Many thanks to you our active contributors for your feedback and proposals.
Table of content
Version history of the OS release
- 2023-02-02: OS version 4.5.0.16 was released to Early Access subscribers as an over-the-air update.
- 2023-02-09: OS version 4.5.0.16 was released to all users as an over-the-air update. Installable images are available in the Jolla Shop
Stop release
This release is a stop release .
– Is 4.5.0.16 also a stop release?
– Yes. We have switched the rpm compression from xz to zstd on 4.5.0. In addition, 4.5.0 moves AppSupport to Android 11 API Level.
So far, all Sailfish 4 releases have been stop releases. Because of this, if there is a reason to reset an Xperia device, please do not do it with “device reset” but, instead, re-install Sailfish - see the comparison .
Important notices
Please read about the upgrade of Android AppSupport before you start the OS update.
This is a big update, about 1 GB in download size. It may take time to download and install. Keep the battery charger connected.
Jolla Blog
Read the new blog about this OS release, please. It contains not only technical details but also some background for the strange nickname of this release, “Struven ketju”.
Device models supported by Sailfish X
The supported Sailfish X devices are listed in this table.
The instructions for installing Sailfish OS to Sony Xperia X, Xperia XA2, Xperia 10, Xperia 10 II (mark 2), and Xperia 10 III (mark 3) devices are here - covering Windows, Linux, and macOS computers.
Read this, please, to learn about the Sailfish X licence.
Release highlights
The list below contains examples of new features and bug fixes added to Sailfish OS, compared to the previous public release 4.4.0.72. All Sailfish OS release notes can be found here.
Android AppSupport
-
Android AppSupport has been upgraded to Android 11, API level 30.
This concerns Xperia XA2, 10, 10 II, and 10 III. - Audio functions of Android apps improved (application-specific audio streams, audio volume is consistent across reboots, etc)
- AppSupport now runs in an unprivileged container without root access to the system
- Launchers are now in user directories
- Apps do not start anymore by accident right after closing them
- Performance has been improved (as well as tearing and out-of-order rendering have been fixed)
- Low memory situations are now handled better
- Icons of Android apps now have a Sailfish OS-style shape
- Improved settings for Android apps
- Album arts are now shown on the lock screen controls (MPRIS)
- Lock screen controls appear now for all apps which support such, and they have been improved in general
- Notification actions have been improved (custom actions)
- Notifications are re-issued less often (e.g. Signal Background connection)
- Notification sounds are more consistent, especially for messaging apps like WhatsApp
- Screenshots from Sailfish OS will now appear inside Android apps
- Mobile data is more stable within Android apps
- Headphones can now be plugged in without issues in Teams calls
- 32-bit generic variant of AppSupport created
3rd party API
- The following APIs are now allowed in Harbour. Please note that we don’t consider most of these stable, and we make no guarantees on backwards compatibility between releases for these.
- libkeepalive-glib
- Sailfish Telephony UI components
- Sailfish Bluetooth UI components
- BluezQt
- pytz
- Sailfish Accounts UI components
- Sailfish Contacts UI components
- org.nemomobile.contacts
- Sailfish Media UI components
- QtLocation 5.4
- Sailfish Secrets
- Sailfish Crypto
- Pillow
- ExecDBus key is now allowed in desktop files
- QtWebKit is no longer allowed
3rd party apps
- An incoming WhatsApp or Telegram call can be muted without answering or declining the call
- Alarms from Android apps can be stopped now
- When initiating a WhatsApp Video call, the screen is kept alive (not blanked)
- Telegram notifications now show avatars
- Telegram does not maximize itself anymore when a call is accepted or cancelled from the call view
Accounts
- Google OAuth integration was modified due to Google blocking the out-of-band (OOB) authorization requests in Feb 2023
- Cancelling an OAuth2 account creation (MS 365) does not crash the Settings app anymore
Ambiences
- Ringtones stored on a memory card can now be attached and it remains attached (as long as the card is available)
Backup
- The schedule of Nextcloud backup fixed
Bluetooth
- Bluetooth service can be restarted with Sailfish Utilities
- Closing an inactive app (that had used Bluetooth) does not disconnect Bluetooth from the current app
- Eliminated excessive CPU usage (by oFono) after disconnecting a Bluetooth headset
