Chroot and namespace both have their limits

Chroot mode locks the Kit process into a mini filesystem. That takes two Linux capabilities, kernel permissions for specific system functions, independent of root: CAP_SYS_CHROOT for locking in, CAP_SYS_ADMIN for mounting. Root sets both on coolforkit and coolmount during package install. Reliable, but a hard requirement on your permission structure.

Namespace mode needs no capability setup. Instead, the kernel has to allow unprivileged users to create their own user namespaces. But that is disabled by policy in a lot of container and hosting environments.

If namespaces are blocked and capabilities aren’t set, your setup used to fall back to a slow fallback path. Or you had to patch things up with a custom seccomp profile. With RichDocumentsCode, the bundled app variant typical for personal deployments, all that was left was a minimal base sandbox.

That comes with security implications. In simple words, a breach in any of the parts of the massive code base could potentially affect the entire system.

What Landlock changes

Landlock is a Linux Security Module (LSM) in the kernel, available since 5.13. A process restricts itself with it, no privileges are required. The Collabora Online WebSocket Daemon (coolwsd) tells each Kit child process exactly what filesystem access it gets, no matter what capabilities or namespace policy allows.

One limitation remains: Landlock can’t mount. So Collabora reworked the multi-tenant feature, so org-wide settings like templates and custom dictionaries still start fast, even without bind mounts.

Server operation barely changes. coolwsd still tries namespaces first, then capabilities, now Landlock as a third tier. Existing deployments won’t notice the switch. Landlock is available for both connection types, though the fallback order differs: server mode keeps namespaces first, RichDocumentsCode now tries Landlock first.

170x faster than the fallback

Landlock isolates a Kit process in a median 602 microseconds. Bind mount takes 842. The old “link or copy” fallback, the workaround without mounting, takes 104,471 microseconds. That makes Landlock about 170 times faster. If you’re stuck on that fallback, you’ll notice this update not just in security, but every time you open a document.

Check the prerequisite

Run this command: cat /sys/kernel/security/lsm

If landlock shows up in the output, you’re set. Default since Ubuntu 22.04 (kernel 5.15), Debian 12 “Bookworm” (kernel 6.1), and RHEL 9 (and derivatives like Rocky/AlmaLinux) from 9.6 onwards, and every newer version. 

Get your update right now

Update to 26.04.3-3. Landlock gives every deployment a stronger, kernel-enforced sandbox: no downside for typical setups, no config changes required.

It matters most if you’re stuck on the fallback because namespaces are blocked by policy, or you’re running RichDocumentsCode without capabilities. But even if your setup runs fine today, update anyway and get better isolation for free. One catch for Nextcloud on Docker: check the host’s kernel, not the container’s, since that’s what Landlock reads.

Update now, run the LSM check above, and confirm landlock shows up.

The post Collabora: Landlock adds a third, tougher sandbox tier appeared first on Nextcloud.

About the updates

Maintenance updates include a number of important bug fixes and improvements in all supported Nextcloud Hub versions. You can find the full changelog on our website.

Found an issue? Please report any issues you find in our GitHub repositories.

Updates are available for:

• Nextcloud Hub 25 Autumn (version 32.0.15, EOL)
• Nextcloud Hub 26 Winter (version 33.0.9)
• Nextcloud Hub 26 Spring (version 34.0.4)

Nextcloud Hub 25 Autumn (32x) reaches End of Life. What does it mean?

Major versions that have reached their End of Life no longer receive further bug fixes or security updates. Support for major releases may be extended through Nextcloud Enterprise offered by Nextcloud developers via Nextcloud GmbH.  For more details to help with planning your updates, check the documentation page.

Always keep your server up to date!

Nextcloud’s minor releases primarily focus on addressing security vulnerabilities and functionality bugs, avoiding major system overhauls that could jeopardize user data. Keeping your server up to date is vital, and our approach to testing and validation ensures that upgrading to minor releases is generally smooth and reliable.

For mission-critical Nextcloud systems in enterprise settings, consider switching to Nextcloud Enterprise. The tier provides you with ultimate deployment confidence: direct access to the Nextcloud engineering team, full assistance throughout deployment and integration, and peace of mind for system administrators. If you’re responsible for maintaining Nextcloud in your setting, this option may be the ideal solution for you.

The post September maintenance updates before Nextcloud Hub 26 Summer, EOL for Nextcloud Hub 26 Autumn appeared first on Nextcloud.

About workshop sessions at the Nextcloud Community Conference 2026

The workshops take place during afternoon breakout tracks on day 1 and 2, in the second half of the day. You can find the confirmed sessions below and start planning your visit. To find the time and room for each workshop, check our agenda.

