Welcome to Cioré

Cioré is an early-stage modular smartphone and operating system research project. We are currently exploring hardware concepts, system architecture, and user experience possibilities through early prototypes and collaborative planning. Everything we do here is focused on open research, thoughtful testing, and long-term exploration.

Core resources & guide access

Core Resources & Guide Access

Before diving into active work, make sure you have reviewed the comprehensive contributor guide. You can return to it whenever you need detailed step-by-step instructions.

Essential Hub Pages

Orientation

Your First Steps

Complete these four steps to finish your orientation:

Community setup

Discord Profile & Community Setup

Discord is our primary daily workspace. To help everyone coordinate smoothly across time zones and skill sets, update your server profile using the following guidelines.

Display Name Standard

Set your server nickname using this format:

DM Preferences

Please add your direct message preference to your profile or custom status:

Discord Introduction Template

Copy and complete this short template when posting in #introductions:

Working style

How We Work

Work at Cioré is primarily independent and self-directed. We do not assign tasks individually to every contributor; instead, you are encouraged to take initiative in areas where you can contribute meaningfully.

Working Independently

Expectations

Expectations & Confidentiality

Submitting work

Submitting Work, AI Guidelines & Research Collaboration

Share all completed research, work updates, and project notes directly in the relevant Discord channel.

AI Guidelines

Bringing Your Expertise & Updating Research

We do not know everything, and we do not expect you to either. Building Cioré is like putting together a puzzle, and every contributor brings a piece of that picture. If you notice outdated information, spot a source that does not align, or find newer research that improves an existing document, your input is highly welcomed.

Intellectual property

Intellectual Property & Confidentiality

Protecting Our Shared Work

All research, documentation, concepts, and assets created while contributing to Cioré belong to the organization, as outlined in the contributor agreement. We ask that you protect this work and keep it within our community spaces.

Space management

Inactivity & Space Management

We maintain an active, focused community using an automated Discord bot that tracks engagement through channel messages, replies, and post reactions.

Beyond automated tracking, contributors who remain in the server without actively working on research or tasks may be removed manually. You joined Cioré to build something meaningful, so when you are here, jump in and participate.

Getting help

Know Where to Ask

Keep track of your contributions

Record Your Contribution Time

As you contribute to Cioré, you can keep a simple record of your time, ideas, research, planning, documentation, and other contributions in one place. This can help you look back on your participation, request verified contribution hours when needed, or give the Founder useful context if you later ask for a recommendation letter.

You do not need to treat it like a requirement or overthink each entry. It is simply a helpful place to document what you contributed and how much time you chose to give.

Purpose

Our Mission

Cioré exists to explore and work toward technology that respects people, supports user control, and considers the lasting impact of the choices behind it.

We're interested in challenging assumptions about how phones are designed, repaired, powered, updated, communicated through, and understood by the people who use them.

This work is still developing. Many directions in the Contributor Hub are research areas, early concepts, or planning notes. They aren't final specifications, product promises, or confirmed outcomes.

Our values

What Guides Us

In practice

How These Values Show Up in Our Work

1.Why This Exists

We're building Cioré around people, care, and honest work.

This Code helps create a space where contributors can ask questions, share ideas, collaborate respectfully, protect internal information, and raise concerns without fear of being dismissed.

We don't expect perfection. We do expect honesty, care, accountability, and a willingness to learn.

This Code is grounded in our shared values — Truth, Transparency, Community Service, Legacy, and Care and Safety. Read more on Mission & Values.

2.How We Work Together

3.Independent Work and Project Guidance

Most contributor work at Cioré is self-directed.

You don't need to wait for someone to personally assign you a task before exploring an active work area. Review What We Are Working On Now, read the available project context, and choose a task or contribution that fits your skills, interests, and capacity.

When a project has a project manager or designated contact, coordinate with them before beginning. Follow the project's guidance, priorities, and communication process.

When no project contact is listed:

• Review the available research, task guidance, and project workspace before starting.
• Keep your notes, sources, drafts, files, and observations organized.
• Share progress, questions, and relevant context in the appropriate project channel.
• Ask before making assumptions that could affect safety, security, privacy, accessibility, supplier decisions, legal or regulatory questions, public statements, or product direction.

Independent work doesn't mean working alone. Ask for support when you need it.

4.Research Integrity and Responsible Tool Use

Cioré values careful research and honest communication.

When you share research, recommendations, comparisons, or findings:

• Identify your sources whenever possible.
• Separate facts, opinions, assumptions, and open questions.
• Explain uncertainty or missing evidence.
• Avoid copying information without checking where it came from.
• Don't present incomplete research as final company direction.

AI and other tools may help with brainstorming, organization, drafting, or analysis. You're still responsible for the work you submit.

Before sharing AI-assisted work:

• Check facts, sources, names, dates, claims, and technical details.
• Use your own judgment and add your own thinking.
• Don't submit unedited AI output as verified research or original contributor work.
• Don't upload confidential Cioré information into unapproved tools.
• Ask if you're unsure whether a tool is appropriate for internal material.

5.Research-Stage Language and Public Claims

Cioré is early-stage. Many topics in the Contributor Hub are research directions, planning notes, prototype concepts, or future explorations.

Don't describe these topics as finished products, confirmed features, final specifications, or public commitments.

Don't make unsupported claims about:

• Product availability, pricing, preorders, shipping, or launch dates.
• Privacy, security, encryption, safety, accessibility, sustainability, repairability, or performance.
• App compatibility, carrier support, emergency communications, range, certification, legal compliance, or regional availability.
• Suppliers, materials, labor practices, sourcing, battery chemistry, or environmental impact.
• Hardware features, operating-system capabilities, AI behavior, or technical outcomes.

