# Ubuntu Touch Developer Mode **URL:** \ **Category:** Ubuntu Touch\ **Created:** [February 6, 2026, 3:30am UTC](https://community.braxtech.net/t/ubuntu-touch-developer-mode/4138 "2026-02-06T03:30:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lazarus](https://community.braxtech.net/user_avatar/community.braxtech.net/lazarus/32/562_2.png) [@Lazarus](https://community.braxtech.net/u/Lazarus)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2026, 3:30am UTC](https://community.braxtech.net/t/ubuntu-touch-developer-mode/4138/1 "2026-02-06T03:30:17Z")
The Ubuntu Touch system is in a read only state outside of /home/phablet. There is this developer mode which can be enabled at the bottom of the settings page. It indicates that the system can be changed by connecting it to another device. How would this be done? An ssh session?🤔 ![Developer mode](https://community.braxtech.net/uploads/default/original/2X/e/e64df1c3c40c90cbde96d338c261163de5d886bc.png) ---
**Author:** ![george](https://community.braxtech.net/user_avatar/community.braxtech.net/george/32/1417_2.png) [@george](https://community.braxtech.net/u/george)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2026, 6:56am UTC](https://community.braxtech.net/t/ubuntu-touch-developer-mode/4138/2 "2026-02-06T06:56:41Z")
This is relevant, [App development - UBports documentation](https://docs.ubports.com/en/latest/appdev/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Lazarus](https://community.braxtech.net/user_avatar/community.braxtech.net/lazarus/32/562_2.png) [@Lazarus](https://community.braxtech.net/u/Lazarus)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2026, 4:59am UTC](https://community.braxtech.net/t/ubuntu-touch-developer-mode/4138/3 "2026-02-07T04:59:52Z")
I did get this to install on UT using the snap instructions. I then went though building a package. I’m not sure if it was using things locally which I didn’t have or if it went onto GitHub and downloaded the sources for the package I was building which was vlc. I didn’t get an error and it made a new vlc directory with lots of files but nothing got installed. I need to go on their forums and see what help I can find there. This seems to be a useful tool that almost works! ---
**Author:** ![george](https://community.braxtech.net/user_avatar/community.braxtech.net/george/32/1417_2.png) [@george](https://community.braxtech.net/u/george)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2026, 6:41am UTC](https://community.braxtech.net/t/ubuntu-touch-developer-mode/4138/4 "2026-02-07T06:41:32Z")
If you built a package there should be somewhere one `.snap` file that contains everything. Logically during the snap generation it downloaded the source from some repository, it should be visible by the steps you followed. Your pacakege will be installed through terminal `sudo snap install your_package.snap --dangerous` The `--dangerous` switch skips the signature check, the signing should be done by UBports with their private key. Use `snap --help` or `snap -h` for more infromation. ---
**Author:** ![Lazarus](https://community.braxtech.net/user_avatar/community.braxtech.net/lazarus/32/562_2.png) [@Lazarus](https://community.braxtech.net/u/Lazarus)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2026, 6:54pm UTC](https://community.braxtech.net/t/ubuntu-touch-developer-mode/4138/5 "2026-02-07T18:54:58Z")
Nice-I will look for this! ---
**Author:** ![Lazarus](https://community.braxtech.net/user_avatar/community.braxtech.net/lazarus/32/562_2.png) [@Lazarus](https://community.braxtech.net/u/Lazarus)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2026, 8:48pm UTC](https://community.braxtech.net/t/ubuntu-touch-developer-mode/4138/6 "2026-02-07T20:48:42Z")
OK-I just looked at the directories and files it built. It generates a new folder where u are at the time u run: > clickable create so I have a new directory called vlc there and files with directories within that but no .snap file. Is clickable a snap package creator? ---