To help you find relevant workshops easier, we labeled the sessions by target audience:

Developers

Home users

First-time contributors

Keep in mind that we are still updating our agenda. Make sure to check the final program again at the event to plan smart.

September 19, Saturday:

Browse the full program for Saturday, September 19

September 20, Sunday:

Browse the full program for Sunday, September 20

What else is waiting for you at the Nextcloud Community Conference 2026?

Still deciding whether you belong at the Nextcloud Community Conference? We say yes!

The program is full of activities for everyone. Take a seat at the main stage for a keynote by Nextcloud founder Frank Karlitschek, talks by invited speakers like Paula Grzegorzewska, an exclusive live Nextcloud Podcast recording, panel discussions and roundtables. Hear lightning talks from Nextcloud contributors and app developers. Meet new people during breaks and stay for the party on Saturday evening. And a lot more. Browse the full program and register!

And once the event is over, don’t hurry back home just yet. If you are a member of the Nextcloud contributing community, we invite you to stay for the Contributor Week on September 21–25 to hang out, hack, and join developer sprints.

See you soon?

The post Skill up with workshops at the Nextcloud Community Conference 2026 appeared first on Nextcloud.

One Google-free way to receive push notifications is to move processing to a different server of your choice. The UnifiedPush specification used by distributor apps like NextPush, Sunup, and ntfy helps you with that. It lets you replace the Google Play Services part and connect to your Nextcloud, Mozilla’s push services, or a self-hosted server, respectively, to process notifications.

In this article, you’ll learn how you can receive push notifications on the Nextcloud Talk Android app without Google Play Services by enabling UnifiedPush in the app’s settings and installing the distributor app Sunup.

In case you’re new to the topic of privacy-respecting push notifications, you can read more about why Google’s way of handling notifications is problematic and how some open source apps deal with this in the excursus below.

Excursus: Google Play Services vs. UnifiedPush

The problem with push notifications via Google Play Services

In the early days of Android, there was no dedicated, OS-level push mechanism, so developers who wanted to send notifications to users had to build their own. Some would let their apps poll their servers periodically, others would establish a constant connection in the background. This drained the battery fast.

To solve this problem, Google introduced “Cloud to Device Messaging” (C2DM), which was later replaced by “Google Cloud Messaging” (GCM) and finally “Firebase Cloud Messaging” (FCM), which is what most Android apps use today. It centralizes the infrastructure for processing notifications and only requires a single Google Play Services connection to push them to the phone.

However, since virtually every notification passes through Google’s servers, it can technically see metadata about when and how often you’re receiving notifications from which apps, even if it can’t read encrypted message content. Naturally, privacy-conscious users want to avoid this, which is why some Android apps use a different mechanism.

How privacy-focused Android apps handle push notifications

One app that minimizes the metadata Google can see is Signal. When a new message arrives for you, Signal’s own servers send FCM a payload that contains no sender info and no content. When it is delivered to your phone, it only tells your Signal app to wake up, nothing more. The app then reaches out to the Signal servers to fetch the actual end-to-end encrypted message.

Of course, this approach still involves Google’s FCM, so some apps keep their own connections running in the background or periodically check their servers to then generate the notifications locally once they detect something new. However, this can result in increased background activity, which makes the process more likely to be terminated by aggressive battery-optimization.

The privacy-respecting alternative: UnifiedPush

No matter how apps handle push notifications, they always involve a third-party server, be it Google’s or the app developers’ own. If you want to have full control over where your notifications are processed, you need to be able to specify your own server (including one you run yourself, if you prefer that), and UnifiedPush helps you with that.

UnifiedPush defines a set of interfaces specifying what messages get exchanged between which parties without dictating how each party is built internally (similar to how SMTP/IMAP works for email). To receive push notifications, you’ll also need a distributor app installed on your phone (e.g. NextPush, Sunup, or ntfy), a push server the distributor connects to (e.g. your Nextcloud, a third-party server like Mozilla’s, or your own self-hosted setup), and an app that supports receiving push notifications via UnifiedPush (like Nextcloud Talk for Android).

For a setup involving Sunup (which is the approach described in the next section), the process will then look like this:

When you receive a new message in Nextcloud Talk, the server running your Nextcloud sends the notification payload to your push server (in this case Mozilla’s), which then forwards it to Sunup (the distributor). Sunup hands it off to the Nextcloud Talk Android app, which displays it on your phone.

In this setup, Mozilla’s push server replaces Google’s FCM and Sunup replaces Google Play Services.

How to enable UnifiedPush-based notifications for the Nextcloud Talk Android app

It only takes a few steps to set up UnifiedPush for your Nextcloud instance and the Nextcloud Talk app on Android with Sunup as the distributor. All you need to do is to enable web push for your Nextcloud, install the Sunup app, and enable UnifiedPush in the Nextcloud Talk app.

