Nextcloud Hub 26 Summer: what is new, and what it does (and does not) change for your privacy
Nextcloud's September release adds team workspaces, classified chats and one-time passwords for shares. It is a big step for self-hosted collaboration, but it is not an end-to-end encryption story.
By OwnYourStack Admin · Published
Nextcloud Hub 26 Summer (server version 35) was announced on 16 September 2026, and a first maintenance update, 35.0.2, followed in October. For anyone who wants a private alternative to Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, it is worth a look. Here is what the project says is new, and where the limits are.
What is new
- Teams: each team gets its own workspace with a home page, storage and resources. For now, team ownership applies to Collectives and Deck boards.
- Talk: new Classified and Announcements presets, and Channels for broadcast-style posts.
- Text and Notes: inline comments, footnotes and markdown version comparison.
- Tables and Flow: relational columns and a Budibase integration.
- Photos: a redesigned interface with map view, trip memories and a year recap.
- Groupware: a calendar room finder and several improvements to Mail.
- Office: a Euro-Office desktop client for Windows, Linux and macOS, plus Collabora Online updates.
- Assistant: optional AI features such as OCR and audio subtitles, which Nextcloud describes as sovereign AI hosted where you choose.
The privacy and security changes
Several additions are aimed squarely at controlling who can see what:
- Classified conversations in Talk: public links and guests are disabled, forwarding and recording are restricted, and message expiry is on by default.
- One-time passwords for shares: an email OTP is the default for file shares, with an API for custom providers.
- Unified sharing: one sharing system across apps. Existing shares are not affected.
- Governance tools (early access): sensitivity labels, retention policies, legal hold and share auditing.
- Admin-configurable TOTP: administrators can set the algorithm and secret length.
What it does not change
Nextcloud's announcement does not describe new end-to-end encryption or encryption-at-rest features. That matters if you are comparing it with services built around zero-knowledge storage, such as Tuta Drive. With a standard Nextcloud server, the person who administers it can in principle access your files. Self-hosting gives you control over where data lives and who runs the server; it is not the same thing as the provider being unable to read it. The right choice depends on who you trust: yourself and your server, or a provider's cryptography.
Should you move?
If you already run Nextcloud, the October maintenance releases are the ones to install first (see our update guide for home servers). If you are starting from scratch, Hub 26 Summer gives you chat, calendar, documents and photos in one self-hosted package. Check the Enterprise note too: the Enterprise edition of Summer was described as coming soon pending extra testing, so business users should follow the project's own schedule.
Source: Nextcloud's Hub 26 Summer announcement (16 September 2026) and October maintenance post.
