postmarketOS started in 2017. Its goal was simple: keep smartphones useful for 10 years. The system runs on Alpine Linux and focuses on supporting phones long after manufacturers drop updates.
Nearly a decade on, the project is changing its name. At its September 27 conference, the team announced that postmarketOS is now Nura.
Why the Name Change Happened
The old name had grown hard to work with. Developers said it was difficult to introduce to new people. Pronunciation and memory varied across languages. The capitalization itself caused problems—lowercase “p” and “m” next to uppercase “OS” led people to write it as PostMarketOS or PostmarketOS.
The name also sent the wrong signal. It sounded like something you install on a phone you already own. In reality, PINE64 sold new PinePhones with the system already on them.
The team needed a name that was easier to say and one they could trademark. A descriptive label like postmarketOS made trademarking impossible. They spent around a year and a half searching, collecting more than 300 suggestions. The winning idea came from community member Davide Depau.
What Nura Means
Nura is short for nuraghe. Those are the ancient granite structures in Sardinia that have stood for thousands of years. The longevity matches the project’s aim: make devices last longer.
The website has moved to nura.eco. The team picked the domain for its connection to ecology. The familiar arrow logo stays, though the spacing between the arrows is slightly wider so it reads more clearly from a distance. The logo itself is a refined version of the old postmarketOS mark.
Some software still shows the postmarketOS name while contributors finish updating the remaining references.