Use accurate language such as:

• “Cioré is researching...”
• “Cioré is exploring...”
• “Cioré is working toward...”
• “This is an early concept...”
• “This needs technical validation...”
• “This is not yet a product promise...”

Don't speak publicly on behalf of Cioré unless the founder has approved the message.

6.Confidentiality and Access

What happens inside Cioré stays inside Cioré unless you have clear permission to share it.

Keep internal material private, including:

• Contributor information and directory details.
• Access codes, login details, Discord invites, and internal links.
• Research notes, planning documents, meeting notes, recordings, screenshots, and files.
• Prototype observations, design work, product concepts, supplier information, technical discussions, and internal decisions.
• Messages, conversations, or documents shared through the Contributor Hub, Discord, email, meetings, or project workspaces.

Don't share internal material outside approved Cioré spaces without explicit founder approval.

If you're unsure whether something can be shared, ask first.

Protect your access. Don't share your personal access code or invite links. Log out when using a shared device. Report suspicious access, accidental sharing, or a possible security issue to the founder as soon as possible.

7.Data, Tools, and Workspaces

Use approved Cioré tools and workspaces for contributor communication, file storage, research, and collaboration.

Don't move Cioré material into personal accounts, unapproved apps, public tools, or external platforms without permission.

If your work involves contributor, waitlist, survey, or other personal information:

• Handle it carefully.
• Only use it for approved Cioré work.
• Don't download, share, sell, reuse, or publish it.
• Ask before exporting, combining, or moving it into another tool.

8.Intellectual Property and Credit

[Legal review recommended before publishing this section.]

Work created specifically for Cioré as part of an agreed contributor role belongs to Cioré unless a written agreement says otherwise.

Your personal work, created outside Cioré and unrelated to Cioré work, remains yours.

Don't use Cioré's name, logo, trademarks, internal materials, or branding publicly without approval.

If you'd like to include non-confidential Cioré work in a portfolio, resume, case study, or social post, ask for founder approval first.

Always give credit where it's due. Don't use another contributor's work without acknowledgment or permission.

9.Conflicts of Interest

We ask for transparency, not perfection.

Let the founder know about outside work, relationships, employment, financial interests, or commitments that could reasonably conflict with your role at Cioré.

Don't use your contributor role to promote unrelated products, services, or organizations.

Don't use internal information, relationships, research, or workspaces for personal gain or for the benefit of another organization without written approval.

If you're unsure whether something is a conflict, ask early. There is no penalty for asking.

10.Harassment, Discrimination, and Harmful Conduct

Cioré doesn't tolerate harassment, discrimination, bullying, threats, hate speech, retaliation, or unwanted sexual attention.

This includes harmful comments, jokes, images, messages, behavior, or exclusion based on race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, religion, immigration status, socioeconomic background, or any other protected or personal characteristic.

This applies in public and private spaces, including Discord, direct messages, calls, meetings, email, documents, and external spaces connected to Cioré.

Everyone deserves to participate without being demeaned, intimidated, targeted, or excluded.

11.Reporting Concerns

If you experience, witness, or learn about conduct that may violate this Code, please report it.

You can report concerns about:

• Harassment, discrimination, bullying, threats, or retaliation.
• Confidentiality breaches, data misuse, suspicious access, or internal information being shared.
• Conflicts of interest, misuse of Cioré resources, or intellectual-property concerns.
• Unsafe behavior, inappropriate public claims, or conduct that could put people or Cioré at risk.

Good-faith reports are welcome. Retaliation against someone who raises a concern in good faith isn't acceptable.

12.Accountability

We're a growing organization, and our processes will continue to improve. We'll approach concerns thoughtfully, fairly, and with appropriate privacy.

Depending on the situation, a response may include:

• A conversation, clarification, coaching, or request to stop certain behavior.
• A change in project access, communication expectations, or contributor responsibilities.
• Temporary or permanent removal from a workstream, Discord, or the Contributor Hub.
• Further action when needed to protect contributors, information, or Cioré.

Serious concerns involving harassment, threats, data misuse, theft, or unlawful conduct may require additional action.

[Legal review recommended.]

13.Your Agreement

By participating as a Cioré contributor, you confirm that you've read, understood, and agree to follow this Code of Conduct.

If anything in this document is unclear, ask before proceeding. We'd rather help you understand than have you guess.

Thank you for helping create a contributor space rooted in truth, transparency, community service, legacy, care, and respect.

The feeling we are designing for

A phone that feels considered

Cioré is exploring a phone shaped around comfort, clarity, and long term care.

We want the phone to feel balanced in our users’ hands. We want to give people more choice around repair, charging, privacy, accessibility, and the physical parts they use every day.

The phone should feel like something a person keeps, cares for, and makes their own. It should not feel disposable.

Physical direction

Why the phone is rounded

Cioré is exploring a continuous pill shaped body with fully rounded ends.

The goal is to learn whether this shape can feel balanced, smooth, and comfortable in our users’ hands during everyday use.

The rounded form is also part of the phone’s visual identity. It is meant to feel grounded, easy to recognize, and considered from every angle.

Current visual baseline

Dimensions for concepts and mockups

These measurements are the current starting point for research, visual concepts, mockups, cases, stands, grips, and early accessory ideas. They are not final production measurements.

Materials and finish

A darker, more thoughtful surface

Cioré is exploring a dark smoked back surface that looks simple at first glance but can reveal depth, materials, or soft light in certain conditions.

We are also exploring recycled tempered glass for the front and back of the phone. The goal is to look at materials that can feel premium while supporting longer life, repair, and more thoughtful sourcing.