Browser
- Share option added to the context menu when opening an image
- Ability to control video encoder bitrate during a WebRTC call added
- Tapping hyperlinks should work better
- Background gradients cleaned from input elements. This should improve the visibility of buttons and input fields on different websites
- URL string is encoded before copying to the clipboard [Thank you Peter G alias nephros]
- Credentials saving error fixed. Remembered credentials are now accepted also if the user selects “Remember” at the second (or further) login attempt
- Dark mode is now supported, with an option to match the current ambience
CalDAV & CardDAV
- Cancelled events are no more deleted automatically
- CardDav sync with Nextcloud fixed. Relative redirects did not work
Calendar
- Calendar app has now the month, week and day views, arranged as tabs [Thank you Damien C]
- Strike out cancelled events more consistently, also in cover and day views [Thank you Damien C]
- Show daylight saving time (DST) change indication in the month view [Thank you Damien C]
- Cancelled events are shown differently now
- Unnamed events are allowed
- Calendar alarms are not played in the “Do not disturb” mode
- Visibility settings of the Exchange calendar are kept over phone reboots
- Several other technical improvements
Camera
- Dark video preview fixed
Connectivity
- Added notification about offline status (used if the connection breaks when it is being used)
- Android apps should be able to use mobile data better than with 4.4.0
- WiFi connection information added to “Settings > WLAN > Long press of WiFi network”
- Lots of WLAN networks nearby can be handled now without the UI getting stuck
- VPNC upgraded. This should alleviate many issues, including the use of Fritzbox VPN network
- VPN: longer timeout for the VPN agent credentials dialogue (from 2 to 5 min)
- Prevented DNS queries leaking from VPN when using Android apps
Documents and office
- Fixed tap handling on the PDF password field
- Inbox duplication is prevented when opening an email from notification and only one account is defined
Gallery
- Ensure that the Edit button is visible on a screenshot notification banner, allowing an easy edit of the picture
- Handling of notifications about deleted screenshots in Events view was fixed
Graphics
- Hardware support for Vulkan graphics and computing API enabled for Xperia XA2, Xperia 10, Xperia 10 II and Xperia 10 III.
Home screen
- More (than 4) notification icons are allowed at the left edge of the lock screen
- Status area icon locations were unified
- Album art from Android apps (e.g. Spotify) is now delivered to the Sailfish lock screen and updated when song changed
- Several fixes for the app grid behaviour
Localisation
- Ukrainian language and keyboard added
- Lots of language fixes and additional phrases
Mediaplayer
- Album art from Android apps (e.g. Spotify) is now delivered to the Sailfish lock screen and updated when song changed
- Ogg Vorbis song titles are now shown correctly, in the same way as in the
TITLE
tags of the ogg files - Tracker is now able to also index the FLAC media files with the language tag set, and the Mediaplayer show them
Messages
- Manual MMS download was fixed (permission issue)
- Missing header “Today” added
- Contact names are shown correctly also when multiple contacts (and predictive text input enabled)
NFC
- NFC is now off until the device screen is unlocked
Notes
- Deleting notes is now possible so that the next can be selected while the remorse timer of the previous is still running
Notifications
- More (than 4) notification icons are allowed at the left edge of the lock screen
- “Instant message received” notification category is now supported. A notification turns on the messaging LED
- Playing specific sounds on notifications supported: sound-name relation added for IM and email tones
People
- “Show on map” button on a contact card in the People app brings a list of all geo-link compatible map apps
- Contacts import wizard fixed. It knows better now when the phone is online
Phone
- Adding a contact avatar via the People tab of the Phone app works now
- Interactive USSD fixed. This allows making phone calls to service numbers (e.g., 14830#) which bring up a pop-up menu with further selection options to choose from
Privacy & locking
- Alphanumeric security code introduced. It can be created during the first startup or any time later in “Settings > Device lock > Change security code”. In both cases, a keyboard icon appears at the top left corner of the display. Note that the shared security code of encryption and device lock remains.
