[1][2] The laptop line is designed to protect privacy and freedom by providing no non-free (proprietary) software in the operating system or kernel,[3][4][5] avoiding the Intel Active Management Technology,[6] and gradually freeing and securing firmware.

[38] On August 24, 2017, Purism started a crowdfunding campaign for the Librem 5, a smartphone aimed to run 100% free software, which would "[focus] on security by design and privacy protection by default".

Purism claimed that the phone would become "the world's first ever IP-native mobile handset, using end-to-end encrypted decentralized communication.

[44] The Librem 5 also features hardware kill switches for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth communication and the phone's camera, microphone, and baseband processor.

The operating system uses a new user interface called Phosh, based on Wayland, wlroots, GTK and GNOME middleware.

In September 2018, Purism announced that the launch date of Librem 5 would be moved from January to April 2019, because of two hardware bugs and the holiday season in Europe and North America.

The key supports type A USB 2.0, has dimensions of 48 x 19 x 7 mm, and weighs 6 g.[55] Initially planning to preload its Librem laptops with the Trisquel operating system,[56] Purism eventually moved off the Trisquel platform to Debian for the 2.0 release of its PureOS Linux operating system.