Nanocellulose is another material we want to research. It is a plant based material that may be useful as a thin reinforcement layer. We need to learn more about durability, heat, appearance, repairability, and how it could work with other materials before making decisions.

The screen

A screen that is clear and easier to use

The display needs to look good, but it also needs to be easy to read, easy to adjust, and comfortable for different people.

We are exploring a high quality OLED display direction with deep blacks, strong readability, and a softer visual experience. We are also interested in ways to create a more transparent or layered look without making the screen harder to see or use.

What we want to research

• Text size and spacing
• High contrast options
• Brightness controls
• Color and motion settings
• Dyslexia friendly reading choices
• Low vision support
• Screen reader support
• Haptic, audio, and visual feedback
• Voice access
• Settings that are easy to find and understand
• Ways to reduce visual overload

Controls and interaction

More than one way to use the phone

Cioré is exploring several ways people may interact with the phone, including touch, tactile controls, physical button options, audio feedback, haptic feedback, voice access, and on screen alternatives.

Touch and sensor directions

• Side tactile zones along the edges for swiping up or down, tapping, or holding
• Volume controls that respond to a swipe up or swipe down motion
• A top sensor area for single tap, double tap, or hold shortcuts such as camera, flashlight, or voice notes
• Assignable actions such as camera shortcuts, focus modes, media controls, or navigation
• A right side sensor direction for power control using a deliberate hold action
• Settings that let people choose whether side and top areas respond to taps, swipes, or holds

Accessibility and physical button choices

• Adjustable touch sensitivity, hold to confirm requirements, and options to turn off swipe gestures
• Physical dedicated button options and modular button attachments for people who prefer mechanical click feedback
• Grip attachments and case designs with larger physical controls
• Audio, visual, and haptic feedback options for every action
• On screen alternatives for every physical gesture

Ports and connections

Clear placement for everyday cords and storage

Cioré is exploring clear physical locations for cables and removable media to keep daily use comfortable.

These are current placement directions under research, not final specifications.

Camera direction

A camera that fits the phone

Cioré is exploring a rear camera design that sits close to the back surface instead of creating a large raised bump.

The current direction is a two lens rear camera arrangement placed in a vertical ribbon that follows the phone’s asymmetrical curve. The goal is to keep the back of the phone feeling clean and balanced while still leaving room for the rest of the design.

We are also exploring a front camera that is visually quiet when it is not being used.

The back of the phone

The Energy Backplate and rear rail

We are exploring ways the back of the phone can collect light energy while supporting physical attachments.

We are exploring a rear panel that fits directly into the phone’s shape and may collect supplemental energy from useful light. A central rear rail concept is also being explored to help align and attach future additions cleanly.

If the phone is placed face down in useful direct light, the Energy Backplate may be able to collect a small amount of extra energy over time.

The rear rail is an early direction. Its attachment method, strength, comfort, heat behavior, repair process, and compatibility with other parts still need research.

What we are exploring

• A rear panel that collects supplemental energy from direct sunlight
• A central rear rail concept that acts as a stable alignment and attachment guide
• Support for future keyboard modules, contoured grips, viewing stands, hands free supports, and larger accessibility buttons
• Whether bright outdoor light can add a small battery top up over time
• Whether indoor light can support a very small reserve or low power feature
• A dark, sleek back finish that still allows useful light to reach the energy layer
• A back panel that can be removed or replaced instead of permanently sealed in

What this does not mean

• It does not mean the phone will fully charge itself from sunlight
• It does not mean regular indoor lighting will quickly charge the phone
• It does not mean the phone charges from touch alone
• It does not replace USB-C charging
• It is not a finished feature

Charging direction

Simple charging at home and away

We want charging to feel simple. USB-C should remain a dependable way to charge the phone.

We are also exploring a separate charging base that could keep a portable backup battery ready to take with you.

At home, a person could charge the phone using a regular USB-C cable from the base. When leaving, they could take the charged portable battery for extra power.

What we are exploring

• A charging base with a USB-C cable
• A portable backup battery that stays charged while it is stored in the base
• A simple way to grab extra power before leaving home
• Compatible solar input for future off grid research
• Easy to understand battery status
• Charging that is easier for people with low vision, tremor, chronic pain, fatigue, or limited hand strength
• Replaceable parts instead of disposable charging accessories

Light, warmth, and heat

Exploring extra energy without ignoring safety

We are researching small ways the phone may collect extra energy from sunlight, bright ambient light, and temperature differences around the device.

The light based part is the Energy Backplate. The warmth based part would use small test strips designed to collect a tiny amount of energy when one part is warmer and another part is cooler.

Touch by itself does not charge a phone. A warmth based strip needs a temperature difference. For example, a warm hand on one side and cooler air on another side may create a very small amount of energy.

What warmth based strips may be useful for

• Learning whether heat differences can support very low power features
• Exploring a tiny energy reserve
• Testing how light, heat, and stored power could work together
• Helping us understand what is realistic before making promises

What they are not expected to do

• Fully recharge the phone
• Replace USB-C
• Quickly raise the battery percentage
• Create meaningful charging energy from ordinary touch alone

If the phone gets too warm, it should protect itself, pause or slow energy collection when needed, and explain what is happening in clear language.

Parts that can change

Built to be cared for over time

Cioré is exploring a phone that does not need to be replaced just because one part wears out or a new need comes up.

We want to research parts that may be easier to repair, replace, or update over time.

What needs more work

Questions we still need help answering

This phone is still being designed. If you see something we need to question, compare, test, improve, or add, please bring it up.

Help shape it

If you see a gap, tell us

This page is meant to give everyone the same starting point. It is not meant to close the conversation.