Step 1: Enable web push in your Nextcloud settings

Ensure you’re logged into your Nextcloud with an account that has administration privileges.

Head into the Administration settings and open the Notifications section (if it’s not there, install the Notifications app).

In the Web push settings section (available in Nextcloud 34 and higher), enable Allow web push to be used.

Step 2: Install the Sunup Android app

On your phone, install Sunup from F-Droid. When you open it, you’ll see a list of registered applications, which will probably be empty for now.

Step 3: Enable UnifiedPush in the Nextcloud Talk Android app

Still on your phone, open the Nextcloud Talk app (needs to be version 24.0.2 or higher) and go into Settings.

In the Notifications section, activate Enable UnifiedPush.

If you now go back into Sunup, you should see Nextcloud Talk listed as a registered application.

Conclusion

Now that you’ve set up UnifiedPush for Nextcloud Talk, notifications will no longer pass through Google’s servers. Hooray!

Should you notice any problems with Nextcloud Talk notifications not being delivered properly despite following the instructions, please refer to our documentation on debugging push notifications. You’re also welcome to ask questions in our help forum. The Nextcloud team and the community will do their best to provide support with any issues.

On-demand webinar:
Managing your project lifecycle inside Nextcloud Talk

Many teams lose hours every day to context switching, jumping continuously between messaging apps, project management tools, and external document editors.

In this webinar, Sales Engineer João Cortez demonstrates how Nextcloud Talk allows you to run your entire project lifecycle without ever leaving your chat room, all while maintaining 100% data sovereignty and strict compliance control.

Watch the webinar

The post How to set up UnifiedPush on Android for Nextcloud Talk: push notifications without Google Play Services appeared first on Nextcloud.

Nextcloud just turned 10 years old, and Anna Larch has been with it for more than half of that.

Starting out as part of the Nextcloud Groupware team, Anna later worked on the backend for Nextcloud Talk and now leads the newly established Developer Relations team. She works with community members, independent developers, and partners to support them in developing for the Nextcloud ecosystem.

In this episode, we talk with her about Nextcloud’s shift toward more structured developer relations and community management, which includes consolidating its developer resources into one structured course, making API documentation more accessible, and managing the surge of AI-assisted pull requests from community contributors. Anna also shares her views on the growing need for digital sovereignty fueled by the tension between the GDPR and US CLOUD Act, Nextcloud’s new ISV Partner Program, and why the Nextcloud Community Awards favor small and niche contributors instead of those with the biggest audiences.

Anna will host a breakout track on how to set up a Nextcloud developer instance with Nextcloud Docker Dev at the Nextcloud Community Conference 2026, taking place September 19–20 in Berlin, Germany. Visit the Community Conference page to learn more about the agenda and how to register. There will also be a keynote detailing the newest features in Nextcloud Hub 26 Summer, which launches on September 16. Join the livestream on your favorite platform to get your questions answered live by the Nextcloud team.

When people tell me what they use Nextcloud for, it always gives me a push towards trying to make my work even better. Because I know it’s not for nothing.

Anna Larch

Developer Relations at Nextcloud

Episode links

• Anna Larch on LinkedIn
• Nextcloud documentation
• Nextcloud app development tutorials
• Nextcloud help forum
• Nextcloud developer forum
• “Building your first Nextcloud app” beginner workshop on YouTube
• Nextcloud ISV Partner Program
• Nextcloud Community Awards 2026
• Nextcloud Community Conference 2026

The post Anna Larch: Community management and DevRel at Nextcloud in the age of AI PRs appeared first on Nextcloud.

Since its inception in 2016, Nextcloud has evolved from a self-hosted file sharing and sync software to a comprehensive collaboration platform that includes email, calendar, and contacts apps, tools for team chats and video calls, document, spreadsheet, and presentation editors, as well as AI and automation tools. Together, these make up Nextcloud Hub, a secure digital workspace that puts you and your team in control of your data. By running it in a private cloud, you can take back ownership of your daily work tools, the files your create with them, and your team’s communication.

Let’s take a closer look at Nextcloud Hub’s key components — Nextcloud Files, Talk, Groupware, Office, Assistant, and Flow — and how they come together to create a unified collaboration platform for your organization.

