A modern app platform for Sailfish OS
Reef is its store. Install it once from this site and it installs and updates apps built and tested for the Sailfish release your phone runs, signed from end to end.
Not released yet. Reef, Keel and the first apps are in development, and there is no release date.
Why this exists
Sailfish OS is an independent mobile OS, and Jolla is shipping new phones for it. The software around it has not kept up. Silica, the toolkit Sailfish apps are written in, still runs on Qt 5, which the Qt project stopped supporting in 2023. Good apps go unmaintained or never get packaged for the current release. And things people expect from any phone are missing: AirPods that work properly, an easy move over from an iPhone, a password manager, an assistant.
Shipwright builds the missing parts, all of them, without waiting for anyone. Keel runs Silica apps on Qt 6, so the whole app catalogue can move to a supported toolkit. Reef gives the platform a store with tested, signed builds, and later a way for developers to sell their apps. The Shoal apps cover the everyday gaps: mail, passwords, the camera, moving from Android or an iPhone, AirPods, Matrix messaging with Signal and Telegram bridges, and Pilot, an assistant on the phone in the class of Siri and Gemini.
Why use Reef
Tested on your release
Every listing names the Sailfish releases its build was tested on, such as 5.2.0.15. Reef pins its repository to the release your phone runs, so it only offers builds that were tested there. After a Sailfish update it follows the new release.
Signed from end to end
The repository index and every package are signed with the Reef key. A package that does not verify is not installed.
Silica apps on Qt 6
Keel runs apps written for Silica, Sailfish's own interface toolkit, on Qt 6. Every listing shows its Keel grade: A means everything the app uses from Silica runs on Keel. Every first-party app is grade A.
No store account
Apps install without signing in. Nothing is for sale yet. When Shoal Bridge and Pilot go on sale, you will buy them on the web and the app will check its licence on the phone, offline.
Open source where it counts
The installer and the Reef app decide what gets installed on your phone, so they are GPL-licensed, and Keel is MIT-licensed. The source goes public before the first release.
The first apps
Shoal Keys
Passwords and one-time codes, in a KeePass vault that stays on the phone.
Shoal Mail
IMAP mail on the Sailfish accounts framework, with unified inboxes.
Shoal Bridge
Battery levels, noise control and ear detection for AirPods, and a fix for their volume control on Sailfish.
Shoal Migrate
Contacts, calendars and photos from Android or an iPhone, with a plan before anything changes.
Shoal Messages
Matrix messaging, with Signal and Telegram chats bridged in. It starts as a free, invitation-only beta.
Pilot
An assistant built into the phone, in the class of Siri and Gemini. It works through your apps and asks before anything leaves the phone.
All in development. Screenshots are from development builds at the Jolla Phone's screen density; tap one to see it full size.
Installing will take four steps on the phone and about two minutes. Developer mode is not needed.
How installing works