If you see something missing, outdated, unclear, or worth exploring, message the founder on Discord. You can also share a mockup, research note, module idea, accessibility concern, material comparison, charging idea, or question in the relevant project channel.

You do not need to wait until something is perfect to share it. A clear idea, useful source, thoughtful question, or early sketch can help move the work forward.

Product life

A Different Path for Product Life

Most modern smartphones are built as permanently sealed objects. While dense adhesive seals can help devices stay thin and water resistant, they can also make basic repairs difficult, expensive, or impractical for ordinary users.

Our long-term goal is not to encourage people to keep buying new phones. We want to make it more realistic for people to keep one Cioré phone longer.

This requires thinking about the device as a system that can be opened, maintained, and updated where safe and practical, supported by clear documentation and accessible design choices.

System approach

The Two Layers of Modularity

To keep our research structured, we divide modularity into two distinct layers.

These layers are connected, but they solve different problems. The repairable core focuses on maintaining the phone itself. The adaptable outer system focuses on helping the phone fit different needs over time.

Layer one

The Repairable Core

The repairable core focuses on how the phone itself is assembled and serviced. Cioré is exploring a continuous pill-shaped body as an early physical direction, paired with screw-based primary assembly instead of permanent adhesive-based sealing where practical.

We are researching the serviceability of these internal assemblies.

Layer two

The Adaptable Outer System

The outer system explores how optional external hardware could help the phone adapt to different users, accessibility requirements, and environments over time.

We are researching these external accessory directions.

Focus area

Modular Physical Buttons

A touchscreen should not be the only way to interact with a phone. Touchscreens can require visual precision, fine motor control, and clear skin contact, which may not work well for everyone in every situation.

Cioré is researching modular physical controls to complement screen interaction.

How physical buttons could help

Active button research questions

No button attachment method, electrical connection, control layout, or software behavior is finalized yet.

Inclusive design

Designing for Accessible Repair

A phone can be technically repairable with tools, yet still remain inaccessible to the person holding it. Repairability also depends on the physical and cognitive friction of the repair process itself.

Barriers we are studying

Potential solutions under review

Engineering reality

Balancing the Tradeoffs

Modularity is not a free choice. Every removable panel, extra screw, connector, and external attachment introduces physical, electrical, and manufacturing tradeoffs.

Circular direction

Circular Economy and Waste Context

Electronic waste is a growing global problem. The world generated approximately 62 million tonnes of e-waste in 2022, while only about 22 percent was documented as formally collected and recycled.

Modularity alone does not solve e-waste. A more responsible direction requires a full lifecycle approach focused on keeping materials in active use for as long as possible.

Casing return pathway research

Cioré is exploring a future pathway where original Cioré casings and structural parts could potentially be returned, assessed, refurbished, or recovered for raw materials.

Logistics research

Shipping, Returns and Repair Logistics

Shipping a replacement part directly to a person could reduce the need to ship whole devices back and forth. However, smaller individual packages still create an environmental footprint that must be considered carefully.

We are researching these logistics questions.

A smaller shipment is not automatically lower impact. Distance, packaging, repair success, return rates, module durability, and the ability to reuse or recover the old part all matter.

Research stages

Research Phases and Staging

To stay focused, Cioré divides modularity work into staged research and development priorities.

Contributor research

How Contributors Can Help

Cioré needs research, analysis, design, and testing across multiple disciplines to move these concepts forward.

Next steps

Start with What We Know

If you are ready to research or contribute to Cioré’s modularity and repair directions, begin by reviewing the component guide and sharing clear, source-backed findings with the team.

Internal Lumé documents

Read the Current Lumé Direction

These restricted internal documents explain the current Lumé OS product direction, first build scope, technical questions, and future research areas. They are intended to help contributors understand what is confirmed, what requires validation, and where their research can help.

These are restricted internal documents. You may need to request access after opening them.

Starting simply

Why Cioré Is Building Lumé

People can feel unsure about what apps, cameras, microphones, location services, and other device systems are doing with their personal information. Lumé is intended to help people understand what apps request, what choices they have, and where they can review those choices.

Lumé is designed for privacy minded users, people who are not technical, people with accessibility needs, families, caregivers, professionals, and people who want familiar apps where practical. The intended experience is calm, understandable, and customizable, built around clear choices rather than fear based messaging.

First build scope

What the First Build Focuses On

Sandboxing and sharing

How Lumé Handles App Access

Lumé builds on Android app sandboxing and permission controls. Sandboxing means apps are placed in separate spaces so they cannot freely read each other's private data. Apps can still share information when a user intentionally asks them to do something useful, such as sending a photo, opening a map location, using a payment service, signing in, sharing a file, using a password manager, or using an accessibility tool.

Lumé's concern includes unnecessary data sharing connected to profiling, advertising, behavioral targeting, cross app tracking, spending habit targeting, and background collection. Lumé can use Android permissions, profiles, system sharing mechanisms, user controlled restrictions, and selected activity indicators where technically supportable. Lumé must not claim it can see, stop, or control every action inside every app.

User questions

What Lumé Can Help Users Understand

Research direction

Gaia and User Control

Gaia is Lumé's optional, on device indication and automation direction. Gaia is not a chatbot, not generative AI, not a required assistant, and not a system that reads private app content.

First build Gaia signals are limited to sensitive permission requests, user initiated privacy and settings changes, and limited review suggested notices where a rule is clearly defined and technically supportable.

Explore Gaia research

Core requirement

Accessibility and Comfort

Accessibility is a core Lumé product requirement and an ongoing research process. Lumé is being designed around large text, text reflow, font choice, dyslexia friendly options, contrast, brightness, warmth, motion reduction, captions, sound, haptics, voice access, speech differences, dexterity, cognitive clarity, caregiver support, and settings recovery.