**Author:** ![george](https://community.braxtech.net/user_avatar/community.braxtech.net/george/32/1417_2.png) [@george](https://community.braxtech.net/u/george)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2026, 8:58pm UTC](https://community.braxtech.net/t/ubuntu-touch-developer-mode/4138/7 "2026-02-07T20:58:51Z")
The developer mode runs the apps live on the phone like Android Studio. The snap generation needs this lengthy process, [Craft a snap - Snapcraft 8.14.0 documentation](https://documentation.ubuntu.com/snapcraft/stable/tutorials/craft-a-snap/) You would use the snap way in order to pack many dependencies and place them in the system directories that you can’t access and it wouldn’t be good to modify them manually. It says that it’s only for AMD64, so there should be a guide for the UT specifically, on the computer you have to do cross-compiling , that is compile for aarch64 on an amd64 machine. It seems Clickable does the compilation but the packaging should be done in some other way, [Clickable — Clickable 8.7.0 documentation](https://clickable-ut.dev/en/latest/) Study this, [Creating Snaps on Ubuntu Touch | Ubuntu](https://ubuntu.com/blog/creating-snaps-on-ubuntu-touch) The binaries from other projects like ArchLinux should be enough to be packaged in a snap. ---
**Author:** ![Lazarus](https://community.braxtech.net/user_avatar/community.braxtech.net/lazarus/32/562_2.png) [@Lazarus](https://community.braxtech.net/u/Lazarus)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2026, 9:54pm UTC](https://community.braxtech.net/t/ubuntu-touch-developer-mode/4138/8 "2026-02-07T21:54:44Z")
Well I just built vlc again from my new clickable directory. Here was the output which was fast from the BraX3 running UT: ![clickable-success](https://community.braxtech.net/uploads/default/original/2X/d/d086d4241cf9e888d786e91b7cc5bfc099ce0610.png) I then went into that directory and ran: > clickable VLC did not appear. I read through that snap creation document and it seems I also need to create snapcraft on my UT BraX3. I will do this also! ---
**Author:** ![george](https://community.braxtech.net/user_avatar/community.braxtech.net/george/32/1417_2.png) [@george](https://community.braxtech.net/u/george)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2026, 10:42pm UTC](https://community.braxtech.net/t/ubuntu-touch-developer-mode/4138/9 "2026-02-07T22:42:37Z")
Somewhere should be the output of the compilation, probably a single executable. Snapcraft builds the snaps, it may be installable as a snap from the store. ---
**Author:** ![Lazarus](https://community.braxtech.net/user_avatar/community.braxtech.net/lazarus/32/562_2.png) [@Lazarus](https://community.braxtech.net/u/Lazarus)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 1:14am UTC](https://community.braxtech.net/t/ubuntu-touch-developer-mode/4138/10 "2026-02-08T01:14:34Z")
it’s complaining about /home/phablet/snap not being in the path and SE Linux not working. Would that prevent snapcraft from installing? ---
**Author:** ![Lazarus](https://community.braxtech.net/user_avatar/community.braxtech.net/lazarus/32/562_2.png) [@Lazarus](https://community.braxtech.net/u/Lazarus)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 2:19am UTC](https://community.braxtech.net/t/ubuntu-touch-developer-mode/4138/11 "2026-02-08T02:19:25Z")
I don’t know if snapcraft can run on the BraX3 in UT. I added the home snap directory to the path of user phablet and root but I still get SE Linux errors but now about not being able to write where it wants. Can snapcraft cross compile? I’m thinking about copying my UT clickable directory to my Linux Mint computer and install snapcraft there. ---
**Author:** ![george](https://community.braxtech.net/user_avatar/community.braxtech.net/george/32/1417_2.png) [@george](https://community.braxtech.net/u/george)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 9:12am UTC](https://community.braxtech.net/t/ubuntu-touch-developer-mode/4138/12 "2026-02-08T09:12:49Z")
it will take some time to understand and achieve the snaps, for the time being try to run as more binaries as you can, the AI says that UT can run the legacy APT packaging system, you have the same problems of not been able to write in the system directories, this is on purpose in order to run only sandboxed apps, it says that you can remount the system as writable but don’t do this the way is to use Libertine containers to install `.deb` packages, so the way would be to repack different distribution packages as `.deb` and install through Libertine Luckily UT uses Qt that most modern builds rely on. for VLC and for most applications the directory they look into for the dependencies is hard-coded during compilation so it’s easier to skip this by deploying the package installer what is the problem with the phone ? can it detect the SIM or it’s completely dead in that respect? ---