Security
Vulnerabilities fixed:
- bison v. 3.8.2 : CVE-2020-14150
- bluez v. 5.63 : CVE-2021-3658, CVE-2021-41229
- busybox v. 1.34.1 : CVE-2021-42375
- cairo v. 1.17.4 : CVE-2020-35492,CVE-2018-19876,CVE-2019-6461,CVE-2019-6462
- connman v. 1.32 : CVE-2022-23096 CVE-2022-23097 CVE-2022-23098 CVE-2022-32292 CVE-2022-32293
- cryptsetup v. 2.4.3 : CVE-2021-4122
- cups v. 2.4.2 : CVE-2020-3898,CVE-2019-8842
- curl v. 7.85.0 : CVE-2021-22898 CVE-2021-22924 CVE-2021-22945 CVE-2021-22946 CVE-2021-22947 CVE-2022-22576 CVE-2022-27774 CVE-2022-27775 CVE-2022-27776 CVE-2022-27781 CVE-2022-27782 CVE-2022-32205 CVE-2022-32206 CVE-2022-32207 CVE-2022-32208
- e2fsprogs v. 1.46.5 : CVE-2019-5188
- ed v. 1.18 : CVE-2017-5357
- expat v. 2.4.3 : CVE-2013-0340
- file and python-magic v. 5.41 : CVE-2019-18218
- gdk-pixbuf v. 2.42.6 : CVE-2020-29385
- glib2 v. 2.72.3 : CVE-2021-27218, CVE-2021-27219, CVE-2021-28153
- grilo v. 0.3.14 : CVE-2016-20011
- libarchive v. 3.5.2 : CVE-2020-9308
- libgcrypt v. 1.9.4 : CVE-2021-40528, CVE-2021-33560
- libksba v. 1.6.2 : CVE-2022-3515
- libsndfile v. 1.0.31 : CVE-2019-3832
- libtasn1 v. 4.18.0 : CVE-2018-1000654
- libxsit v. 1.1.37 : CVE-2021-30560
- Linux kernel (Xperia 10 III) droid-hal-pdx213 v. 1.9.3 : CVE-2021-20317 CVE-2020-16119 CVE-2020-36311 CVE-2021-22543 CVE-2021-23133 CVE-2021-23134 CVE-2021-3564 CVE-2021-3573 CVE-2021-3640 CVE-2021-3653 CVE-2021-3656 CVE-2022-0435 CVE-2022-23036 CVE-2022-23037 CVE-2022-23038 CVE-2022-23039 CVE-2022-23040 CVE-2022-23041 CVE-2022-23042
- ncurses v. 6.3 : CVE-2019-17594, CVE-2019-17595
- openssl v. 1.1.1s : CVE-2022-0778, CVE-2022-1292, CVE-2022-2068, CVE-2022-2097
- PackageKit v. 1.2.5 : CVE-2020-16121, CVE-2020-16122
- polkit v. 0.105 : CVE-2021-3560
- poppler v. 22.09.0: CVE-2022-38784
- python3-yaml v. 5.4.1.1 : CVE-2020-14343
- ruby v. 2.7.6 : CVE-2020-25613, CVE-2021-28965, CVE-2022-28739, CVE-2021-31799, CVE-2021-31810, CVE-2021-32066, CVE-2021-41816, CVE-2021-41817, CVE-2021-41819
- screen v. 4.9.0 : CVE-2020-9366
- sudo v. 1.9.9 : CVE-2021-3156
- vim v. 8.2.4127 : CVE-2021-3770 CVE-2021-3778 CVE-2021-3796 CVE-2021-3872 CVE-2021-3875 CVE-2021-3903 CVE-2021-3927 CVE-2021-3928 CVE-2021-3973 CVE-2021-3974 CVE-2021-3984 CVE-2021-4019 CVE-2021-4069 CVE-2021-4136 CVE-2021-4166
- zlib v. 1.2.13 : CVE-2022-37434
Settings
- Volume bar added for the adjustment of the overall volume level of all other tones but ringtones. The bar is in “Settings > System > Sounds and feedback”, and can be added to the Top Menu as well
- Option “Ringtone for incoming calls” added to the end of “Settings > System > Sounds and feedback”. It makes more detailed control of the ringtones possible during the “Do not disturb” mode. It is possible to allow ringtones for all calls or for calls from your contacts or favourite contacts
- Battery ageing protection implemented into “Settings > System > Battery”. This is to avoid the wear out of the battery. The user can set a limit (e.g. 90%) where the charging is stopped.