Contributor research needs

Modes and profiles

Modes and Profiles

App compatibility

App Compatibility and User Choice

Lumé aims to support familiar apps where practical. Compatibility depends on the selected device, Android version, required services, app developer choices, security restrictions, and user settings. Lumé should explain those dependencies clearly rather than promise universal compatibility.

First build compatibility priorities

Later compatibility research

Long term support

Updates, Device Care, and Future Hardware

Lumé needs ongoing maintenance, security patches, compatibility work, testing, documentation, update delivery, and support planning. Updates should preserve user preferences whenever possible. Privacy settings, app permissions, accessibility preferences, display settings, sound settings, account choices, network preferences, Gaia settings, profile boundaries, and user created restrictions should not change silently.

Device Care and Repair Mode are future directions connected to repair minded Cioré hardware, including work described on The Phone and Modularity & Repairability pages, along with the energy directions on the How We Want the Phone to Charge page. The first reference device build helps validate Lumé's experience. It does not prove final Cioré hardware capabilities.

Scope boundaries

What Is Outside the First Build

These directions remain important, but they require additional engineering, hardware, carrier, legal, security, accessibility, policy, or operational work before Cioré can present them as product capabilities.

Get involved

How Contributors Can Help

Contributors do not have unrestricted access to source code, credentials, signing keys, private user data, restricted systems, or sensitive security materials.

Specialist review

First Build and Firm Review

Why Gaia changed direction

From assistant idea to privacy awareness

Gaia is now being reshaped around clear information and clear choices.

Privacy related activity

What Gaia could notice

Gaia is researching known or observable privacy related activity. It may be able to notice, explain, or show:

Gaia may be able to notice some activity directly. Other activity may be declared by an app. Sometimes Gaia may not be able to verify what happens after information leaves the phone.

A clear notice

What a Gaia notice could look like

The final wording should be clear about what Gaia knows, what the app says it’s doing, and what Gaia can’t verify.

AI related activity

Making AI related activity easier to notice

AI related activity remains an important Gaia research area. Gaia may help someone see when an app uses a known or declared AI related feature.

Gaia shouldn’t assume someone wants AI enabled. It should make AI related activity easier to notice and easier to question.

More context than a permission ask

Permissions are only one part of the picture

A permission ask can tell someone that an app wants access. Gaia is being explored to help explain what may happen next, what information may be involved, what choices are available, and whether limiting access may affect the app.

App information and changes

Gaia reviewed and Gaia notices

Personal choice

What choices could look like

Being honest about limits

What Gaia cannot promise

Gaia must remain realistic about its technical boundaries.

• Gaia may not be able to see every action happening inside every app
• Gaia may not know whether an outside service uses AI after information leaves the phone
• Gaia may not be able to block an activity without affecting an app
• Gaia may not be able to verify every claim an app makes
• Gaia can’t make privacy choices for someone
• Gaia can’t protect someone from every privacy risk

Accessible by design

Accessibility and clarity

Gaia notices need to work in more than one way.

A privacy notice only helps if someone can read it, hear it, understand it, and act on it.

Open research

What we need to research

Help shape Gaia

How contributors can help

Research status guide

How to Read Research Status on This Page

The energy system

Nyro: Cioré's Energy and Thermal Direction

Nyro is Cioré's developing energy and thermal direction. It brings together how a phone receives power, stores it, protects its battery, manages heat, explains energy use, and may use carefully tested supplemental energy inputs over time.

Star is not a separate operating system, company, or completed product line. It is a physical power concept being explored under Nyro.

The long-term purpose

Why Cioré Is Exploring Nyro

Cioré's long-term goal is to reduce how often people need to depend on a wall outlet to keep their phone powered.

We are exploring whether a personal energy system can collect useful energy from sunlight, store it safely, and make that energy available later when a phone needs power.

The first version of this idea is not a promise that a phone will never need to plug in. It is a research path toward giving people more independence, more backup power, and more control over how they keep their devices charged.

First exploration

Star at a Glance

Star is Cioré's first Nyro power-base research concept.

In simple terms, Star is a power bank that Cioré is researching to do more than store wall power. Star may collect useful energy mainly from sunlight, safely store that energy in a protected reserve, and later use that stored energy to charge a Cioré phone and other small devices.

Star is not a finished product. It is Cioré's first practical research direction for learning how a personal energy system could help people depend less on wall outlets over time.

If you see a Nyro term below that is unfamiliar, continue to the Energy Words in Plain Language section further down this page.

Star separates the jobs of collecting, storing, and using energy. This matters because a phone does not always sit in useful light. A separate reserve can collect energy when light is available and hold it until the phone needs power later.

Go to Energy Words in Plain Language below to see what terms like power bank, ambient light, watt hour, and mAh mean.

First exploration

Star: A Personal Energy Base

Star is Cioré's first Nyro power-base research concept.

Instead of expecting the phone itself to collect every bit of energy it needs, Star explores a separate personal energy system. Star may collect energy mainly from sunlight, store it in a protected rechargeable reserve, and later use that stored energy to charge a Cioré phone through USB-C.

The goal is to give people more ways to keep their phone powered without depending only on a wall outlet. Star is not a finished product. Its size, capacity, collector design, charging behavior, heat management, accessibility, repairability, and real-world energy contribution still need to be researched and tested.

One system, different situations

Star Home and Star Travel

Physical design research

What Should Star Look Like?

Star needs to be useful enough to store meaningful energy, but simple and attractive enough that people actually want it in their home, bag, car, or daily routine.

Cioré is not choosing a final shape yet. We are exploring how Star can feel compact, quiet, luxurious, and purposeful without hiding the practical work it needs to do.

