Security updates for the Ubuntu phone will end in June, and the app store that caters to the users of this device will shut its doors by the end of the year.
Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, announced on 5 April that it would end development of its phones and tablets.
An inquiry by NetworkWorld elicited the information that over-the-air updates would be limited to critical fixes and security patches only and even these would end in June.
Canonical also said that developers would be able to push updates and bug fixes to their apps in the Ubuntu Store until the end of the year.
{loadposition sam08}It added that app purchases would also end in June. Developers of apps that charge a fee have a choice to either make their apps free or withdraw them from the store.
Marius Gripsgård, a developer who has already ported the Ubuntu phone distribution to many other models, has said he will be forking the Ubuntu store as well.
In a Q and A, he said, "We’re forking the OpenStore at openstore.ubports.com. We will ask app developers if they would like to place their apps on this store. Otherwise we cannot move the apps. They can be forked and placed."
Gripsgård also said he would support old official devices that were running the Ubuntu phone distribution.
"All devices but the (Meizu) Pro 5 and (BQ Aquaris) M10 will be in 'legacy' mode, getting critical bugfixes and security updates," he wrote.
"These will be in-between due to their closed Android source tree. We have mirrored the system-image-server so we can host the old images at some point."
Gripsgård said that old official devices would probably require a reflash and advised those who wished to continue using the distribution to buy one of the stable devices: Nexus 5, Fairphone 2, or OnePlus One.
The first Ubuntu phones were released in February 2015.