Ubuntu Touch Making Progress Toward Ubuntu 26.04, Vulkan & App Updates

Following last week's release of Ubuntu Touch 24.04-2.0 for this community-maintained, mobile flavor of Ubuntu Linux, more details are now available on their upcoming development efforts and eventual transition to an Ubuntu 26.04 base.

The Ubuntu Touch Q&A 195 is now published (well, it reports 25 July but didn't hit their RSS feed until yesterday) that outlines their current development efforts and roadmap toward upcoming releases. With Ubuntu Touch 24.04-2.0 now shipping their is partial support for Vulkan in some scenarios, Widevine support for DRM content streaming, browser updates, and improved device encryption handling, among other changes.

Some of the development efforts ongoing are PulseAudio integration updates, integrating ports based on Halium 16 for newer Android device support, kernel patching to enable freezing user processes rather than sleeping for extended battery life, and experiments with Waydroid for supporting the Play Integrity API. If they can pull off Play Integrity support, they can get some Android banking apps and the like working on Ubuntu Touch.

A number of the Ubuntu Touch apps have recently been updated and continue to see new work, Vulkan support in Snap packages is being worked on, and various security improvements.

Ubuntu Touch 24.04-2.1 is planned to ship minor improvements and fixes over the recent -2.0 release. The bigger milestone ahead though is Ubuntu 26.04-1.0 for shifting to an Ubuntu 26.04 LTS base. There is no timeline for releasing Ubuntu Touch 26.04-1.0 but it's a goal being worked toward. More details can be found at UBports.com.