Sailfish OS — BrandWiki

Sailfish OS

Overview

Sailfish OS

title	Sailfish OS
screenshot	SailfishOS Screenshot1.png
developer	Jolla
family	Linux (Unix-like)
working state	Current
source model	Proprietary, with open-source components‡R1R‡
released	16 November 2013‡R2R‡
marketing target	Mobile and general purpose
programmed in

Sailfish OS is an operating system for mobile phones developed by Jolla. It is Linux-based with a proprietary compatibility layer for Android and custom user interface by Jolla.

The OS first shipped with the original Jolla Phone in 2013; while its sale stopped in 2016, it was supplied with software updates until the end of 2020. It also shipped with Jolla Tablet in 2015[4] and from other vendors licensing the OS.[5] The OS is ported by community enthusiasts to third-party mobile devices including smartphones[6] and tablet computers.[7] Sailfish OS is mostly used for mobile phones and tablets.

History and development

language	English for development, SDK & supporting documentation; over 21 national languages versions of UI in user's device

package manager	RPM Package Manager‡R3R‡

supported platforms	32-bit and 64-bit ARM and 64-bit x86

kernel type	Linux kernel

userland	GNU

license	For end-user the EULA defines used open source and other licences components with a component's origin.‡R1R‡

preceded by	MeeGo by alliance of Nokia & Intel

website	https://sailfishos.org/

Software architecture

The Sailfish OS and the Sailfish software development kit (SDK) are based on the Linux kernel and a standard Linux stack.[10][11][12] Sailfish OS includes a multi-tasking graphical shell called "Lipstick" built with Qt by Jolla on top of the Wayland display server protocol.[13]

It uses standard Linux middleware like Systemd, Pulseaudio and Qt. Glibc is the included C Library.[14] The first Jolla Phone in 2013 used Btrfs for the filesystem, afterwards Ext4 has been used. RPM is used as a package manager[15] with PackageKit and Zypper for dependency resolving.

For connectivity ConnMan is used to manage network connections.[16] wpa_supplicant is used for wifi[17] while Bluez is used for Bluetooth.[18] oFono is used for telephone calls[19] with VoLTE available only for the Sony Xperia 10 II and III.[19]

For command-line access, Dash from BusyBox is installed by default, while Bash is also available. For remote access, SSH can be enabled in the settings, while root access is also possible.

For development, there is GCC[20], LLVM[21], Autotools[22], Make[23] and Meson[24]. Included languages are Python[25], Ruby[26], Perl[27] and Rust.[28]

Jolla uses free and open-source graphics device drivers while the Hybris library allows use of proprietary drivers for Android.[31][32] Some key components of Sailfish OS have been licensed proprietary by Jolla from the start and ever since (as of Sailfish OS 5.0 in February 2025). Since September 2025 some closed parts of Sailfish OS have been open sourced, with the announcement that more parts are to be followed.[33]

Firejail (Sailjail) is used for security sandboxing of native applications since version 4.0.1 in 2021.[34]

Sailfish OS can run some Android applications through a proprietary compatibility layer.[35] It is running in an LXC container since Sailfish OS 3.0.1 from January 2019.

Targeted device classes

Sailfish is targeted at mobile devices.[36] Sailfish can be used as a complete general-purpose Linux OS on devices including in vehicle infotainment (IVI), navigation, smart TV, desktops and notebooks, yachts, automotive, e-commerce, home appliances, measuring and control equipment, smart building equipment, etc. See the Devices section for devices that run the Sailfish OS.

Sailfish OS SDK

The Sailfish OS SDK was announced at the Slush Helsinki conference in 2012, and the alpha was published in February 2013.[37] The SDK, installation and coding tutorials are available for free download from the Documentation website[38] despite the overall license not being open source.[39]

Software overview

UI supported human languages

Officially Jolla declares supporting the following 14 languages for the user interface: Danish, German, English (UK), Spanish, French, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Finnish, Swedish, Russian, Chinese (mainland), and Chinese (Hong Kong). For each of them, the OS has a dedicated keyboard. There are a few more languages which are unofficially supported by community freelancers not under control by Jolla, hence more than 20 languages are supported in total. Additional languages can be installed by skilled users due to the Linux architecture.[44]

Public "Early access" for beta testers and developers

After positive experiences with pushing early updates to a small group of opt-in users for Sailfish Update 9 and for the connectivity hotfix, Jolla has allowed all interested parties to try a new version of Sailfish OS about 1–2 weeks before official release, in a program called "Early access". It is expected to be useful for developers and technically minded users, and a step towards more community integration into the Sailfish release process, including improvement of quality by identifying critical issues which only show up in certain environments or device setups, before rolling the update out to the wider user audience. As an added bonus, it provides a window for developers to test their applications on new releases of Sailfish OS.

