App development

You’d like to develop an app for Ubuntu Touch? Great!

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Quick start

Building your first app should be as simple as:

  • Install clickable

  • Plug in your Ubuntu Touch device

  • Enable developer mode in System Settings

  • Run clickable create

  • Choose “QML Only” from the list of app templates

  • Fill in the requested information for this new app

  • When the app has been generated, enter the newly created directory

  • Run clickable

Voilà you have your first app running on Ubuntu Touch!

Overview

Ubuntu Touch supports two kinds of apps: Firstly, native apps have their user interface written in QML or HTML and their business logic in JavaScript, C++, Python, Rust, or Go. Secondly, web apps are special containers to run websites in.

The following sections provide guides and API documentation.

Clickable is the main tool to build apps on Ubuntu Touch. It is an easy to use command line tool with a lot of great features. Clickable allows you to compile, build, test, and publish your app. It also provides various templates to get you started with app development.

You can use any code editor or IDE to work on the code. Then you build your app from the command line with Clickable.

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Applications are shipped as a click package and can be published on the official app store OpenStore. Note also that most apps in the OpenStore are open source and can serve as references and inspiration.

References and guides

This is a helpful and welcoming community and everything works better in teamwork! Looking for other developers that might want to collaborate with you on your app? Have questions that aren’t answered in the docs or want to chat with other Ubuntu Touch developers? Join our UBports UT App Dev Telegram group or chat with us on the UBports App Development forum! You can also check out our list of preinstalled apps. Contributions to those are greatly appreciated and directly reach a larger audience.

Maintainers wanted

All apps love contributions. But some core apps are lacking maintainers. Please check the list of core apps and see if you want to step up as new maintainer for one of our core apps. The maintainer reviews MR’s, triages and investigates issue reports and helps to develop the app.

The best way to start is by making some contributions and let the reviewers know that you are interested. Or join our matrix group at #ubcd:matrix.org and introduce yourself.