KaiOS History

About KaiOS

In just three years, KaiOS has become the world’s third-largest mobile operating system, running on over 130 million smart feature phones in over 100 countries worldwide. Here’s the story of our name, our connection with Firefox, and our purpose.

Our name

KaiOS isn’t the same as Firefox OS. Although our operating system is based on the original Mozilla project, KaiOS has evolved into something different.

When the current stakeholders took over the project from Mozilla, we decided to look for a name that reflected our aspiration of creating a platform that was accessible to everyone. We wanted it to work in both Western and Asian languages.

We chose Kai, which is Chinese for open – 开 (kāi). Kai is easy to pronounce in almost any language and captures the idea of being inclusive.

Our mission

Over four billion people in the world still have no internet access. That’s more than half of the world’s population left out of the digital revolution.

What's keeping them disconnected?

Smartphones are expensive. Data plans cost too much. Advanced touchscreen devices and apps are intimidating to first-time internet users.

That’s where we come in. Through partnerships with carriers, manufacturers, and developers worldwide, we bring the best of smartphones to easy-to-use, affordable devices.

Our smart feature phones enable outdoor workers, senior citizens, and families living in remote areas to take advantage of all that the internet has to offer to improve their lives.

This includes apps that bring important and useful information on topics such as health, digital skills, personal finance, women empowerment, and more.

We believe that access to the internet can change lives, which is why our team of 300 people around the world go to work every day – to help more people join the digital revolution.

KaiOS, enable tomorrow