How Nextcloub Hub replaces Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace

Application type	Nextcloud Hub	Microsoft 365	Google Workspace
File storage and sync	Nextcloud Files	OneDrive	Google Drive
Chats and video calls	Nextcloud Talk	Microsoft Teams	Google Meet
Email	Nextcloud Mail	Microsoft Outlook	Google Mail
Calendar	Nextcloud Calendar	Outlook Calendar	Google Calendar
Contacts	Nextcloud Contacts	Outlook People	Google Contacts
Task and project management	Nextcloud Deck	Microsoft Planner	Google Tasks
Document editor	Nextcloud Write	Microsoft Word	Google Docs
Spreadsheet Editor	Nextcloud Spreadsheet	Microsoft Excel	Google Sheets
Presentation editor	Nextcloud Present	Microsoft PowerPoint	Google Slides
AI assistant	Nextcloud Assistant	Microsoft Copilot	Google Gemini
Workflow automation	Nextcloud Flow	Microsoft Power Automate	AppSheet Automation

Secure file storage with Nextcloud Files

At the heart of Nextcloud Hub lies the core technology for storing, sharing, and syncing files.

As an alternative to OneDrive and Google Drive, Nextcloud Files lets you store your data on a server you control, access it from a web browser, desktop client, or mobile app, and sync changes automatically across your devices.

Fine-grained sharing and permissions

Nextcloud Files offers fine-grained control for sharing files with others, including expiration dates, passwords, and download limits. Permissions can be set per file or folder, distinguishing between viewing, editing, and re-sharing rights. Internal links ensure everyone in your organization has access to a file, while public links can be shared with anyone who needs it.

Organization and version control

Every saved change to a file is kept as a previous version you can browse and restore, and deleted items are first moved to a trash bin to prevent data loss. Assigning tags to files makes it easy to organize and filter large collections without relying on a rigid folder structure, and colored labels let you spot related items at a glance.

External storage and enterprise-grade security

Nextcloud Files connects to external storage mounts such as S3, FTP, or SMB and lets you share files with users on different Nextcloud servers as though they were on your own. Optional end-to-end encryption, storage quotas, and detailed audit logging make it a scalable solution fit for use in organizations of all sizes.

Deutsche Telekom: Building a 2.2M user cloud with Nextcloud

In just six months, T-Systems by Deutsche Telekom migrated millions of MagentaCLOUD users to Nextcloud, hosted on T-Systems’ sovereign and GDPR-compliant infrastructure.

Learn more

Team chats, video conferences, and webinars with Nextcloud Talk

Nextcloud Talk brings real-time communication via text messages and video calls into your Nextcloud, giving you a private alternative to tools like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Slack.

Seamless integration with Nextcloud Files

Due to its integration with Nextcloud Files, you can share links to documents, images, and anything else on your cloud storage without leaving the chat window. Moving from text messages to a video call only takes a single click, including in group chats.

Chat wherever you’re working

Just as your other Nextcloud apps are only a click away, you can instantly start chatting with others no matter what you’re working on at the moment. Opening a discussion from a file automatically creates a new channel you can come back to. And if a quick video call is in order, you can start one from the contacts list accessible from the app’s top bar.

Private and secure video conferences

Video conferences in Nextcloud Talk support screen sharing, background blur, a webinar mode with moderator controls and the ability to mute or remove participants. Calls can be recorded for later reference, and integrated polls make it simple to gather quick feedback or make decisions without switching to a separate app. For sensitive communication, you can enable end-to-end encryption.

Hosting webinars and large-scale events

When you expect a large turnout, you can use the optional High Performance Backend and let each participant send a single stream to be distributed by the server — an approach well-suited to one-to-many streaming like webinars or remote teaching lessons.

Hosts get the moderation tools to match: Room permissions can be configured so attendees can only post messages and reactions by default, with the option to grant microphone access to individual participants. Separate moderation settings govern who can join, what can be shared, and how long chat messages remain visible, keeping a large public session as orderly as a small team meeting.

Telephone and SIP integration

Nextcloud Talk also lets external participants dial into a call from any regular telephone. This is handled through an optional SIP bridge as part of the High Performance Backend setup, which also takes care of call signaling and reduces the load on the main Nextcloud server.

Desktop and mobile apps

Mobile users can install the free Nextcloud Talk apps for iOS and Android, both of which support push notifications for incoming calls and messages, so nothing gets missed while a device is locked. On the desktop, dedicated Talk clients for Windows, macOS, and Linux bring calls, chats, and notifications out of the browser and into their own window, with quick access to notifications, calls, and screen sharing.

On-demand webinar:
Nextcloud Talk vs Microsoft Teams

Many organizations are rethinking how they communicate internally and externally. Security risks, vendor lock-in, and a lack of data sovereignty are no longer abstract concerns.

In this webinar, Technical Project Manager Eric Fischer demonstrates how Nextcloud Talk outperforms Microsoft Teams through an in-depth live showcase.

