Ever feel like your device is a little too interested in your life? Like you're not the customer, but the product? That's because most phones today are built on a simple trade: your data for their services. And honestly, that deal keeps getting worse.

We’re a group of volunteers who got tired of that bargain. Some of us are developers, others are designers, translators, or just people who missed having real control over our devices. Three years ago, we were strangers scattered across continents. Today, we’re the UBports community, over 800 people from 40+ countries, quietly building Ubuntu Touch, an open-source mobile OS that puts you back in charge.

What does "freedom" actually look like?

It’s not just a buzzword for us. It’s the ability to:

• Keep your phone longer: we just released Ubuntu Touch 24.04-1.0, bringing five more years of updates to devices like the Fairphone 5 and Pixel 3a.
• Actually own your data: with experimental encryption and privacy settings
• Choose your look: toggle between light and dark mode system-wide, not just in apps
• Use your phone as a desktop: plug it into a monitor and get real work done with convergence

No hidden trackers. No pre-installed bloatware you can't delete. No corporate board deciding what you can or can't do with hardware you paid for.

But let's be real. This isn't for everyone.

Ubuntu Touch won't run your banking app (yet). The app ecosystem is smaller. Sometimes things break, and we fix them in the next update. We're not here to outsell the giants, we're here to offer a genuine alternative for people who value control over convenience.

That's where you come in.

You don't need to be a coding wizard to help. Our community runs on coffee, curiosity, and people helping in ways that fit their lives:

• Test new releases on your old Android device gathering dust in a drawer
• Write documentation so the next person has an easier time
• Design icons or translate menus into your language
• Answer one question in the forum each week
• Donate €5/month to keep our build servers running
• Just show up to our weekly Q&A and share what you need from a phone

Some of our best contributors started by saying "I just want to help somehow" and found their niche from there.

The choice really is yours.

Stick with what you know—no judgment. Or try Ubuntu Touch on a spare device. Flash it, break it, ask questions in our Telegram group at 2 AM (someone's usually awake). See what a phone feels like when it's built by people, not shareholders.