Ubuntu’s New Telemetry Tool to ‘Phone Home’ Monthly

Changes are afoot for Ubuntu’s opt-in telemetry service, including greater transparency with the open-sourcing of the server backend that processes data when users opt-in.

Ubuntu 25.10 added Ubuntu Insights, a newer hardware metrics reporting service that’s preinstalled alongside the distro’s existing Ubuntu Report telemetry tool. The latter used by those who upgrade to 25.10, the former on fresh installs only.

But 26.04 LTS coming, having two metric-gathering tools is a bit OTT. Canonical aims to make Insights the default tool for all users, including those who upgrade from an older version where consent was managed by Ubuntu Report (i.e., Ubuntu 24.04 LTS).

Still Voluntary, Still Just System Specs

Anything ‘adding telemetry’ will make folks twitchy so, before anyone brandishes a pitchfork or wafts a placard in the air, a reminder that Ubuntu added opt-in telemetry in 2018.

Data collection in Ubuntu is optional, anonymised, focused on system specs not personal data and digested in aggregate form (e.g., 5% of installs use TPM-backed encryption, etc).

What’s planned to change is the tool that asks for permission, collates and then sends system details to Canonical – to stress: only if you agree – what details it reports (it’s expanding to cover WSL and some installer choices), and how often details are sent to Canonical.

Previously, if you agreed to share system info with Canonical when asked, Ubuntu Report would generate and send a one-off snapshot of your system specs to Canonical immediately.

But Ubuntu Insights will ‘phone home’ with a report once a month.

Why the uptick in frequency?

Canonical says this will provide them with “more consistent and up-to-date data” which will enable them to “react faster to trends” (or, I dare say, discover the boring truth that many of us stick with the same system year after year after year after).

Insights will collect the same hardware data as before (CPU, GPU, RAM, monitor resolution, TPM, encryption status, etc), plus some newer bits (related to installer options, new tech capabilities, etc).

Each report is stored locally in a plain‑text JSON in ~/.cache/ubuntu-insights/, so you can open and view them at any time, and the first time you give consent and a report is generated Ubuntu Insights show you the contents before it’s sent – Report didn’t.

Here’s a sample JSON. It’s dense but you can get a gist of the sort of (frankly, dull) data being “collected” as part of this:

{
"insightsVersion": "Dev",
"collectionTime": 1748013676,
"systemInfo": {
"hardware": {
"product": {
"family": "My Product Family",
"name": "My Product Name",
"vendor": "My Product Vendor"
},
"cpu": {
"name": "9 1200SX",
"vendor": "Authentic",
"architecture": "x86_64",
"cpus": 16,
"sockets": 1,
"coresPerSocket": 8,
"threadsPerCore": 2
},
"gpus": [
{ "device": "0x0294", "vendor": "0x10df", "driver": "gpu" },
{ "device": "0x03ec", "vendor": "0x1003", "driver": "gpu" }
],
"memory": { "size": 23247 },
"disks": [
{ "size": 1887436, "type": "disk" }
],
"screens": [
{ "physicalResolution": "2560x1440", "refreshRate": "60.0" },
{ "physicalResolution": "2560x1600", "refreshRate": "120.00" }
]
},
"software": {
"os": { "family": "linux", "distribution": "Ubuntu", "version": "25.10" },
"language": "en_GB"
},
"platform": {
"desktop": { "desktopEnvironment": "ubuntu:GNOME", "sessionType": "wayland" }
}
}
}

Ubuntu Insights also enforces a one‑week delay before sending reports. This “cooling off period” gives you time to review the contents and, if desired, revoke your consent (run ubuntu-insights revoke via the command line – a GUI toggle is planned).

Canonical has also open-sourced the server-side code used to process the data too. That should assuage concerns from the (justifiably) privacy-conscious who’d like verify what happens after data leaves their device.

Did I mention it’s all still “your choice”?

Ubuntu telemetry remains strictly opt-in and Canonical assure that “no personally identifiable information” is collected. To avoid it entirely… You just decline when first asked (or revoke later from the command-line).

For those who upgrade to Ubuntu 26.04 LTS a version where consent was previously granted, Canonical says it will re-seek confirmation first. It also plans to add controls into Settings to make subsequent opt-out easier.

To stress: you have to choose to share data with Canonical (as before there’s an entire step on the first-run wizard dedicated to it; you can’t miss it) but having data on the sorts of hardware and system configurations being used is valuable.

In 2020 the company even launched a webpage anyone could visit to see a summary of data, but this appears to no longer be online. Given the increase in transparency (open-sourcing the server backend, caching reports locally) it’d be great to see this return.

That said, it remains your choice. If you don’t want to Canonical to know how much RAM your system(s) have, don’t opt in.

But given all of the tech involved is open-source and auditable, opting to share data on your system with Canonical is a super low-effort way to help contribute to making Ubuntu better.