Watch the webinar

Nextcloud Groupware: email, calendars, contacts, and more on your own infrastructure

Nextcloud’s Outlook equivalent and alternative to Google Mail, Calendar and Contacts is Nextcloud Groupware. It brings your email communication and appointments back under your control and comes with additional productivity features for cross-team collaboration.

Nextcloud Mail: integrated email with powerful delegation features

Nextcloud Mail features a web-based email client with support for multiple accounts, threaded conversations, and file attachments pulled straight from Nextcloud Files. The built-in delegation feature goes beyond out-of-office messages and lets your team members know you’re out-of-office and whom to contact instead across Nextcloud Mail, Talk, and Calendar. You can also let whoever’s filling in for you read and reply to incoming emails.

Nextcloud Calendar: organize meetings without the back-and-forth

Scheduling meetings in Nextcloud Calendar is straightforward: Create a proposal, add your team members, and you’ll see free slots at a glance, thanks to free-busy checks that show when invitees are actually available. If you delegate your calendar to a team member while you’re away, they can attend meetings in your stead.

Nextcloud Contacts: your organization at a glance

Nextcloud Contacts is where information about your team members and external contacts lives: every user has a detailed profile with fields for location, timezone, role, and more. By defining custom groups, you can give access to files, chats, and tasks to everyone involved in a project at once. If you need an overview of the people in your organization, Nextcloud Contacts can automatically create an organization chart with sub-levels for team members managed or overseen by others.

Nextcloud Deck: kanban boards and Gantt charts for work management

Also part of Nextcloud Groupware are productivity tools like Nextcloud Deck. This Kanban-style project management app gives teams an alternative to tools like Trello for organizing work into boards, with lists acting as columns and cards representing individual tasks. Each card can hold a Markdown-formatted description, color labels for quick categorization, checklists for multi-step tasks, file attachments pulled directly from Nextcloud, and a comment thread that keeps discussions tied to the card instead of scattered across chats and emails.

Boards can also be displayed as Gantt charts, with timelines color-coded by list and viewable at a monthly, weekly, daily, or even hourly resolution.

Real-time collaboration on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations with Nextcloud Office

Nextcloud Hub includes a feature-rich online office suite that replaces Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint as well as Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. With Nextcloud Office, you can create and edit text documents, spreadsheets, and slideshows in your desktop and mobile browser and collaborate on them with other team members in real time.

Real-time editing and review tools

Multiple people can open the same file and see each other’s changes and cursors as they type, without version conflicts or the need to merge separate copies afterward. Built-in commenting lets colleagues leave feedback on specific passages or cells, and a track-changes mode records edits so you can review or roll back revisions before they’re accepted. Nextcloud Office reads and writes Microsoft Office formats like DOCX, XLSX, and PPTX alongside OpenDocument formats such as ODT, ODS, and ODP. This ensures compatibility with your colleagues’ or clients’ files regardless of which office solution they use.

Choose the office tools that best suit your needs

You can run Nextcloud Office with different office suites. Euro-Office focuses on compatibility with Microsoft file formats and uses a client-centric architecture, with most processing taking place on the user’s device. Collabora Online prioritizes the OpenDocument Format and uses a server-centric architecture in which the server does the heavy lifting. You can switch from one office suite to another at any time without losing your data.

Amnesty International: Privacy where it matters most

Amnesty International Spain migrated from Samba to Nextcloud for secure sharing, real-time collaboration, and remote access across their human-rights teams.

Learn more

Nextcloud Assistant: private AI, right where you work

Whenever you need help drafting a document, summarizing a discussion, or translating an email, the AI-powered Nextcloud Assistant is only one click away. It opens in a modal window that you can freely resize and move around the screen so you can concentrate on the task at hand.

Pre-configured actions and chat

Nextcloud Assistant comes with several pre-configured actions, which include proofreading text, transcribing audio, and analyzing images. For anything not covered by these options, there’s the familiar chat interface for interacting with LLMs. Here, you can ask questions and brainstorm ideas, with the conversation history kept so you can pick up where you left off.

Context Chat and Context Search

The Context Chat feature lets you ask questions about contracts, reports, and other files saved in your Nextcloud. You can define its scope manually, even limiting it to a specific folder or file for increased precision. With Context Search, Nextcloud Assistant goes through your files or emails to find any data you might be looking for.

Transparency and admin control

Transparency is especially important when interacting with AI. The Nextcloud Ethical AI Rating helps users decide which models to use by prioritizing open source licensing, self-hosting options, and the availability of training data.

Nextcloud’s documentation includes detailed information on how and where AI features are integrated, while admins have full control over which of these they want to enable and whether to run the underlying models locally or connect to an external provider. This way, you always know where your data goes while benefiting from AI features integrated directly into the platform your team already uses.

