Introduction
Phosh 0.56.0, the latest major release of the graphical shell for mobile devices, comes packed with new features and improvements. This graphical shell, which has gained popularity due to its flexibility and integration with mobile Linux distributions, continues to evolve to meet user needs.
New Features
Load Meter Plugin
One of the standout additions in this release is the new load meter plugin for the top bar. This plugin provides users with an overview of their device's current workload, particularly useful for developers and advanced users who wish to monitor performance.
Application Management
Phosh 0.56.0 now allows hiding applications from the app grid when GNOME Software is not in use. This is especially beneficial for immutable distro variants like postmarketOS Duranium and Phosh’s BengalOS, allowing users to hide applications shipped with the base image.
Improvements and Bug Fixes
Startup Optimizations
This release introduces significant optimizations for application startup. By tracking the apps the system forks, Phosh can now allocate more time during startup, thus avoiding slow startup notifications, for example, with Firefox.
Enhanced Mobile Settings
Users can now enable the Syncthing plugin via mobile settings, and a notification is displayed when an app cannot be uninstalled. These enhancements contribute to a better user experience by simplifying app management.
Other Improvements
- Lock screen rotation on tablets
- Lock screen style improvements
- Crash and memory leak fixes
- Updated translations for multiple languages
Community Contributions
This release saw contributions from numerous developers, including Domenico Iezzi, Gotam Gorabh, and Guido Günther. The diversity of contributors demonstrates the community's commitment to the continuous development of Phosh.
Phoc and Stevia: Evolving Ecosystem
Phoc 0.56.0
The Wayland compositor for mobile devices, Phoc, has been updated to wlroots 0.20.1, featuring internal cleanups and support for new protocols like xdg-toplevel-tag-v1.
Stevia 0.56.0
The on-screen keyboard Stevia also received significant updates, such as specifying default layout per app and adding cursor keys to the shortcuts bar by default.
Conclusion
Phosh 0.56.0 continues to strengthen its position as a flexible and powerful graphical shell for mobile devices. With its new features and improvements, it addresses the growing needs of users and developers.
Let's discuss your project in 15 minutes.