Basic details about the early access update:

The early release access is meant primarily for advanced users and developers.
To sign up for the program there is a checkbox in the Jolla accounts profile page.
Installed early-access release cannot be downgraded. The only way to downgrade from early access releases is to do a factory reset after removing the sign up check from the user's account profile.
Early access releases should be considered "reasonably stable". Issues found during that period will either be fixed, or added to "known issues" on the release notes.
Signing up for the early access releases will not void warranty.[45]

Version history

Sailfish OS has three naming conventions: version number, update number and version name.

Sailfish OS 1.0 versions were named after Finnish lakes.[46]
Sailfish OS 2.0 supports the Jolla Tablet with x86 platforms and featured a reworked touch based UI. Releases were named after Finnish rivers.[47]
Sailfish OS 3.0 and 4.0 features a slightly reworked UI. Releases are named after Finnish national parks.[48]
Sailfish OS 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4 and 4.5 features 64 bit support on the Sony Xperia 10 II, plus a new sharing system. Releases are named after Finnish Unesco world heritage sites.[49]

Stop releases

When updating an installed Sailfish OS from an earlier release, for example after device factory reset, there are several stop releases[57] which must not be skipped and have to be installed before continuing on the path to subsequent releases. These releases provide new functionality that is not compatible with previous releases and have to be traversed in order not to put the Sailfish OS installation into an unstable state.

Using Android software running on Sailfish OS

In addition to its native applications, Sailfish can run some Android applications by installing them from an application store[62] or directly through an APK file. Supported Android version is 4.1.2 on the original Jolla phone while Android 4.4.4 is supported on the Jolla C, Jolla tablet and Xperia X. Android 13 is supported on the Xperia XA2, Xperia 10, Xperia 10 II, Xperia 10 III, Xperia 10 IV, Xperia 10 V and Jolla C2 with Sailfish 5.0.0.76.[63][64]

Sailfish OS uses Alien Dalvik, a proprietary Android compatibility layer. It does not emulate Android, but instead implements its APIs by adapting the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) code to run as an application. Android applications can thus run at native speed without any perceivable slow-down. Sailfish can run both native Sailfish and Android software simultaneously, with the user switching between them on the fly.

Hardware overview

Sailfish OS can be used on any hardware with Linux-kernel support and compatible with the middleware. Community enthusiasts have ported Sailfish OS to a number of devices this way.[67]

Jolla devices

Jolla has created hardware specifically designed for use with Sailfish.

Jolla Phone (2026) (announced and available for pre-order).[68]
Jolla C2 Community Phone (2024)[69] – Reference device designed for the Sailfish community.[70] Delivery starting 2024. The hardware was created in collaboration with Reeder.
Jolla C Community Phone (2016) – Limited edition for the Sailfish OS community and developers.[71] Announced in 2016. Not supported anymore.[72]
Jolla Tablet (2015) – Crowdfunding project that did not deliver.
Jolla Phone (2013) – First Sailfish phone.

Devices from other vendors licensing Sailfish OS

Manufacturers can provide mobile equipment with a licensed Sailfish OS. It is also possible to flash Sailfish OS on supported (by Jolla) hardware.

Sony Xperia 10 V – via Sailfish X[73]
Sony Xperia 10 IV – via Sailfish X[73]
Sony Xperia 10 III – via Sailfish X[73]
Sony Xperia 10 II – via Sailfish X[73]
Sony Xperia 10 Plus – via Sailfish X[73]

Community enthusiasts' ports to devices from other vendors

Due to the relative ease of porting and the open source license, Sailfish OS has also been unofficially ported[74] to other 3rd-party devices. The Hardware Adaptation Development Kit for porters has been published and is free.[75] These ports are mostly published on the Maemo and XDA Developers forums, and in the Mer wiki a list of the ports is compiled.[76] Due to license restrictions, proprietary parts or extensions such as the Alien Dalvik compatibility layer for Android apps are not included. However they can be added, e.g. when a manufacturer or distributor turns it from the community version into an officially supported version for a particular device. From the originally more than 80 ports, there are about 19 ports that are still in active development – as of March 2019 – meaning they have been updated to Sailfish 3:

To display the ease of porting Sailfish OS to other devices, Jolla showed created ports and community ports at events like the Mobile World Congress, Slush and FOSDEM:

Sailfish OS

History and development

Software architecture

Targeted device classes

Sailfish OS SDK

Software overview

UI supported human languages

Public "Early access" for beta testers and developers

Version history

Stop releases

Using Android software running on Sailfish OS

Hardware overview

Jolla devices

Devices from other vendors licensing Sailfish OS

Community enthusiasts' ports to devices from other vendors

OS development status

Aurora OS

Sailfish Alliance

Sailfish Secure

See also

External links

References

Application programming interfaces