Nextcloud Flow: workflow automation on your own terms

Automating routine tasks can be a real time-saver, which is why Nextcloud Hub includes its own automation engine. Nextcloud Flow is a set of intuitive automation components in Nextcloud Hub that help users and administrators automate a variety of workflows, no coding experience required.

It starts with the the Flow tool located in the user’s and admin settings. It lets you configure simple automations like sending a message in a chat room when a file is uploaded to a specific folder or blocking access to documents with sensitive data when accessed from a specific IP address range.

Advanced automation with Nextcloud Tables, the OCS API, and Windmill

The Nextcloud Tables app gives users a place to manage and store structured data and build lightweight mini apps around it for data entry and manipulation. For more technical needs, the Open Collaboration Services (OCS) API exposes many of Nextcloud’s core functions through a programming interface that lets developers integrate Nextcloud’s automation capabilities into external systems and custom scripts.

Built on top of this API sits the most powerful layer of the bundle: a Windmill-based business process automation tool designed for modeling and running extensive, enterprise-grade work processes rather than simple one-off rules. It lets you model entire processes, such as case management with configurable deadlines and decisions or a lightweight CRM with client pipelines and intake.

More Nextcloud apps: useful tools for every use case

Nextcloud Files, Talk, Groupware, Office, Assistant, and Flow make up the core of Nextcloud Hub. But there are many more apps available for various tasks, e.g., for organizing information, managing work tasks, and gathering input via fillable forms.

Nextcloud Notes: quickly organize information

Nextcloud Notes is a distraction-free note-taking app that lets you create, edit, and organize notes using plain text or Markdown formatting. Notes can be grouped into categories and support embedded images and video, mathematical formulas, and syntax highlighting for code. Since Nextcloud Notes uses the highly portable MD format, files created with it can be opened in any text editor.

Nextcloud Tasks: shareable to-dos and reminders

Nextcloud Tasks gives you an intuitive interface for creating to-do lists that synchronize across devices. It supports due dates, priorities, and subtasks, and lists can be shared with other users the same way calendars are, using the open CalDAV standard. You can set reminders and even display your upcoming tasks in Nextcloud Calendar so you never miss a due date.

Nextcloud Forms: privacy-respecting surveys

Nextcloud Forms lets you build custom surveys with question types like multiple choice, text input, and ratings, ideal for collecting feedback, running polls, or handling registrations. You can share forms with public links for anonymous, no-registration responses or restrict them to specific users on your Nextcloud instance. The results can be visualized with built-in graphs and exported as CSV to move the data into a spreadsheet for deeper analysis.

Due to their often sensitive nature, privacy is key when it comes to surveys. With Nextcloud Forms, every question and response remains on infrastructure you control.

Austria’s Federal Ministry: GDPR- and NIS2-compliant collaboration

The results of a Data Protection Impact Assessment painted a clear picture: Instead of Microsoft, the Austrian Federal Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism chose Nextcloud Hub as its sovereign collaboration platform.

Learn more

Get started with Nextcloud Hub, the private and secure Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace alternative

Nextcloud Hub brings the tools your organization depends on onto infrastructure you control. With deeply integrated tools for file storage, communication, collaboration, and automation, it provides you with a comprehensive digital workspace that lets you decide where your data lives and who can access it instead of leaving those decisions to a third-party vendor. Migrating from another solution is straightforward, thanks to Nextcloud’s support for open standards.

If you’re part of a larger organization, take a look at the Nextcloud Enterprise plan. It gives you access to the full Nextcloud Hub product suite combined with the reliability, security, and compliance guarantees needed for critical deployments. Already a Microsoft customer? Watch our webinar on how to migrate successfully from Microsoft to Nextcloud. Frank Dengler, CEO at Audriga, walks you through how Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams map to the Nextcloud platform and what to look out for when it’s time to transfer the data.

The post Nextcloud Hub: The European alternative to Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace appeared first on Nextcloud.

Nextcloud Files achieves French CSPN certificate

France’s cybersecurity authority ANSSI (Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d’information) awarded Nextcloud the CSPN certification (Certification de Sécurité de Premier Niveau).

CSPN is a first-level security certification and a standard reference point in French public tenders, comparable to how BSI-approved products work in Germany. ANSSI ran Nextcloud Files through vulnerability and penetration tests. No issues were reported, a positive signal for all Nextcloud customers.

If you’re rolling out Nextcloud in a French public sector context, CSPN removes a procurement hurdle you’d otherwise have to clear product by product. But even outside France, this certification holds weight, as it means that an independent government agency tested the software for vulnerabilities and found none.

BSI IT-Grundschutz via Dataport

Certifications like SOC 2 or BSI C5 check operations, not software. They look at how a provider manages and hosts software, not the software itself. That’s usually why you see these certifications sitting with Nextcloud’s partners, not with Nextcloud.

