Core Apps Overview

This Core Apps section provides the foundation of apps that will be provided by Purism. These apps will work closely together to provide the basic functionality of the phone. For more information on this, see the Symbiotic Apps section.

All APIs developed to enable these core apps will also be publicly available and may be beneficial to use when developing your own app.

Must Have Applications

Applications that must be part of the Librem 5 launch.

Nice To Have Applications

Applications that should ship with the Librem 5 by default but are not in the top priority of development.

Purist Services - Customer’s Pack

Limited (in bandwidth and storage) gratis services that will be available on the first launch of the Librem 5.

Purist Services - Subscription

Additional bandwidth and/or storage for the default services + the following subscription only services.

Must Have Apps

Call (to be implemented): The Call app can handle both regular and secure (VoIP) calls.

Messages (to be implemented): The Messages app can handle both regular (SMS) and Secure (IM) messages.

Mail (Geary): The Mail app can read and send PGP encrypted emails in the most transparent way possible.

Contacts (GNOME Contacts): The Contacts app details to be used by the Call, Messages, and Mail applications.

Web (GNOME Web aka Epiphany): Simple web browser with security enhancements (PureBrowser).

Calendar (GNOME Calendar): The Calendar app can sync with online calendars (like Nextcloud calendars).

Camera (Cheese): The Camera app is able to take pictures and videos and is able to share them through different protocols.

Settings (GNOME Settings): The Settings app is used to access the settings of the system as well as the settings of each application.

Calculator (GNOME Calculator): A simple, easy to use calculator.

Terminal (GNOME Terminal): A simple terminal to be used with a specific virtual keyboard layout including ESC and CTRL keys.

Clocks (GNOME Clocks): The Clocks app includes World Clocks, Alarm, Stopwatch, and Timer features.

Software (GNOME Software): An “App Store” including only free software to be easily installed on the system.

Nice to Have Apps

Chess (GNOME Chess): What would a modern smartphone be without a game?

Weather (GNOME Weather): Weather forecast for different locations.

Maps (to be implemented): Maps application with a directions feature.

To Do (GNOME To Do): A task list application that can be synced with online data sources like Nextcloud.

Photos (GNOME Photos): A Photos application to organize, edit, and share photos.

Music (GNOME Music): A music player to organize and play many kinds of music files.

Videos (GNOME Videos aka Totem): A video player to browse and play many kinds of video files.

Social (to be implemented): Social is a Mastodon client.

Purist Services

Purist Services is a suite of no-knowledge free software online services that are all accessible through a single account and tightly integrated with PureOS through different applications.

These services can also be self-hosted in a decentralized manner.

Customer’s Pack

The “Customer’s Pack” includes all the gratis services that are available on the first launch of the Librem. These services have some limitations in bandwidth and storage (because they are gratis), but are available to anyone, including users on other devices.

Librem customers can choose not to use the services from Purism and may decide to setup their applications with different service providers or even setup the Purist services on their own server.

Calling (Matrix): A VoIP service allowing end-to-end encryption. To be used through the “Call” application.

Messaging (Matrix): An instant messaging service allowing end-to-end encryption. To be used through the “Messages” application.

Mail (IMAP): The Mail service is used to define an email address that becomes the single user id through all the Purist Services. A mailbox with a limited size may be given for free as part of the Customer’s Pack. To be used with the “Mail” application.

Social (ActivityPub): A Mastodon service for federated micro-blogging.

Subscription Services

Additional bandwidth and/or storage is available for a monthly subscription. In addition, the following services are available only by subscription. These can also be used on any platform (with compatible clients).

Backup (Nextcloud): Keep regular encrypted backups on a remote server and and restore in the event of a disaster.

Synchronization (Nextcloud): Synchronize your data across devices.

VPN (OpenVPN): A VPN tunnel to privacy when using non-private networks (hotels, airports).