The story of a worldwide community.
Humanity to others, that's what Ubuntu stands for.
This is the story of how a promising project got abandoned and one guy stepped in, trying to save it all.
He found other people to join the effort. One thing led to another, and the community kept growing.
Our shared history.
The UBports Community has gone through a lot the last few years. Here's some key moments in time.
Canonical's vision.
Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth announces the company's ambition to bring Ubuntu to phones, tablets, and TVs, laying out the vision for a single, unified OS.
Ubuntu Touch is Announced
Canonical officially unveils Ubuntu Touch for smartphones, showcasing the gesture-based interface and "convergence" concept to the world.
The Ubuntu Edge Campaign
The "Ubuntu Edge" crowdfunding campaign is launched. While it ultimately fell short of its goal, it raised an impressive $11.7 million.
The First Ubuntu Phone Ships
The BQ Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition becomes the first commercially available Ubuntu phone, sold via a series of online "flash sales" in Europe.
Meizu Enters the Fray
The Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition is initially launched in China for developers before being released on an invite-system to customers in Europe, bringing a higher-end hardware option to the ecosystem.
The Convergence Tablet Arrives
The BQ Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Edition tablet is released, marking the first device to deliver on the "convergence" promise, offering a full desktop experience when connected to a keyboard and mouse.
End of an Era, Start of a New Movement
Canonical announces it is ending its investment in Ubuntu Touch and the Unity 8 desktop.
The UBports Community takes over the development of Ubuntu Touch.
In response, Marius Gripsgård immediately announces the formation of UBports to continue development as a community project.
Due to the closure of Google+, the original blog post by Marius is unfortunately lost.
The first version of the UBports Installer is released.
The first version of the UBports Installer is released, a critical tool that simplifies the installation of Ubuntu Touch and lowers the barrier to entry for new users.
The UBports Foundation is Formed
The UBports Foundation is officially established as a non-profit entity in Germany, providing a legal and financial backbone to support the community and ensure the project's long-term future.
The Debian Journey Begins
Debian developer Mike Gabriel announces the start of the project to package Lomiri (formerly Unity 8) and its components for Debian, in cooperation with the UBports Community.
A New Hardware Partnership
The Volla Phone is announced, marking a significant partnership with a hardware manufacturer to ship a phone with Ubuntu Touch pre-installed since the last time, when Ubuntu Touch was still being developed by Canonical.
The Focal Fossa Upgrade
The stable version of Ubuntu Touch 20.04 is officially released, bringing a modern, secure, and refreshed experience to a new generation of devices.
Lomiri lands in Debian
Lomiri is officially accepted into the Debian 12 "Bookworm" repositories, achieving a major milestone of the journey that began in 2020.
Critical Security Vulnerability Patched
OTA-7 is released as an emergency update to patch a critical security vulnerability found in PulseAudio, demonstrating our commitment to privacy, security and the safety of our users.
VoLTE Support Arrives
OTA-8 is released, introducing VoLTE (Voice over LTE) support for a number of devices, a critical feature for modern mobile networks, especially for North American users.
Work on Noble Numbat Begins
OTA-9 is released, and with it, the team announces a shift in focus towards the next major OS upgrade: a base of Ubuntu 24.04 "Noble Numbat".
What are our goals?
Developing together
To help and promote the collaborative software development of Ubuntu Touch.
Advocating for the community
To assist the community with defending their interests and sustainable development.
Promoting Ubuntu Touch
To promote the use of Ubuntu Touch as a viable solution for mobile devices.
Making collaboration possible
To facilitate synergies, collaboration and fundraising efforts.
Defining goals and roadmaps
To actively collaborate on the definition of goals and roadmaps for further development.
We've grown into an active and open community, and we'd like to invite you with open arms.
Let's get together.
The UBports Foundation is active across many different events. Find out below which ones are coming up next.
Join the discussion.
Our community uses a variety of platforms and apps. Join the one you like.
The UBports Foundation
As the project kept growing and growing, the UBports Foundation was established to accommodate the growing scale of the project. The creation of the foundation ensured that both private and corporate sponsors could communicate their desire to contribute. The foundation was co-founded by Marius Gripsgard, Ricardo Mendoza, Johannah Sprinz, Florian Leeber, and Ewald Pierre.
The UBports Foundation offers financial, organizational, and legal support to the entire community. It also acts as an independent legal entity, allowing community members to contribute with the assurance that their efforts will be preserved for the public good. Every contribution is valued immensely and helps further the foundation's mission to benefit everybody.