Recently, public sector IT service provider Dataport made available a Nextcloud service that is operated within a German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) IT-Grundschutz-certified environment. While the Nextcloud instance itself is not directly part of the certification scope, its operation is embedded in Dataport’s ISMS and follows the strict security requirements of the BSI. This enables public sector organizations to benefit from a highly secure and compliant workspace, supporting their efforts towards digital sovereignty.

What this means for our customers in Europe

IT-Grundschutz stands for “IT baseline protection”. It’s broader than a pure IT checklist: it covers organization, staff, physical rooms, and documentation alongside technical controls. German federal authorities have to implement IT-Grundschutz, while state-level authorities often adopt it voluntarily. It’s not a legal requirement for private companies, but operators of critical infrastructure and organizations under NIS2 can use it as an accepted way to meet their security obligations. The standard behind this certification is one of the most thorough security frameworks in Europe, and it now covers a real, hosted Nextcloud deployment, not just a theoretical setup.

BSI officially recognizes CSPN as equivalent to its own Accelerated Security Certification (Beschleunigte Sicherheitszertifizierung, BSZ). Both map to the European standard EN 17640, which makes them compatible with the EU Cybersecurity Act (CSA).

BSI IT-Grundschutz builds on ISO 27001, the internationally recognized standard for information security management. That’s what gives it weight across Europe, not just in Germany.

Extensive DPIA gives Nextcloud Enterprise the green light

Earlier this month, the European privacy and compliance specialist Privacy Company published a DPIA on Nextcloud Enterprise. Commissioned by the Dutch higher education IT cooperative SURF the DPIA mapped how Nextcloud Enterprise handles data and identified possible risks.

The DPIA also comes with practical guidance for running Nextcloud in compliance-critical setups. That’s a strong start for other privacy-sensitive organizations that plan to assess Nextcloud’s GDPR compliance.

Zero access, by design

Certifications and audits tell you the software held up under defined testing. They don’t make the next attack impossible. What actually limits the damage when something does go wrong is that Nextcloud has no access to data on the servers of its customers. There’s nothing to breach on our end because there’s nothing here to take.

If you’re assessing Nextcloud Enterprise for your own organization, you can request a free trial or contact us for a quote tailored to your needs. We’ll talk through what a deployment would look like and which data residency and hosting configuration fits your needs.

The post Nextcloud earns ANSSI CSPN and BSI IT-Grundschutz certifications appeared first on Nextcloud.

Supporting thousands of non-profit professionals

Founded in 2013 by the Polish-American Freedom Foundation, FAOO helps non-profit organizations improve their management and organizational capabilities through education and professional development.

Its impact reaches thousands of people across Poland. More than 11,000 users have joined its online learning platform, nearly 4,700 certificates have been issued, and over 600 NGO leaders have completed intensive leadership programs such as PROMENGO. The foundation operates with a small core team supported by external experts who collaborate remotely on educational programs throughout the year.

From fragmented files to one trusted workspace

As the organization grew, so did the complexity of managing information. Documents were spread across private Google Drive accounts, Dropbox folders, local computer storage, and email inboxes. Team members frequently exchanged files as email attachments, making version control difficult to maintain and creating security risks.

More importantly, critical organizational knowledge often existed only in individual employee accounts. If someone became unavailable, so did the valuable documentation, templates or educational materials. At the same time, FAOO needed to manage personal data for more than 10,000 participants while ensuring full GDPR compliance. The organization also wanted to encourage a cultural shift from email attachments to modern collaborative work.

Active choice of digital sovereignty

For FAOO, maintaining complete control over its data was a non-negotiable requirement. The foundation selected Nextcloud because it could be deployed on its own infrastructure, making sure that user data remains under its direct control and meeting GDPR requirements.
The decision also aligns with the organization’s broader mission. As an institution that helps other NGOs modernize their operations, FAOO leads by example and demonstrates that secure, open source, and independent digital infrastructure is both practical and achievable.

Building a modern collaboration platform

FAOO is deploying Nextcloud as an on-premises solution hosted on its own servers.

The initial rollout includes:

• Nextcloud Files as a centralized repository for documents and collaborative work.
• Nextcloud Forms to securely collect participant registrations and other sensitive information.
• Nextcloud Assistant to explore sovereign AI for summarizing documents and everyday workflows.

Once the core platform is fully established, the organization plans to integrate Nextcloud with MailerLite to automate participant communication and further streamline its educational programs.