Contributor suggested research

Could a Future Star Accessory Support Phone Care?

A waitlist member suggested exploring whether a future Star accessory could support phone-care routines, such as a station that may help keep a device, case, or accessory clean.

Cioré has not selected a method, designed a product, or validated whether a phone-care accessory would be safe, useful, accessible, or compatible with charging.

Any future research would need to consider:

• What the accessory is actually intended to do
• Whether it affects phone materials, screens, ports, cameras, cases, or battery temperature
• Whether it creates heat, light, chemical, electrical, privacy, safety, or accessibility concerns
• Whether it can be cleaned, repaired, and used safely
• Whether any health or disinfection claim can be independently validated before it is ever communicated

Energy flow

How Star May Work

Star is being researched as a collection, storage, and charging system. A solar collector turns useful light into electricity. A power controller is the safety electronics that manage changing input. A protected reserve stores energy. USB-C provides a dependable way to charge the phone later.

Ambient light is being researched as a smaller supplemental input. Biothermic Touch is being researched separately for tiny low-power functions. Neither is currently expected to rapidly charge a phone battery.

Plain language guide

Energy Words in Plain Language

Phone connection research

Ways Star May Charge a Phone

Future phone-side research

Energy Backplate: Future Phone-Side Research

The Energy Backplate is Cioré's future research direction for a rear phone panel that may collect small amounts of supplemental energy from useful light.

Star comes first because a separate collector and reserve can use more surface area, store energy away from the phone, and let Cioré measure results before adding collection hardware to the phone itself.

The Energy Backplate may return as a later research track if testing shows that its energy contribution is worth the tradeoffs in heat, antennas, camera placement, thickness, repairability, and accessory compatibility.

The Energy Backplate

• Does not mean the phone fully charges itself from sunlight
• Does not mean indoor light quickly charges the phone
• Does not mean touch alone charges the phone
• Does not replace USB-C
• Is not a finished feature

Low-power research

Biothermic Touch: Low-Power Sensing Research

Biothermic Touch studies whether a temperature difference, such as a warm hand on one side of a strip and cooler surrounding air on the other, can create a tiny amount of electrical energy.

This is not expected to charge the phone battery in a noticeable way. Cioré is exploring whether it could support very low-power sensing, logging, status functions, or a tiny research reserve without making the device uncomfortable or harder to hold.

What we need to learn

• Can a real hand and surrounding air create useful measurable output?
• Can that output support a tiny sensor or logger?
• Does the strip remain comfortable for people with tremor, chronic pain, fatigue, or limited grip strength?
• Does it make the phone feel warmer?
• Does it add too much thickness?
• Does it interfere with grip, cases, buttons, antennas, or repairability?
• Is it useful enough to keep researching?

Accessible by design

Charging That Works for More People

Nyro and Star must be easy to understand and usable for people with different bodies, energy levels, vision, grip strength, and ways of interacting with technology.

Cioré is researching:

• One-handed charging
• Tactile orientation marks
• Clear connector placement
• Easy-to-find cable storage
• Low-force cable use
• Stable placement while charging
• Clear visual charging status
• Audio charging confirmation
• Haptic feedback through the phone
• Plain-language low-battery and heat messages
• High-contrast status indicators
• Screen-reader-readable energy information through Lumé
• Adaptive options for people who do not use their hands
• Passive collection options so someone does not need to deploy a panel every day

Staying safe

Staying Cool Under Real Use

Star adds new heat and safety questions. Sunlight, energy collection, power conversion, battery storage, cable charging, vehicle placement, and enclosed spaces can all affect temperature.

Cioré needs to learn:

• How warm Star becomes in direct sunlight
• How a window, balcony, car, bike, bag, or desk location changes heat
• When energy collection should slow or pause
• How Star should communicate that it is warm
• How Star protects stored energy when full
• How Star protects stored energy when temperatures are unsafe
• How separate solar collection can reduce direct solar heat on the phone itself

Early research must use safe, certified, off-the-shelf panels and reserves. Cioré is not building custom battery packs during the first research phase.

Built to last

A Modular, Serviceable Battery

Star requires its own battery-storage research. Cioré is not selecting a final battery chemistry yet.

Cioré is comparing what a future reserve may need:

• Enough stored energy to support everyday phone charging
• A size and weight people are willing to carry
• Safe charging behavior
• Clear battery status
• Heat protection
• Replaceable or serviceable parts where practical
• Safe cables, ports, and connectors
• End-of-life planning
• Packaging, storage, shipping, return, recovery, and recycling considerations

A future Star Home, Star Travel, Star Car, or Star Bike reserve may need different storage sizes. Cioré has not selected final capacities, dimensions, battery chemistry, output levels, or repair procedures.

Clear energy information

How Lumé and Gaia Fit In

Lumé may eventually show battery state, charging status, energy source, reserve level, heat state, and clear power choices. Until Cioré has working hardware, any energy screens must use clearly labeled illustrative or simulated data.

Gaia may eventually explain energy activity in plain language, such as why collection slowed, why a reserve stopped charging, or why the phone entered a power-saving state. Gaia must remain optional, visible, understandable, and controlled by the user.

Nyro handles energy research. Lumé communicates the device experience. Gaia may help explain what the system is doing. Star is a physical power-base research concept under Nyro.

Want the Research Behind This Direction?

The Nyro Research Library includes the current Power Base research brief, engineering validation questions, and future research submitted by Cioré contributors. Read those documents to see the sources, assumptions, calculations, questions, and next validation steps behind this page.

