Devices compatible with and licensed for Sailfish X

Sailfish X ¹ has been ported to certain Sony Xperia and Gemini PDA models by Jolla. Some community people have ported Sailfish OS to some other devices, too, but that work is unofficial, i.e. Jolla has not been involved and the Sailfish X licence is not valid on those devices.

Sailfish X licence from Jolla allows installing Sailfish OS on the Sony Xperia and Gemini PDA devices listed below. The licence makes it also possible to update Sailfish OS over the air, triggered from the phone UI.

There are six licence groups currently (4Q/2022). A licence from one group cannot be used on a device from another group.

1. Licence group Xperia 10 III
   • Sony Xperia 10 III Dual SIM (XQ-BT52)
2. Licence group Xperia 10 II
   • Sony Xperia 10 II Single SIM (XQ-AU51)
   • Sony Xperia 10 II Dual SIM (XQ-AU52)
3. Licence group Xperia 10
   • Sony Xperia 10 Single SIM (I3113 & I3123)
   • Sony Xperia 10 Dual SIM (I4113 & I4193)
   • Sony Xperia 10 Plus Single SIM (I3213 & I3223)
   • Sony Xperia 10 Plus Dual SIM (I4213 & I4293)
4. Licence group Xperia XA2
   • Sony Xperia XA2 Single SIM (H3113 & H3123 & H3133)
   • Sony Xperia XA2 Dual SIM (H4113 & H4133)
   • Sony Xperia XA2 Plus Single-SIM (H3413)
   • Sony Xperia XA2 Plus Dual-SIM (H4413 & H4493)
   • Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra Single-SIM (H3213 & H3223)
   • Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra Dual-SIM (H4213 & H4233)
5. Licence group Xperia X
   • Sony Xperia X Single SIM (F5121)
   • Sony Xperia X Dual SIM (F5122)
6. Licence group Gemini
   • Gemini PDA x25
   • Gemini PDA x27

We are always looking into porting Sailfish OS into new devices, and naturally, the latest Sony devices are always on our radar.  Please stay tuned to Jolla Blog and Sailfish OS Forum for the latest information.

How does the licence work

The licence is coupled with the Jolla account that was used when purchasing the licence. When you sign in to the same Jolla account from an Xperia device, the new licence gets activated on that device. If you had signed in to your Jolla account previously then you only need to restart the device to activate the licence. An active licence is also coupled with (the IMEI code of) the device.

One Sailfish X licence is valid on one device and one Jolla account.

The licence cannot be transferred from one licence group to another. For instance, an Xperia X licence is not valid for Xperia XA2 devices.

Licensed content

Sailfish X licence makes the so-called licensed content available in Jolla Store, allowing you to download and install those apps and to get OS updates. For an official statement, see the chapter “What you get” at Jolla Shop.

After you have activated the licence by signing in from your Xperia to this same Jolla account, the licensed content becomes available in the category “Jolla” of the Jolla Store, and Sailfish OS updates appear on the UI (whenever available). Restarting the device may be required in some cases to activate the licence.

What is included in the licensed content?

1. Sailfish OS updates

   Check the availability of updates in “Settings > System > Sailfish OS updates” by pulling down “Check for updates”. If you need guidance read the document Updating Sailfish OS.

2. Android AppSupport

   Allows installing Android app stores which in turn makes it possible to install actual Android apps. The main control item of Android AppSupport can be found at the end of the Settings app.

3. Microsoft Exchange support

   Allows signing into one’s Exchange account from “Settings > Accounts”, after which Exchange will appear in Email, Calendar, and People apps.

4. Predictive text input

   Appears as predicted words on top of the virtual keyboard while typing. “Settings > System > Text input” has a button for purging the collected words.

It is good to restart the device after installing any of the apps above.

Note that none of these apps will appear as icons in the app grid (after installing them) as they are rather background services. Use “My apps” in the pull-down menu of the Jolla Store app to view what is installed on your device.

What are the Free and Full licences?

Sailfish X Free licence is a trial version for the Xperia product variants. You can download and install it free of charge to try out Sailfish OS on your Sony device.

Sailfish X Full licence entitles you to use all Sailfish X services (including Android AppSupport) on the Xperia™ 10 III, Xperia™ 10 II, Xperia™ 10, and Xperia™ XA2 devices. The same applies to the Xperia™ X devices, however, the Android support on those devices is the older version that corresponds to Android version 4.4.

This is the list of supported devices.

The table “What you get” in Jolla Shop shows what the licences cover.

Switching from Free to Full licence

It is simple to upgrade a phone from Free OS to Full OS. You will need to:

1. Buy the Sailfish X licence using the same Jolla account that will be used on the phone.
2. Sign in to this Jolla account on the phone. If done previously then just restart the phone. This activates the licence.
3. On the phone, go to the menu page “Settings > System > Sailfish OS updates”. Pull down to “Check for updates”. If you need guidance read the document Updating Sailfish OS.
4. If there is an update available, download and install it using the pulley menu. At the end of the installation, the phone restarts itself. Note that getting an update is not mandatory. All OS releases contain the support of the full licence but the licensed apps remain hidden without an active licence.

You have now the full-blown Sailfish OS on your phone. Thanks to the licence, you are entitled to install the licensed apps and upcoming Sailfish OS releases.