Purism released PureOS 11 “Crimson” in May 2026, succeeding PureOS “Byzantium” after a development cycle that included an alpha in August 2025 and a beta in early 2026. Crimson is FSF-endorsed (ships only free software), targets all current Librem devices (Librem 5, 11, 13, 15 and compatible PCs/servers), and focuses on stability, hardware reliability, and privacy rather than major new desktop features.
Notable changes
- Fixed a system suspend regression
- Resolved a crash when disconnecting external displays on Librem 5 and 11
- Improved hardware killswitch handling on Librem 5: prevents erroneous sensor readings and unwanted screen rotations after toggling
- Camera improvements on Librem 5: workaround for a silicon-level issue; better QR code scanning, white balance, and audio/video sync
- Photo and video orientation now auto-adapts to device rotation
- GPU acceleration (OpenGL) for image post-processing, enabling lens correction, tone mapping, and sharpening
- KDE Plasma edition ships a more standard KDE application set; GNOME Software removed from default installs
- GNOME metapackage aligned with Debian Bookworm
- Plymouth boot splash removed from server images
- Minimal development tools included by default in desktop images
- PureOS Upgrade application pushed to all Byzantium users for in-place upgrade; fresh ISOs also available
Development has already shifted to the next codename, PureOS “Dawn”, expected on a faster release cadence.