Contributor research

Help Shape Nyro and Star

For the latest Nyro research and linked documents, visit the Research Library and check the relevant Cioré HQ project channel. If a project contact is not listed, contact the founder.

Use What Is Available

Use What Is Available

The phone is being designed to choose the most dependable path available without forcing someone to configure complex settings.

When full connectivity is present, everything works as expected. When service drops, the phone steps down to local connections and stored tools rather than leaving someone with an empty screen.

How Cellular Service Works

How Cellular Service Works

Most modern phones rely constantly on cell towers and central servers to show maps, load messages, and verify data. Cell towers connect a phone to a provider network, while Wi-Fi routers bridge a device to broadband internet.

When a storm, power outage, or remote location cuts off those networks, standard apps often stop working because they depend on remote servers. Offline capability means designing software and hardware so essential features run directly on the phone itself.

What Stays Useful Offline

What Stays Useful Offline

When no network is available, the phone should still serve as a reliable tool. We are exploring ways to keep these core features working offline.

Local Radio

Local Radio

A Communication Base

A Communication Base

We are exploring the charging base as more than a standard desk charger. It acts as an anchor point that adds antenna space, local broadcast reception, and extra power options.

Nearby Connection

Nearby Connection

We are researching direct phone to phone connections using existing short range radios like Bluetooth and local Wi-Fi.

Push to Talk Research

Push to Talk Research

We are exploring a low bandwidth voice option that could allow quick local audio messages when typing is difficult.

This is an early research direction for short range, low power voice communications. We are still studying the power, frequency, and interface needs.

Emergency Information

Emergency Information

Important personal and safety records should remain readable without a network signal. We are working on a dedicated offline storage space for:

• Primary emergency contacts and family check in details
• User selected medical information and allergy notes
• Saved instructions for household equipment or first aid
• Local shelter, water, and community resource locations
• Prepared checklists for weather or emergency events

What This Still Needs

What This Still Needs

Offline capability touches software, hardware, radio frequencies, and user safety. Key research areas include:

How Contributors Can Help

How Contributors Can Help

There is room to contribute across many technical and non technical areas.

Why this work matters

A phone carries a long story

A phone may look small, but it depends on materials, components, energy, manufacturing, packaging, shipping, software support, repair options, and end of life decisions.

Harm can happen at different points in that process. That is why Cioré looks beyond the finished phone and asks questions about the full path behind every part.

Our commitment

We want to know what stands behind the phone

How we decide

How Cioré makes decisions

A lower impact option still has to work safely in a real phone. We want to make the most responsible workable choice based on evidence.

Our checks

Five questions we ask

Healthier alternatives

What healthier means here

A healthier alternative is more than a material with a green sounding name; it is something we think is worth researching.

Current directions

Areas we are exploring

Supplier research

What a useful supplier needs to show

Evidence and questions

Stronger evidence and gaps

Missing information is not proof of harm. It is a reason to ask more questions.

Research notes

How to write research notes

Record what you found, what you could not find, and what needs follow up.

Priorities and tradeoffs

Alignment rating and tradeoffs

An alignment rating helps us decide where more research is needed. It is not final supplier approval.

How we move forward

Phase 1 and Phase 2

Contributor research

Where you can help

Business details

Legal and Business Information

Brand reference

Brand Identity

Our Name

Cioré takes its shape and sound from “core,” the center that holds everything else together. The name carries that idea forward: a technology company built around a steady center of privacy, repairability, and care, with room for the people, product, purpose, and impact that surround it.

Our Symbol

Our symbol replaces the letter O in our wordmark. It features two inward-facing forms with an open space at the center, mirroring the layered silhouette of a Cioré device.

Here is what that symbol holds for us:

• A gathering place where people, product, purpose, and impact meet
• Room to pause, listen, and make thoughtful choices
• Two forms working closely together while keeping their distinct shapes
• Capable innovation balanced with durability, repairability, privacy, and care
• A commitment to build useful technology that lasts, rather than something disposable

We are glad you are here with us.

Cioré Brand Colors

Use Cioré's colors consistently across approved internal work, presentations, contributor materials, product concepts, and public-facing work that has received approval.

Primary brand combination: Pure White on Obsidian.

Signal should be used sparingly and purposefully. It should guide attention, communicate action, or identify an active state. It is not the default color for large backgrounds, body text, or the primary logo.

Using the brand

Brand-Use Guidance

Consistent brand use is not only about color and layout. It also means keeping technical claims accurate, grounded, and free of overstatement, even in casual contributor materials. For example, when describing charging or energy research, we keep the framing honest about what is dependable today and what is still being explored:

“USB-C is the dependable everyday path. Everything else Nyro explores has to work alongside it, not make it harder.”

Privacy and control

More clarity and choice

These ideas focus on helping people understand what their phone and apps are doing, then choose what they are comfortable with.

Communication and connection

Staying connected with more choice

These ideas explore ways people may communicate, share, navigate, and stay connected with more choice.

Focus and everyday life

More room to be present

These ideas explore how someone could make their phone quieter, calmer, and more supportive of their own attention.

Accessibility and physical choice

More than one way to use the phone

These ideas explore more than one way to hold, control, type on, and use the phone.

Audio, media, and creative work

Tools for listening, recording, and creating

These ideas explore ways people may listen, record, create, search, and work with media.

Safety and scam research

Helping people pause and check

These ideas explore ways the phone could help people slow down, review something unfamiliar, and make an informed choice.

Identity and device access

Optional ways to unlock and protect the phone

These ideas explore optional ways someone may unlock and protect their phone.

Open research

What needs more research

Every feature on this page needs its own evidence and review.

Help shape what comes next

Bring your ideas and questions

If you are interested in privacy, security, accessibility, hardware, design, research, writing, audio, communication, user experience, or community feedback, there is room to help.

