What makes our team happiest about this milestone isn’t really the number itself. It’s seeing more people become interested in something that used to feel pretty niche: keeping your data on hardware you actually own.
Self-hosting can get complicated quickly. Linux, Docker, RAID, networking… there’s a reason many people look at it and think, “Maybe not for me.”
That’s one of the things I like most about what we’re trying to do with ZimaOS: make self-hosting easier to start, without taking away the freedom to go deeper.
If you have an old PC or Mini PC sitting around, you can turn it into your own personal server.
With ZimaOS, you can:
→ Automatically back up photos from your phone
→ Store your movies, photos, and work files
→ Access your data while you’re away from home
→ Replace part of your cloud storage with your own private storage
→ Build your own media library with Jellyfin / Plex
→ Manage your photos with Immich
→ Run your smart home with Home Assistant
→ Build automations with n8n
→ Run local AI
→ Install what you need from 800+ apps
For some people, it can even replace part of what they currently keep in the cloud.
With ZimaOS 1.7, we also made discovering and installing apps much easier. And if you’re the kind of person who wants YAML, Compose, CLI, VMs and more control, that side is still there too.
Easy to start. Plenty of room to grow.
7 million downloads definitely doesn’t mean ZimaOS is perfect. We still have a lot to improve. But every bug report, tutorial, Discord discussion, recommendation, and piece of feedback has helped shape what it is today.
So… thank you all. Really. Really. Really.
And if you have an old computer collecting dust somewhere, maybe don’t throw it away just yet.
What would you build with it?
Try now please:
https://zimaspace.com/zimaos
Sincerely,
IceWhale Team
