Does Aurora Store get official versions of apps direct from Google Play Store?
Aurora Store technically is the Google Play Store, it’s basically a different front-end for Google’s servers, so every application you download in Aurora comes directly from Google.
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Shouldn’t this be pinned somewhere? 
I nearly got robbed using a local transport app. Luckily, my bank saw the un2FA’d €100 charge as suspicious. Moovizy app from APKPure, penultimate version.
Now I’m trying Sailfish for the first time. It is a wonderful experience. Jolla-Devices.com did a great job preparing the phone with the free version (4.2). I could start using it right out of the box, without any problem. Regarding the user interface, I suppose it helps that I used a Nokia N9 some years ago.
To help other new Jolla Phone owners, I thought I would here describe some of the first steps I’m taking to get going.
To continue what I last wrote about (point 1), it was easy to transfer the VCF file from the computer to the new phone via Bluetooth. To import those contacts, it worked to under Settings → Apps → People directly select “From contact file”. (For some reason, I didn’t have success with “Start import wizard”.)
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Regarding point 2: After I had only done some basic things with the phone, I purchased the commercial version on shop.jolla.com using the same Jolla account that I use on the phone. Then I restarted the phone. On the phone, I went to Settings → System → “Sailfish OS updates”, pulled down to select “Check for updates” (twice?) and downloaded version 4.0.1.24. However, I’m afraid to install it, because I have read that downgrading the OS could break the device (I now have 4.2 free).
Strange, that definitely shouldn’t happen. Do you know how to use the terminal, and if so, could you post what the command ssu re says?
Do you mean 4.1.0.24?
The currently state of the paid version of 4.2.0.19 is “Early Access”. That means that advanced users get a chance to test the new OS version. Sometimes it’s working well, sometimes some hiccups occur.
Maybe you’re offered 4.1.0.24 because you’re not logged in to Early Access.
There are two options. You wait until 4.2.0.19 is available to all users, or you sign in to Early Access and try again for updates.
For this log in to your jolla account on https://account.jolla.com/ , scroll down to ‘Early access to Sailfish OS releases’ and check in.
Welcome abord.
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Yes, I mean 4.1.0.24 (made a writing mistake before).
In the Settings, I enabled Developer mode. Then I could find Terminal among the already installed apps. Started it and wrote the command suggested above. Then I could read:
Device release is currently: 4.2.0.19
This is not so strange, because I asked to have the early release 4.2 installed when I purchased the phone.
So now I have in my account selected “Early access to Sailfish OS releases”, as suggested above.
However, on the phone, 4.1.0.24 has been downloaded and is waiting for installation. When I in the Settings go to “Sailfish OS updates”, it seems like I can only select Install. Does anyone have a recommendation what to do to get 4.2 commercial? Could I for example delete previous download?
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Sorry for my confusion. Seems like 4.2 commercial is already active on the phone, because in the phone’s Store app I could install Android App Support. I suppose that is a sign of having the commercial version, or is there a better way to tell?
I would still like to delete the previous download, so I don’t install 4.1.0.24 by mistake, but don’t know how to detele it.
Regarding point 3: After installing Android App Support, I tried to follow steps 3.1a, 3.2, … as described by jwnz above. I installed F-Droid from the Store. In F-Droid Settings, I under Repositories simply added microg.org/download
However, I could not figure out what to do about GmsCore (step 3.3), so I went directly to step 3.4 and installed Aurora Store from F-Droid. In Aurora Store, I had to select an installer, so I picked “Session installer”. Also granted “External Storage Access” and “Installer Permission” (“External Storage Manager” was already granted). When asked about “Install unknown apps”, I selected “Allow from this source”. Logged in as Anonymous.
After that, I could install Android apps like Signal, my bank’s app, Mobilt BankID and Swish from Aurora Store (step 3.5). They all seem to work, except for some minor details. (In the bank’s app the OCR function doesn’t seem to work. Mobilt BankID compalins about missing Google Play services, but I just tap the back arrow, and it works anyway.) A big THANK YOU to all of you who made this possible.
However, I’m a bit curious. Am I missing something without GmsCore?
And could someone tell me how to get rid of the previously downloaded (but not installed) update/downgrade to 4.1.0.24?
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You could just wait till 4.2 is released as final version. Then it might be able to check again for the newer version.
I do wonder if it works out okay though. I remember downloading an EA release, and when the final release was released, I could only install that EA, not the final. So it might be that it is not quite correct in the way the updater deals with updates. In the worst case you will have to enable developer mode and update on the command-line. Or maybe the app Sailfish Upgrade might help.
But first, just wait till the final is released, only then do you want to update 
There is no difference between the Commercial and free version in terms of the OS.
When you buy the license, and use those credentials to access the Jolla store, it allows you to download and install the Android App support, MS Exchange email support, and the Predictive text input software components (they are all pieces of software that Jolla paid a license fee for).
So apart from those pieces of software, the updates will be the same.
I am a little intrigued as to how they managed to install 4.2.0.19 on the device, as Jolla don’t distribute images from the store until they’ve made a General release, which 4.2 hasn’t had yet.
