What can you do with a Pi5 in 2025???

The simple answer is lots of stuff ;) So I thought I'd give you a few ideas in this article and focus on the open source tools you can run.

I know a LOT of people who have purchased a Raspberry Pi in the past, only for it to end up gathering dust somewhere, because they don't really know what to do with it. This is one reason for writing a blog that will hopefully get your creative juices flowing and give you some ideas of projects you can play with. I'll cover a lot of open source software in the post and my plan is to add ‘how to’ guides as time progresses, but let’s start off with those ideas!

#1 As a desktop

You can use your Pi to run a full blown linux desktop with Raspberry Pi OS or Ubuntu or even android for example. On here you can browse the web, edit office files, draw graphics and play games. You can even set up steam link on this thing and have your noisy desktop PC tucked away out of sight.

Especially since the launch of the Pi 5, using the Pi as a daily driver is actually a possibility. I'll grant you it's not the same snappy experience as a dedicated PC running a CPU that costs 10 times as much as the Pi itself, but if you're on a budget it’s a great place to start and, with the introduction of the Pi 500 and the Pi Monitor, you can now get a full setup for around £200 or $190.

Best of all the Pi and its tools are a great place to learn coding if you're interested in getting started or have a child who wants to learn as there are so many tools options here. There’s also a brilliant community of people who will be willing to help you on that journey so you're not alone. There are Loads of CodeClubs around the world which ise the Raspberry Pi to teach.

What I would say is if you intend to edit large images or videos, this probably isn't the platform you're looking for! <waves hand in a Jedi like way>

#2 As a network attached storage device (NAS)

Another great idea would be running services that have been bundled for you and serve as a server on your network. Examples would be openmediavault which with the addition of some USB or SSD drives would turn your Pi into a NAS (network attached storage) which is a great option for backups.

#3 As a media server

You may however want to get more media focused and run something like Jellyfin which lets your stream media to one of your TV stick devices, such as an Apple/google TV, Roku or fire stick. Yet again you'll probably want to add some USB or SSD storage to save all your videos (there's going to be a post on this topic soon). There are other alternatives too such as Plex or TVHeadEnd, the later of which works to stream live TV around your network from a tuner.

You can also push this little device further if you want to automatically download TV episodes or movies to your device with programs such as transmission, sonarr or radarr. You can basically create your own little Netflix at home.

#4 Network Ad Blocker

If you're tired of hundreds of adverts loading when you're trying to read a simple webpage or blog (we should be ad-free here), you may want to take control of your DNS, block the bad domains and clean up the sites you use the most. I do this and use software called PiHole which lets me filter out advertising domains and cut down around 30% of the traffic coming to my network. I'll be writing a guide on how to get this set up pretty soon, so make sure you subscribe to get the notifications.

#5 Minecraft server

If like my kids yours love playing Minecraft, running your own server can turn you into a parenting hero, and the Pi is perfect for this. I have a couple of guides coming soon on how to set up both Bedrock and Java edition servers and I'll give you some tips on how to make them do what you need, and it's super easy when using docker!

#6 PiVPN

Another great use for your Pi is to secure your connection whilst you're away from home. Maybe in a hotel or on a coffee shop Wifi, using a VPN significantly increases your privacy especially if you are running PiHole at home also. You open up a client on your phone and then you'll appear as if you are browsing from home with all your traffic encrypted. The good news is there's a simple project to help you get this set up called PiVPN (original, I know). Some of the benefits are:

• Supports OpenVPN 2.4
• Supports WireGuard
• Elliptic curve encryption keys up to 512 bit
• Integrates with Bitwarden
• iOS keychain support
• Supports multiple DNS providers
• Supports Custom DNS Servers
• Custom Search Domains (OpenVPN Only)
• Runs with Pi-Hole

#7 Uptime Monitor

Let’s say you have a website or some other servers on the network and you want to keep an eye on them and get alerts if there's an issue. Well of course there's an open source application for that called uptime-kuma. This will send you alerts through many different mechanisms such as Slack, Email, Telegram and Signal.

You can even monitor SSL certificates for validity and publish a status page using this software.

#8 Matrix Server

“A what?!" I hear you ask. Well, a matrix server is a secure way to link your messaging together from lots of different sources. Matrix is a rich ecosystem of clients, servers, bots and application services. The best bit is you can invite friends and family and interoperate with other systems yet still be in control of your own data. You'll be able to send secure messages to each other without anyone eavesdropping. This application is actually going to be used by NATO. I haven't built one of these yet but it's on my to do list for 2025.

#9 Email Server

Continuing with the theme of controlling your own data, and preferring not to allow BigTech to crunch through all your private messages with their AI bots, you could opt to run your own email server, and with pretty modest hardware you'll get a really functional set of tools including a web mail system, spam filtering and temporary email aliases. I highly recommend mailcow which is a set of Docker scripts that will build everything for you. All you need to do is open up the access and follow the DNS setup instructions and you'll have your own email domain and server!

#10 Run your own video conference server

Yep, you heard that right, you can take on the BigTech companies once again and run a private and secure video platform to talk to your family and friends. I've started this project and will share details soon but I'm using Jitsi Meet as a private install and it's awesome! There are even clients for Android and iOS. It's not the most simple thing to set up but I'm working on making that easier for you all and will share as soon as possible, so yet again - please subscribe ;)

#11 Store your Photos

Smart phones have given us the ability to take photos on exceptional cameras. And because we all want to take photos of clouds and food and cats all day, everyday, we have a lot of photos to store. Cloud storage can get expensive, not to mention the privacy concerns that may arise. There is however, a privacy focused, self-hosted open source alternative called Immich. You'll get all the features you're familiar with plus a load more you'd only expect from a big service. Storage at home is MUCH cheaper and the privacy of not having your photos used to train AI is a big win.

#12 Run your own socials

Another area in which your Raspberry Pi could help you out in 2025 is social media. Now there's a shift (especially with open source folks) to move away from the big players like X and Meta, which can be quite toxic at times. The alternative is decentralised social media that federates with others servers. It's commonly called the ‘fediverse’ and has many applications. The big bonus over traditional social media is that you control the narrative, you can easily block people and/or domains, and you control the data. There's no algorithm pushing someone else's opinions or agenda onto you, which is a real bonus in this post-truth world. You can do this in lots of ways and here are a few examples:

• Mastodon (a twitter/X like replacement)
• Pixelfed (an Instagram style service)
• Lemmy (a forum like reddit)
• Castopod (for hosting your own podcasts)
• Peertube (a Youtube style service)

I hope you have some inspiration now to get that Raspberry Pi up and running and try out some of the coolest open source software for 2025. I'm going to start adding the ‘how to’ guides very soon, so watch this space. Oh, and if you haven’t already, SUBSCRIBE and SHARE ;)