- Setting a timezone without a SIM card is now possible even if an automatic time update is in use. “Settings > System > Time and date” has separate options for “Automatic update” and for “Automatic time zone update”
- ‘Dynamic’ replaced with “Automatic” in " Settings > System > Display > Orientation"
- Layout of the advanced WLAN menu improved
Sharing
- Sharing enhanced for 3rd party apps by providing them with a new API
Text input
- Ukrainian keyboard added
- Predictive text input starts working automatically without a device reboot or other actions after installing the utility
- French punctuation fixed on Xperia 10 II and III (i.e., on 64-bit devices)
UX
- Emoji font with colours introduced; viewable with the Browser
Weather
- Province added to the city & country list when searching for a location
- Events view: current weather information is updated properly also without having the Weather app open
- Events view: weather information is updated when changing current city in the Weather app
- Events view: the 12h timestamps of the weather banner were fixed
Device-specific changes
- Xperia XA2: Horizontal lines over one-line SMS message bubbles eliminated
Sailfish OS Forum: issues reported by the community fixed in this update
- [4.1.0.24][Xperia 10ii] Android apps cannot use mobile data
- [4.2.0, 4.1.0, 4.0.1] Horizontal line over one-line SMS message bubbles
- [4.3.0.12] MMS works, but MMS retry fails, stays Waiting forever
- [4.3.0][4.2.0][4.1.0][4.0.1] Deleted Screenshot is not handled properly via notifications
- [4.4.0.64][Xperia 10 III] Bluetooth pairing does not show device name after first pairing
- [4.4.0.68] Xperia 10 III cant use the hold shift key for typing uppercase words
- [4.4.0] mpris-proxy service crashing and not restarting
- Add VPNC patches to ease usage of VPN for FRITZ box users
- Add VPNC patches (request in TJC)
- Amber Web Authorization not available in qtCreator - #9 by hsjpekka
- Android alarm cannot be stopped
- App Contacts: no routing to a saved address of a contact with "Here we go"
- Backup runs every 20 minutes instead of once a day
- Browser says about:blank is 'not secure'
- Calendar entries - timezone issue
- Calendar settings lost after each reboot
- Can't strip more than 256 symbols
- Email shows two inbox pages when opening mail from the notifications
- Hard freeze or crash of GUI
- Include USB OTG Ethernet adapters' modules into Sailfish OS kernel
- [Jolla Tablet] Gps stopped working since sfos 4.3.0.15
- Ndef-write from package nfcd-tools crashes when trying to write a empty tag - #5 by slava
- No paste button in split landscape keyboard
- OAuth2 Office 365 Exchange Account Keeps Signing Out
- Ogg Vorbis song titles ignored by Media app
- PDF with password - cannot view entered password
- Please permit dependancy - Requires python3-imaging
- Selecting contact avatar in Voicecall app shows only blank page
- Selecting contact avatar in Voicecall app shows only blank page
- Sticky grid shows all apps in folder view
- Stock Browser App Unresponsive to Screen 'Clicks'
- Two failed services every time on Xperia 10
- Ukrainian translation is ready
- Weather Display on Events Screen Constantly Loses Network Connection
- WebView produces incorrect screen.height, window.innerHeight values
- Xperia 10 II unable to reach the recovery mode
- Xperia 10 iii uses performance governor for gold cores
- Xperia 10 won’t boot or enter the recovery mode
- Wrong photo dimension info on Jolla C (TJC)
- Charger control app (TJC)
- Time zone changing to Helsinki (TJC)
- Keep the Ukrainian Hryvnia symbol
₴
- Closing inactive app disconnects Bluetooth
- Gradient inside buttons and shadow in input fields in Sailfish Browser
- Import statement typo in documentation
- Make alarm sound setting in Ambience persistent
- Missing albums due to language tag. Tracker failed to index FLAC files
- Show Bluetooth status icon on lock screen. Unify the status area icon locations
- SMS to multiple contacts prediction UI bug
- USSDs not working in the Phone app
- [Xperia 10 II] Unable to reach Recovery Mode - #5 by Mohjive
The following issues were fixed, too. The Forum links will not open up for all readers. Sorry.
- All email accounts become disconnected if I sync Exchange
- Android apps lost connection after switch from mobile data to wifi
- Backups do not follow schedule
- Toggling flight mode causes lipstick crash
- Today section header missing in Message app
Technical changes
The detailed changelog is here.
bluez4 and qtconnectivity removed
- bluez4 was removed from Sailfish OS – bluez5 remains
- qtconnectivity was removed and replaced with kf5bluezqt in “Meta-package containing support for Qt5 application development on Sailfish”
gnutls removed from Sailfish images (but remains in repositories)
- The use of nss has been minimised in Sailfish OS in recent years which lets us get rid of gnutls now, in favour of OpenSSL
- We are trying to keep our architecture of the OS minimalistic where possible, this also means that we do not want to keep multiple encryption/cryptography stacks if not needed.
