A new Android malware from Google” “Ubuntu Touch so far has the best hardware compatibility for things like camera and battery life.”
Comment from 25 Jan 2026 in “Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android” “I was under the impression that Ubuntu Touch worked just fine with the Fairphone 5”
Comment from 25 Jan 2026 in “Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android” - Comment from 22 May 2026 in “AI is killing the cheap smartphone”
- Comment from 25 Jan 2026 in “Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android”
Active, welcoming community
“really nice ecosystem and community, you can run many Android apks”
Comment from 13 Nov 2025 in “Android developer verification: Early access starts” “Ubuntu Touch has a really active community and it's very stable”
Comment from 25 Jan 2026 in “Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android” “it's a great OS with massive potential and active community”
Comment from 26 Jun 2026 in “Jolla Phone, Over 13 500 units sold” - Comment from 25 Jan 2026 in “Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android”
Full root access and freedom
“Ubuntu Touch (or any Linux distro for that matter) offers drastically more freedom than GrapheneOS or any other Android distribution.”
Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17 and official releases are coming soon” “You'd have full root access, sideloading etc and none of that corporate control”
Comment from 13 Mar 2026 in “Your Phone Is an Entire Computer” “gives you the freedom of Linux with full root access”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “iPhone Duo”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Few apps and no app development
“no apps for just basic things renders it useless”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “/e/OS is a complete "deGoogled", mobile ecosystem” “The lack of available apps, the lack of app development in general for the platform was pretty eye opening.”
Comment from 28 Apr 2026 in “Phone is about to stop being yours” “you can't really run any Linux app, it has to be written to support their specific display manager”
Comment from 25 Jan 2026 in “Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android” - Comment from 5 Aug 2026 in “I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux”
Development stalled after funding ended
“Ubuntu Touch did seem like it had a future, but it was a massive sink for Canonical so it was defunded as well”
Comment from 20 Feb 2026 in “F-Droid: "Keep Android Open"” “their gitlab repo seems abandoned since way before the latest release and all "how to get involved" articles eventually point to 404 pages”
Comment from 16 May 2026 in “Where to buy a non-Apple, non-Google smartphone” Weaker privacy and control than alternatives
“How do they let the user control the tech if they don't offer users a proper fine-grained run-time permission model”
Comment from 28 Oct 2026 in “The Advantages of Mobile Linux over AOSP (LineageOS, CrDroid, GrapheneOS, etc.)” “Ubuntu Touch is drastically less private and secure than AOSP let alone GrapheneOS.”
Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17 and official releases are coming soon” “Both Ubuntu and GrapheneOS don't allow you to fully control you phone”
Comment from 16 Aug 2026 in “Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker” Rough experience compared to native phones
“I found Ubuntu Touch/ubports to be disappointing so I wouldn't bother with that either.”
Comment from 25 Jul 2026 in “Android May Soon Restrict On-Device ADB” “it had very bad and poor experience compared to native experience of that mobile”
Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17 and official releases are coming soon” “Freedom to get a stroke from an incomplete toy OS?”
Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17 and official releases are coming soon”
Other mobile operating systems people recommend
The four most recommended other mobile operating systems, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GrapheneOS | 895 | 312 | 74% | 13 | 1 yr87 owners | Approved |
| Android | 372 | 694 | 35% | 13 | 10 yrs26 owners | — |
| Apple iOS | 308 | 841 | 27% | 12 | 3 yrs40 owners | — |
| LineageOS | 186 | 66 | 74% | 13 | 10 yrs8 owners | Approved |
| Ubuntu TouchThis page | 35 | 18 | 66% | 12 | 7 yrs5 owners | — |
What people said
40 of the 68 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“How do they let the user control the tech if they don't offer users a proper fine-grained run-time permission model”
“This is not the case on Ubuntu Touch for example”
“I still have a phone somewhere with Ubuntu Touch on it.”
“gives you the freedom of Linux with full root access”
“People who utilize distro's like Ubuntu touch or postmarketOS demand that even firmware level binaries are open sourced.”
“it is working like a charm”
“daily-driving Ubuntu Touch since 2019 ... it is working like a charm”
“Both Ubuntu and GrapheneOS don't allow you to fully control you phone”
“The lack of apps and VoLTE support really soured me on it ever working here.”
“I found Ubuntu Touch/ubports to be disappointing so I wouldn't bother with that either.”
“"Real" here is very stretched, it is more on the Android than Fedora side”
“Even if community ports, they all seem to have high hardware support, and is all very clearly documented.”
“Last time I run it also seemed fairly stable/bug-free”
“I thought the interface was clean and nice and it was fun to hack on.”
“it's a great OS with massive potential and active community”
“the Ubuntu Touch that runs on it plugs into a screen and keyboard and works like a desktop as well as a phone”
“Freedom to get a stroke from an incomplete toy OS?”
“Ubuntu Touch (or any Linux distro for that matter) offers drastically more freedom than GrapheneOS or any other Android distribution.”
“Ubuntu Touch is drastically less private and secure than AOSP let alone GrapheneOS.”
“it had very bad and poor experience compared to native experience of that mobile”
“you could just use Linux instead of Android if that's enough for your needs”
“Poco X3 has excellent support for Ubuntu Touch”
“their gitlab repo seems abandoned since way before the latest release and all "how to get involved" articles eventually point to 404 pages”
“way ahead of Android and iOS when it came out”
“The lack of available apps, the lack of app development in general for the platform was pretty eye opening.”
“some live on as volunteer efforts (eg. ubuntu touch)”
“You'd have full root access, sideloading etc and none of that corporate control”
“no apps for just basic things renders it useless”
“Music works, I can send SMS messages and use the phone, timers and alarms work, and it takes pictures well enough.”
“It's working like a charm.”
“Ubuntu Touch did seem like it had a future, but it was a massive sink for Canonical so it was defunded as well”
“that's why they have some good compatibility”
“I was under the impression that Ubuntu Touch worked just fine with the Fairphone 5”
“you can't really run any Linux app, it has to be written to support their specific display manager”
“Ubuntu Touch so far has the best hardware compatibility for things like camera and battery life.”
“Ubuntu Touch has amazing UX, IMO. Sadly it's been non-viable for practically forever”
“The community is amazing and welcoming.”
“Ubuntu Touch has a really active community and it's very stable”
“while I love the idea it seems that the implementation is the worst of both worlds”
“really nice ecosystem and community, you can run many Android apks”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.