Creating more time for the mission

The biggest expected outcome is transforming how the organization works. By moving from fragmented storage to a single digital workspace, FAOO expects to eliminate version conflicts, improve access to organizational knowledge, and simplify collaboration between employees and external experts
The organization estimates that the new platform will reduce time spent on internal communication and administrative work by around 20%, allowing the team to focus more energy on developing educational programs and supporting Poland’s non-profit community.

Looking ahead

Following the initial deployment, FAOO plans to expand its use of Nextcloud by connecting additional services and safely onboarding external trainers and experts into dedicated project spaces.
By choosing Nextcloud and investing in a secure, open, and sovereign digital workspace, the organization stays committed to helping others build stronger institutions,, thus strengthening civil society in Poland.

The post Academy of Civic Organizations Foundation builds a secure digital workspace with Nextcloud appeared first on Nextcloud.

About the updates

Maintenance updates include a number of important bug fixes and improvements in all supported Nextcloud Hub versions. You can find the full changelog on our website.

Found an issue? Please report any issues you find in our GitHub repositories.

Updates are available for:

• Nextcloud Hub 25 Autumn (version 32.0.14)
• Nextcloud Hub 26 Winter (version 33.0.8)
• Nextcloud Hub 26 Spring (version 34.0.3)

Always keep your server up to date!

Nextcloud’s minor releases primarily focus on addressing security vulnerabilities and functionality bugs, avoiding major system overhauls that could jeopardize user data. Keeping your server up to date is vital, and our approach to testing and validation ensures that upgrading to minor releases is generally smooth and reliable.

For mission-critical Nextcloud systems in enterprise settings, consider switching to Nextcloud Enterprise. The tier provides you with ultimate deployment confidence: direct access to the Nextcloud engineering team, full assistance throughout deployment and integration, and peace of mind for system administrators. If you’re responsible for maintaining Nextcloud in your setting, this option may be the ideal solution for you.

The post August maintenance updates: Nextcloud Hub 25 Autumn, 26 Winter & 26 Spring appeared first on Nextcloud.

But the event doesn’t stop there! We will continue our ventures during the Nextcloud Contributor Week from September 21–25 with our famous development sprints. This is your opportunity to collaborate in person with other Nextcloud community members during focused working sessions. From coding to translation and writing documentation, all skill levels come together in this community-driven week to build, improve, and collaborate on all things Nextcloud.

What are development sprints?

During our development sprints, contributors of all backgrounds and experiences gather to collaborate in person on the Nextcloud platform.

As a key part of the Nextcloud Contributor Week, these development sprints offer the chance to be creative and work on ideas to improve Nextcloud, including:

• Contributing to code
• Testing new features
• Submitting pull requests
• Writing documentation
• Translating the Nextcloud interface

We strive to make the most of our time together, with four days of knowledge sharing, working next to each other, and creating impact with your ideas and curiosity.

Who can join the development sprints?

Short answer: everyone.

All skill levels are welcome, from core developers to first-time coders, as well as non-technical profiles such as designers, translators, and home users.

This is your opportunity to help improve the UX, test new features, and work on the documentation, bringing your creativity to the table to make the most of Nextcloud.

Here are some examples of what you might be working on:

• Building your own app
• Finding support to set up your Nextcloud
• Fixing bugs and improving existing features
• Updating the documentation
• Cleaning GitHub sessions
• Translating the UI and improving its accessibility
• Brainstorming on features and improvements

We will also have workshops for all skill levels during the Nextcloud Community Conference 2026. From newbies to experts, there will be something for everyone.

How to register for the dev sprints

To register for the dev sprints, head over to the Nextcloud Community Conference page, click on the “Register now” button, and choose whether you’ll be attending the Nextcloud Community Conference, the Contributor Week, or both.

Don’t forget to bring your laptop, a GitHub account, and loads of ideas, curiosity, and questions!

We can’t wait to collaborate with you in Berlin for a week of impromptu problem-solving, side chats, and the fun of building something together.

How to volunteer at the Nextcloud Community Conference

To ensure everything runs smoothly during the Nextcloud Community Conference, we’re calling on passionate volunteers to join our team. Whether you are a seasoned Nextcloud veteran or new to the community, your enthusiasm and skills can make a significant impact. As a volunteer, you could help with tasks like:

• Helping out at the registration table: Greeting guests, handing out swag, providing information, etc.
• Assisting with the technical support of keynote speakers
• Passing around the mic for Q&A after keynotes and panel sessions

You can either go for a short shift that gives you enough time to also participate in workshops and keynotes or a full shift if you’re mainly at the conference to support the Nextcloud team.

If you would like to support the Nextcloud Community Conference as a volunteer, please fill out the application form. You’ll receive an email from us letting you know if you’ve been accepted for this event.

The post Join the Nextcloud development sprints: a week of hands-on collaboration appeared first on Nextcloud.