Since its inception back in December 2020, Umbrel has come a long way with each stride.
Umbrel was launched as a software operating system (UmbrelOS) and after releasing their Umbrel App Store as well an 0.5 update to the UmbrelOS in the first half of 2022, Umbrel began to unravel their next big move. Now in 2023, Umbrel has unveiled its very first home server – Umbrel Home.
So what is Umbrel Home?
“Today, all of our data is stored on servers owned by large corporations, Which is then auctioned off to the highest bidder to spy on us. It’s time to take back control.” – Umbrel
Umbrel is a home server and operating system for self-hosting. It is a decentralized server that protects your privacy and information, allowing freedom of choice in permissions, apps, access, and general control over everything connected.
Umbrel Home is a pre-built, physical server. It is also installable on any computer system hardware – Laptop, Desktop, Phone, iPad, VM, Cloud, NUC – as long as it is running either Ubuntu or Debian, as well as any single-board computer.
Umbrel Home merges with umbrelOS, giving the convenience of a cloud without giving up data. Umbrel Home allows users to:
- Take ownership of their data with full control over storage, access, and sharing.
- Personalize each device with custom layouts, ad blockers, file management, and crypto servers.
- Save money and never pay for cloud-based subscriptions again.
- Leverage the fastest server available right now in Umbrel Home.
Benefits of using Umbrel Home
Compared to the world’s best single board computer – even paired with umbrelOS – Umbrel Home is far superior and the complete package. Umbrel Home operates in silence while only requiring 10 watts of power for maximum use. Furthermore, Umbrel Home’s CPU is 3 times faster, its 2TB SSD read and write speeds are 6.5 times faster, the 16GB RAM is double that of the umbrelOS, and the memory bandwidth is 2.4 times faster.
Umbrel Home is the safest OS on the market. Its decentralized Node / Cloud servers protect the operator’s information and privacy, plus all apps require 2FA or biometric scan such as fingerprint or face. These biometrics are stored on your own network, so there’s no worry about identity confidentiality.
Umbrel itself handles all the authentication processes, meaning App developers no longer need to worry about building their own for each individual App.
App Store
Umbrel 0.5 update saw the completion of the Umbrel App Store. The App store features unique apps designed for Umbrel such as a Bitcoin Node app that allows users to run their own Node and earn Bitcoin. Lightning Network, Nostr Relay, Ghostfolio and others each have their own apps. In fact, you can launch your own application as well in a few simple steps.
The effectiveness of Umbrel Home’s technical advantages can already be seen from using any of the apps:
- The Bitcoin Node sync time has rapidly decreased from 2½ days to just over 15 hours.
- File uploads are 1½ times faster.
- 3 times more efficient plex video transcoding (essentially live streaming and live event quality / real time delivery).
- Apps can now access data across Umbrel services and connect to other apps, giving the operator a streamlined experience.
Apps are updated and sync across all devices in real time unless the operator turns off this feature.
Set up for all devices
Moving your data from umbrelOS & the high computer standard of the Raspberry Pi 4 can be done in a one-click transfer.
Likewise, installing on any device is easy. Once Umbrel Home has been turned on, all that is required is for the operator to run a simple command code:
“curl -L https://umbrel.sh I bask”
Criticism
Many of the apps are crypto-based, yet not categorized well. Unless you know the specific app you’re planning to install, sifting through a plethora of uncategorized crypto apps will be confusing and a bit messy.
Other complaints from users consist of several smaller apps being somewhat glitchy at times, and the fact there is no Nginx Proxy Manager.
We will review further once Umbrel Home servers have been shipped and activated so they can be thoroughly tested.
Umbrel Home orders begin shipping on June 26th 2023.