You can research an idea, compare approaches, draft a clearer explanation, create a mockup, identify an accessibility concern, or ask a better question.

Getting started

How to Use This Library

1. Read the document title and date.
2. Check the document status.
3. Request access if Google asks.
4. Use the research to inform questions and contribute thoughtfully.
5. Flag anything that seems outdated, unclear, unsupported, or contradictory.
6. Do not treat research as a final product promise unless Cioré labels it as validated.

Research status guide

What the Status Labels Mean

Product and system

Current Product and System Research

Contributor experience

Contributor Experience and Operations Research

Starting with people

What Accessibility Means Here

Accessibility means designing a phone so more people can use it, understand it, and keep using it with less unnecessary effort.

Accessibility includes disability access, but it also includes aging, temporary injury or recovery, chronic pain, fatigue, different hand sizes, speech differences, neurodivergence, caregiving, bright sunlight, noise, stress, and changing needs over time.

We're not designing one phone for one imagined user. We're researching how Cioré can give more people useful choices, clear information, and less unnecessary friction in everyday life.

Community feedback

What We've Heard So Far

We've received feedback from people with different ages, abilities, phone habits, comfort levels with technology, and daily responsibilities. The feedback does not represent every person's experience, but it gives Cioré meaningful direction for what we need to explore.

These themes guide what we explore. They do not mean every request will become a feature, and they do not replace direct testing with people who have relevant lived experience.

Different needs, different contexts

A Phone Meets People in Different Moments

People may need a different phone experience because of disability, neurodivergence, aging, temporary injury, illness, fatigue, stress, caregiving, a loud environment, bright sunlight, work conditions, travel, carrying a child, or changing needs over time.

People may fit more than one of these experiences, and their needs can change from one day to the next.

The phone in your hand

Making the Phone Easier to Hold and Use

Physical accessibility includes shape, size, grip, reach, one-handed use, button placement, touch targets, attachment options, weight, and the effort required to hold or operate a phone.

Cioré needs physical testing with people who have small hands, larger hands, arthritis, tremor, EDS, limited mobility, fatigue, pain, and different grip styles.

Visual access

Making the Screen Easier to See and Read

Readable screens need more than a simple light and dark mode. People may need different combinations of text size, font, contrast, color, brightness, motion, screen-reader support, and layout control.

More than sound

Making Communication Easier to Hear, Speak, and Notice

A reliable alert should not depend on one sense alone. A person may need sound, vibration, visual information, captions, a flashing alert, or a combination that fits their situation.

Voice and speech tools need testing with people who communicate in different ways. Cioré should not assume one model, voice, accent, or speech pattern works for everyone.

Easy to understand

Making the Phone Easier to Navigate and Control

A feature is not truly accessible if a person cannot find it, understand it, set it up, change it, turn it off, or recover when something changes by mistake.

Cioré is exploring optional modes and layouts for different contexts, but no mode should trap someone in a simplified experience they cannot change.

Trust people can use

Privacy, AI, and Accessible Control

Privacy and safety settings are only useful if people can find them, understand them, and make meaningful choices.

Gaia is an early research direction for helping people notice and understand AI-related behavior. It is not a required assistant, and it is not a finished feature.

Care over time

Making Care and Maintenance More Accessible

Accessibility includes what happens after someone gets a phone. Charging, repair, heat, ports, replacement parts, instructions, and long-term support can all make a phone easier or harder to keep using.

Research with care

How We Keep Accessibility Grounded

Accessibility work is not complete when a feature is listed in a plan. It needs research, prototyping, testing, feedback, revision, and honest communication about what works and what still needs improvement.

Automated checks and design guidelines can help, but they do not replace direct feedback from people who use phones differently from the team building them.

Contributor research

Your Perspective Can Change the Phone

Accessibility work is not limited to people with formal accessibility titles. Lived experience, caregiving experience, research, design, engineering, writing, and thoughtful questions can all help Cioré build with more care.

Use cases

What You Can Use This For

Process

How It Works

Choosing a route

Where This Route Fits

Submission

Send a Private Submission

Select the option that best describes your submission. You can change your privacy preference before sending.

Start here

How to Begin a Project

If no project contact is listed, message the Founder through Discord before beginning a substantial project.

A good first contribution

What a Helpful Contribution Looks Like

You do not need to solve an entire workstream to make a useful contribution. A clear, well-scoped first step helps the team learn, decide, and build momentum.

Hub, Discord, and Notion

Where Project Work Happens

The Hub helps you understand why Cioré is exploring something. Discord helps the team coordinate in the open. Notion holds the specific project guide and working materials. Start in the project channel before beginning so you can find the right workspace and avoid working from outdated context.

Project status

How to Read Project Status

An interesting research page is not always an active project. Check the status and project channel before beginning substantial work.

Open research areas

Nyro and Star Research

Research contributors should document sources, assumptions, risks, questions, and limits. Do not make public claims, conduct hazardous testing, or represent a research idea as a confirmed Cioré feature.

Team activity

Who Is Working on What

Before you begin a project, take a moment to see what teammates are already exploring.

If your idea connects to someone's current work, check the listed channel first. You can offer a source, ask a question, share relevant experience, or suggest a complementary piece of work before beginning something similar.

Some projects are private or still being organized. If a channel is listed as private or being built, contact the founder for guidance before assuming access or project ownership.

All active projects

Active Projects

Open a project to see the current context, where to share your work, and a few ways to get started. If you see a useful gap or idea that is not listed in the project workspace, bring it to the channel.

Contribution details

Record a contribution

Fill out the form below after a contribution session, or combine related contributions from the same day into one clear entry.