I often hear people saying that they have nothing to hide, and I usually reply that it is not about what you want to hide, it is about what you want to protect – your family’s privacy. Modern smartphones are convenience, always on and connected, but they come with a large attack surface to be exploited by hackers or even spying companies.

Control the hardware

At Purism, we believe that people should be in full control of their devices instead of their devices controlling them, and shouldn’t have to choose between convenience and privacy. The Librem 5 has been designed to give people convenient features and control of when they are enabled simply by switching them off using our “kill-switches”.

On the Librem 5, the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth and cellular modules are independent and fully isolated from the main board. This way, the hardware kill-switches can directly sever the power to the hardware components.

A unique, modular and ethical hardware design

The Librem 5 has a unique hardware design, which makes it secure, private and the most modular and repairable phone out there. Along with the battery, both cameras the modules for Wifi/Bluetooth, cellular and USB can easily be disconnected and replaced.

In the real world

The following videos illustrate our kill-switches used to enable and disable the different features. I have shot those videos myself and, while they are edited for continuity, I made sure to record the real features on the phone.

At Purism, we believe electronics should respect users interest and security while still being simple to use.