If you are looking forward to a OSTree/Flatpak/GNOME community-driven phone OS, that makes two of us but, how far are we?
Well, there are multiple projects working on the necessary technology, e.g. Pinephone (hardware), PostmarketOS (sofware), Librem (both), and others. To my knowledge, only Fedora on the Pinephone group is considering such goal but, are our Flatpak applications ready?
This weekend project aims to provide a bit more clarity.
Given a refurbished Moto G4 Play phone and a custom postmarketOS image containing only Phosh, Terminal and Flatpak, how close can I get to my regular phone workflow?
- Built with GTK and other GNOME technologies.
- Main features working on a real mobile device.
- Available on flathub.
| AppId | Category | Issues | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| org.gnome.Epiphany | Internet | Check videos performance | |
| org.gnome.Geary | Internet | Won't fit in screen | Reduce content min-width |
| org.librehunt.Organizer | Documents | ||
| org.gnome.Documents | Documents | Won't start | Reduce content min-width |
| org.gnome.Evince | Documents | Won't fit in screen | Reduce content min-width and port to GtkFileChooserNative |
| org.gnome.Fractal | Social | ||
| re.sonny.Tangram | Social | Won't fit in screen | Reduce headerbar min-width |
| uk.co.ibboard.cawbird | Social | ||
| com.github.bleakgrey.tootle | Social | Won't respond | |
| org.gnome.clocks | Information | ||
| org.gnome.Weather | Information | Won't fit in screen | |
| org.gabmus.gfeeds | Information | ||
| org.gnome.Calendar | Information | Won't fit in screen | Not touchscreen friendly and reduce headerbar min-width |
| org.gnome.eog | Image | Won't fit in screen | Reduce headerbar min-width |
| org.gnome.Lollypop | Audio | ||
| de.haeckerfelix.Shortwave | Audio | ||
| org.gnome.Podcasts | Audio | ||
| org.gnome.SoundRecorder | Audio | ||
| com.github.Johnn3y.Forklift | Video | ||
| org.gnome.gitlab.YaLTeR.VideoTrimmer | Video | Won't show file chooser | Works with GtkFileChooser downstream patches |
| io.github.celluloid_player.Celluloid | Video | ||
| org.gnome.Cheese | Video | Won't fit in screen | Reduce controls min-width |
| org.gabmus.notorious | Utilities | ||
| com.uploadedlobster.peek | Utilities | Won't fit in screen | Port to GtkFileChooserNative |
| org.gnome.Calculator | Utilities | ||
| org.gnome.Contacts | Utilities | ||
| org.gnome.Maps | Utilities | ||
| com.github.tchx84.Flatseal | Utilities | ||
| com.github.bilelmoussaoui.Authenticator | Utilities | ||
| de.haeckerfelix.Fragments | Utilities | Won't fit in screen | Port to GtkFileChooserNative |
| com.frac_tion.teleport | Utilities | Works on master | |
| dev.tchx84.Portfolio | Utilities |
| AppId | Category | Issues | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Screenshot | Utilities | Only available on nightly | |
| Flashlight | Utilities | Can't find it anywhere | |
| Usage | Utilities | Only available on nightly |
| Issue | Description | Blocker | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Won't fit in screen | The application window won't shrink enough to fit inside the device screen, or main features rely on GTK widgets that won't shrink | YES | A few attempts to fix GtkFileChooser, both for EndlessOS and Librem. I authored EndlessOS fixes,so I revived these here |
| Small popovers | Using popovers for menu options works great in the desktop but requires too much dexterity on small devices | NO | |
| Buttons in the headerbar | Main features require users to use the secondary hand which occludes the content and it feels awkward | NO |
| Workflow | Description | Supported | Available | Missing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Developer | Develop Flatpak applications | YES | Terminal Flatpak | Develop on computer, build on the phone, e.g. using ssh | |
| Adopter | Interact with developers and help testing applications | YES | Epiphany Fractal Notorious Flatseal | ||
| Enthusiast | Situational use and help promote the vision | YES | GFeeds Lollypop Shortwave Podcasts | These applications are great examples | |
| Regular | Personal use for basic tasks | NO | Portfolio Clocks Calculator Contacts SoundRecorder Screenshot | Documents Cheese Calendar | |
| Daily | Personal use for all tasks | NO | Organizer Forklift Cawbird Authenticator Maps Usage Teleport Celluloid | Geary Evince EoG Flashlight Tangram Tootle Weather Peek Fragments VideoTrimmer |
NOTE: Each workflow requires the previous workflow to be supported.
NOTE: This reflects my workflows, yours might differ, and that's OK.
- Use GtkFileChooserNative for portal support and, potentially, benefitting from downstream GTK patches.
- Extra padding on menu items (see this example).
- Whenever possible, reduce arbitrary width-requests to 360.
If you have any suggestion just send a PR to this repo.