What is an Ubuntu Appliance?
An Ubuntu appliance turns a computer into a dedicated, purpose-built smart device optimized for running a specific application or workload. It is a system disk image built for security and simplicity. Ubuntu appliances have strong privacy policies and long term security maintenance guarantees.
Companies and open source communities who publish appliances, follow our appliance guidelines and the Ubuntu code of conduct.
Why are we hosting
Ubuntu Appliances?
Smart devices are everywhere - from your home to industrial settings. They make our lives easier, but can come with risks such as bad security or software management practices. Ubuntu appliances set the standard for smart devices that meet consistent criteria for security, privacy, maintenance, and operations.
The Ubuntu appliance mission is to enable secure, self-healing, smart things, everywhere. To achieve this mission, Ubuntu appliances are built with Ubuntu Core, the highly secure, fully containerized Linux with transactional updates and data snapshot guardrails that can always roll back to a known-good state
All Ubuntu appliances are free to download and use.
Easy to use and maintain
Simple setup
Each Ubuntu appliance is a boot disk image. Install it on a spare disk with a disk imaging tool and boot from it. Or give it a try in a virtual machine on Windows, Mac, or Linux. During startup you make yourself the owner and set up the appliance. That’s it! Leave it running and it will take care of itself.
A growing app ecosystem
Ubuntu papliances developers can leverage the rich ecosystem of applications available in the Snap Store. Find retro games for your console, better routing on your mesh network, or a fancier autopilot for your quadcopter. Each app is strictly confined. Apps can be specific to an appliance, or published for many types of appliances.
Clear privacy policy
Every Ubuntu appliance has a clear privacy policy that explains what data leaves the device, where it goes, and who can access it. The privacy policy must comply with global standards such as EU GDPR and California privacy law. We remove appliances that don’t meet privacy standards.
Long term security
Ubuntu appliances are securely maintained for ten years by Canonical to meet enterprise security and longevity requirements. Proprietary Ubuntu appliances follow the maintenance commitment of the appliance vendor. Each appliance tells you exactly what commitment is being made, and for how long.
Security and simplicity,
by design
Built on trusted infrastructure
Every aspect of an Ubuntu Appliance is built with security in mind:
- Secure boot protocols defend against low-level attacks on system integrity
- Strict confinement of every application reduces the blast radius of a compromised or malicious application
- Transactional updates enable automatic security patches with rollback on failure
- Full disk encryption and hardware key management protect your data
We check every appliance for vulnerabilities and tell creators to fix any issues we find. If we discover harmful apps, we block them right away.
Standardized experience
All Ubuntu appliances share common capabilities and consistent operations. The platform guarantees a standard approach to software updates and versioning, and evolution to newer platform versions. Multiple devices from multiple manufacturers all fit into a single management framework, and receive updates consistently across the estate.