Umbrel announces umbrelOS 2.0 with Photos, new iOS app, MCP server, and wider GPU support

Umbrel has announced umbrelOS 2.0, its biggest update yet, with a full release scheduled for September 22 and a public beta rolling out now. Existing users can join by updating to version 1.7.4 and enabling the Beta Program in Settings Advanced, while new installations can download Beta 1 directly.

The update introduces Photos with native photo management and a new iOS app, multiple user support, custom app folders, a redesigned interface, and a new Mac app. It also adds a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for compatible AI agents, while Storage Manager introduces FailSafe, Umbrel's RAID based protection against drive failures.

umbrelOS 2.0 expands hardware support with automatic detection for NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel GPUs, plus Thunderbolt external GPU support. Umbrel says the OS can run on mini PCs, NAS devices, Raspberry Pi systems, older computers, and AI PCs. The company has also announced a feature called Machines, with more details about it and other additions expected on September 22.