Another new user here. First, a short grumble. I am frustrated by the lack of manuals for new Sailfish users like me. I know that in theory things are supposed to be obvious, but the reality is different. Even small and obvious posts like the second post in this thread (by @nthn) are not obvious to new users. My first impression of Jolla Store with so many dead applications almost made me quit. Who would know that the community is kind of boycotting Jolla Store…
Anyway, after some play with my device, I ended up with a device with applications coming from many different places: Jolla Store, the OpenRepos, F-Droid, Aptoide, several sideloaded Androd applications that are available only on Google Play. So I have the following questions:
- Is this normal? I mean do experienced SFOS users use so many application sources?
- How do I know where does an application I have installed comes from? Does a native application come from Jolla Store or from an OpenRepo? Does an Android app come from F-Droid or it has been manually installed?
- What do I do about the security updates? Do I get a notification when an update is available? Or I have to do manual checks for all installed applications (hopefully not)? If an application is sideloaded and then appears in a store, say F-Droid, does it get security updates or I have to uninstall the installed version and then install the version in F-Droid?
- Is it possible to see how many storage memory each of the applications consumes?
If you want to use Android Apps from Google Play store, there is an app in F-Droid that lets you access Google Play store, its called Aurora store. This is more secure than Aptoide or sideloading from web sources. And it also manages updates.
There are a few guides and things at Jolla Zendesk
but yeah for a someone new to the OS I can imagine it can be a bit overwhelming.
The good news is that there are loads of helpful people here and on IRC who can give you a hand if you get stuck, but my first port of call is to search this forum and it’s forerunner TJC.
The Jolla store is a great source of vetted apps, and OpenRepos contains software that might not be allowed to enter the Jolla store due to their stricter rules.
Recently there’s another native repository, Sailfish Chum and there’s a discussion about it right here, I wouldn’t be overly concerned about it as most of the software there tends to find it’s way to Openrepos pretty quickly, and there’s talk of integrating Chum into the latter as it doesn’t have an app to browse through it yet.
I can’t speak for others, but I do have apps installed from the majority of those sources, I trust F-Droid and Aurora store, and sometimes a good app source (eg Whatsapp from their website).
I’m not sure if it’s possible to discern where apps have been installed from, for me personally the stock apps come from the Jolla Store, and then most of the native ones come from Openrepos. With Android I tend to grab most stuff from Aurora.
Security updates are incorporated with OS updates, which you will get a notification on the Event scree, but you can check manually by opening the Settings app > Sailfish OS updates and pulling down the pulley menu there to check.
You will get a notification from the Jolla store for any updates there, Openrepos, F-Droid and Aurora require you to open the app. (Aurora does have an option for running it as a service to automate updates, but as I want as little as possible running at any given time, I haven’t investigated whether this will work on Sailfish).
There’s an application called AlienDalvik Control in openrepos which gives you easy access to the Android Settings app (AD Control can be found as an applet in the Settings app once installed). This will give you details about Android apps.
If you explore the Storage section of the main Settings app you can find out the total memory usage of native apps, for more granular data the command line is your friend. You need to enable Developer mode in the Settings app, then open up the Terminal app and these commands from here will do the job:
List all installed packages and their sizes (in bytes):
rpm -qa --queryformat '%{SIZE} %{NAME} \n'
List top 10 packages, sorted by size:
rpm -qa --queryformat '%{SIZE} %{NAME} \n' | sort -n -r | head -10
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You can also easily access the Android settings by installing an Android ‘launcher’. This is especially important if you’re using an Xperia 10 II (or later), because the versions of Aliendalvik Control on OpenRepos aren’t compatible with its architecture and therefore can’t be installed.
Now I have some more expelience of using Sailfish (4.2) on Sony Xperia 10 II dual SIM and have noticed some more issues:
Some Bluetooth devices don’t work well with the phone:
Sennheiser HD 4.5 headphones
VW e-Golf
An Android app that doesn’t work for me is the Swedish “SOS 112” app. Perhaps this is because I didn’t install GmsCore? I have written to SOS Alarm and asked them if they would make a version for Sailfish and would welcome more to do so.
It seems impossible for me to send and receive MMS. Would be great if anyone has advice how to make that work at least for SIM 1 (Hallon). When receiving, the phone says “Problem with downloading message”. I have checked the settings for the Messages app and “Download MMS automatically” is selected.
SMS , MMS… the settings that get applied are often wrong.
Google for the settings of your provider and crosscheck.
In my case MMS is always wrong and while data works in my country it does not aboroad until I fix the.settings
If apn settings in Sailfish OS are wront for your mobile network you can fix this here https://github.com/sailfishos/mobile-broadband-provider-info/blob/master/mobile-broadband-provider-info/serviceproviders.xml
Found that on a web page of my provider (MMS & surfinställningar 📡💻 | Hallons forum). So under Settings → System → Mobile network SIM1 → MMS access point → Proxy address, I changed from 172.16.53.11 to mmsproxy.tre.se. However, the web page also lists MCC, MNC and APN Type, which I don’t know how to check/set in Sailfish.