**Author:** ![Lazarus](https://community.braxtech.net/user_avatar/community.braxtech.net/lazarus/32/562_2.png) [@Lazarus](https://community.braxtech.net/u/Lazarus)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 11:06am UTC](https://community.braxtech.net/t/ubuntu-touch-developer-mode/4138/13 "2026-02-08T11:06:34Z")
9 out of 10 times the phone doesn’t detect the Sim card. When it does the APN location given by my provider don’t work. ---
**Author:** ![george](https://community.braxtech.net/user_avatar/community.braxtech.net/george/32/1417_2.png) [@george](https://community.braxtech.net/u/george)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 11:20am UTC](https://community.braxtech.net/t/ubuntu-touch-developer-mode/4138/14 "2026-02-08T11:20:41Z")
Pop the tray, run the following command, close the tray and do various actions related to the phone to get the logs `dmesg --follow --human` save to file `dmesg > logfile` you should see errors related to the SIM that will help to detect the problem and fix it ---
**Author:** ![Lazarus](https://community.braxtech.net/user_avatar/community.braxtech.net/lazarus/32/562_2.png) [@Lazarus](https://community.braxtech.net/u/Lazarus)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 8:56pm UTC](https://community.braxtech.net/t/ubuntu-touch-developer-mode/4138/15 "2026-02-08T20:56:53Z")
U mean eject an empty tray with a straight paper clip while the phone is powered on? ---
**Author:** ![george](https://community.braxtech.net/user_avatar/community.braxtech.net/george/32/1417_2.png) [@george](https://community.braxtech.net/u/george)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 9:02pm UTC](https://community.braxtech.net/t/ubuntu-touch-developer-mode/4138/16 "2026-02-08T21:02:37Z")
Not empty, load a SIM to watch the messages when it fails to recognize the card. On Android the SIM can be loaded while the phone is on, no need for reboot. In fact the dmesg logs since the beginning so you can also boot the phone with the card inside and then continue to configure the things that don’t work. The --follow is only for you to see the messages live, you can just save the dmesg in a file at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Lazarus](https://community.braxtech.net/user_avatar/community.braxtech.net/lazarus/32/562_2.png) [@Lazarus](https://community.braxtech.net/u/Lazarus)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 10:05pm UTC](https://community.braxtech.net/t/ubuntu-touch-developer-mode/4138/17 "2026-02-08T22:05:30Z")
I thought USA Sims wouldn’t work with UT because of VoLTE. My carrier is Mint Mobile, and Brave AI says this: > Mint Mobile, which operates on T-Mobile’s network, requires VoLTE for voice calls. This technology provides higher-quality calls with faster connection times compared to older voice networks. While VoLTE is supported by Mint Mobile, your phone must also be VoLTE-compatible to use the feature. Are u running UT on your pine phone and are u in the USA? ---
**Author:** ![george](https://community.braxtech.net/user_avatar/community.braxtech.net/george/32/1417_2.png) [@george](https://community.braxtech.net/u/george)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 10:34pm UTC](https://community.braxtech.net/t/ubuntu-touch-developer-mode/4138/18 "2026-02-08T22:34:03Z")
If the carrier doesn’t block your IMEI it works. A lot of people have mint here. ---
**Author:** ![Lazarus](https://community.braxtech.net/user_avatar/community.braxtech.net/lazarus/32/562_2.png) [@Lazarus](https://community.braxtech.net/u/Lazarus)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 11:00pm UTC](https://community.braxtech.net/t/ubuntu-touch-developer-mode/4138/19 "2026-02-08T23:00:50Z")
so can u make phone calls from Ubuntu Touch on another phone? ---
**Author:** ![george](https://community.braxtech.net/user_avatar/community.braxtech.net/george/32/1417_2.png) [@george](https://community.braxtech.net/u/george)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2026, 3:44am UTC](https://community.braxtech.net/t/ubuntu-touch-developer-mode/4138/20 "2026-02-09T03:44:41Z")
I have tested it only on Pinephone but the situation is much easier there because the modem is a separate USB device, phone, SMS and internet all work. [Next page](https://community.braxtech.net/t/ubuntu-touch-developer-mode/4138.md?page=2)