Hello Jolla Enthusiasts. The Emoji Keyboard, a custom Emoji keyboard application, with native Sailfish OS support has been released, containing both the Emoji font and the iOS 5+ and Whatsapp Emoji characters.
While it is still under development, it is already usable. The latest version available is The Emoji Keyboard 0.2.5, which has been recently released, coming with the new features/improvements:
- Remembers last symbol set and page used
- Favorite page has last 30 symbols typed
- Enter key added
- Font changed from Truetype to Opentype
- Active layout indicator added on top of keyboard
In this article I will show you how to install The Emoji Keyboard 0.2.5 on Jolla’s Sailfish OS.
There are two installation methods, one from the GUI and one from the command line interface. I prefer the terminal method, because I find it easier to keep the applications up to date, with the needed repos added to my system. And because I am a CLI Linux maniac. : )
Installation method 1: From the GUI.
Since Unofficial Together App is available via OpenRepos.net, you can easily download the app and install it directly from the file manager, via double-click.
Download The Emoji Keyboard 0.2.5
Installation method 2: In the geek way, via zypper.
Since Sailfish OS is pure openSUSE, you have to switch to developer mode, install zypper, add the repository and key, update the system and install The Emoji Keyboard app. Like this:
# pkcon install zypper
# zypper ar -f http://sailfish.openrepos.net/penguin/personal-main.repo
# rpm --import http://sailfish.openrepos.net/openrepos.key
# zypper refresh
# zypper install keyboard-custom-emoji
To uninstall The Emoji Keyboard App, you have to install zypper (if you haven’t installed it already) and uninstall the app via zypper :
# pkcon install zypper
# zypper remove keyboard-custom-emoji
Installation method 3: In the geek way, via pkcon and ssu.
From the developer mode, execute the following command in your terminal, one by one:
# ssu addrepo penguin http://sailfish.openrepos.net/penguin/personal/main
# ssu updaterepos
# pkcon refresh
# pkcon install keyboard-custom-emoji
To uninstall The Emoji Keyboard App via pkcon, do the following:
# pkcon remove keyboard-custom-emoji
For those who don’t know yet, Jolla is a project developed by former Nokia employees. The first Jolla smartphone is running on Sailfish OS, a modified Megoo Linux system, which is Android compatible, uses Wayland as the default display server , uses Nokia N9′s Maliit touchscreen keyboard and comes with interchangeable covers, allowing the users to easily switch them, in order to change the color/model of the phone and comes with impressive hardware specifications.
While apps with native Sailfish OS support can be installed via the Jolla Store and OpenRepos.net, Android apps can be installed via the same Jolla Store, or via F-Droid, Yandex Store, Amazon App Store, Aptoide and 1Mobile Android Market.