- Our partners have chosen to use the OpenSSL framework
python3 removed from Sailfish images (but remains in repositories)
- Openconnect packaging used to contain one python package that dragged python3 into Sailfish OS. The said python package was dropped now which made it possible to drop python3, too.
SilicaWebView and QtWebKit disallowed in Harbour apps
- Use Sailfish Webview, instead
Updating your device
Android AppSupport is upgraded to Android 11
OS release 4.5.0.16 contains a major upgrade of Android AppSupport, from Android 10 to Android 11. This upgrade brings in modified and relocated app launchers, different access rights for the data directory of the apps, optimized apps, new app icons, and other changes.
When the phone has rebooted at the end of the OS update, AppSupport will start running a migration script transforming the Android apps for Android 11. While the script is running there are no Android app icons on the app grid. This is not a defect.
If there are plenty of Android apps installed on the phone, the migration process may last for several minutes.
Please wait patiently.
As soon as the new Android icons appear on the app grid, the migration is complete.
Note that it is important to keep the Android support installed and enabled over the OS update. Only then can the migration script do its job correctly.
If you have accidentally turned the phone off during the migration, simply turn the phone on again. The migration process should resume automatically.
OS release 4.5.0.16 is a stop release. This release cannot be skipped over when updating a phone from an earlier release to a more recent one.
The usual update process
Your device must be connected to the Internet and signed into your Jolla account.
Start the update from “Settings > Sailfish OS updates”. Avoid running updates on the command line, please.
We warmly recommend making some 3-4 GB of free space for the internal storage of your device ( /home
) before starting the update. Processing an OS update of almost 1 GB requires a good amount of work area. Move your pictures and videos to the SD card (or to your PC or cloud service).
This is the usual drill before attempting to update your devices:
Take a backup of your data before attempting to update your device and save the backup to an SD card or to some other off-device location (PC, your cloud service). Note that videos and images are not included in cloud-based backups. Do not reboot the device while the update is in progress. Do keep the phone connected to a battery charger during the whole process. The device screen may blank out during the update process; you may wake the display with a short press of the power key to monitor the progress.
For detailed instructions on updating software, read our help article in Sailfish OS Documentation.
NOTE 1:
Sailfish OS does not support downgrading. Never try to downgrade the OS as this would break your device.
NOTE 2:
After downloading an update and selecting “Install” in the pulley menu, the device runs a restart first. You will need to type the security code before the actual installation can start. A horizontal progress bar appears on a black background, under the Sailfish OS logo. As soon as the other end of the bar has been reached the phone will restart automatically. If it doesn’t, please wait for 15 minutes. If it is still stuck at the 100% point of the progress bar it is time to perform forced power off. Next, turn the phone on with the power key and check the OS version at “Settings > About product”.
Notification concerning apps from Open Repos
The apps below have been reported to cause problems when installing the previous OS updates. We recommend that you uninstall them before proceeding to the OS update. At least, read the recent comments on those apps.
- GetiPlay has caused problems to some users - see this post.
- If you’ve previously installed the RIME input engine from Open Repos, please remove both that and its version of libyaml-cpp before upgrading, as the latter will cause the upgrade to fail
- If you use Privoxy, be sure to disable it before downloading the update, especially if you have configured the HTTPS-inspection. The latest update is from September. There is no information about compatibility with Sailfish OS. See author’s instructions .
- If you use Aliendalvik Control, see the author’s instructions . It says there “Application has no support for SFOS 4 and later”
- If you use Phonehook be careful. The latest update (32-bit) is from October 2020. The 64-bit version (Xperia 10 II) was published in May 2021.
- If you use OKBoard (a.k.a. Magic Keyboard), update it first to version 0.6.34 which has the fix for the “Installation not complete” error. Also, read the author’s advice , please.
Known issues
We have relocated the known issues to a table in Sailfish OS documents.
How did the upgrade go?
- I had no issues during the upgrade process
- I had small issues but was able to handle them
- I got into serious trouble when upgrading my device (please help!)
0 voters
Help articles
The Sailfish OS help articles, previously kept in Zendesk, have been moved to Sailfish OS Documents repository.