Major label independence, The Best Yet (2007–08)

Later, on August 10, 2007, Jon Foreman revealed that the band had severed ties with Columbia Records in order to release music as an Indie band. "Neither party has any hard feelings," he said of the split a few months later. "I think for us, the reason why we signed with Columbia was because of the people that were there. So it's very understandable when all those people are gone, you don't hold any real bad feelings or good feelings towards a company name. I think that's part of the problem with the corporate entity as a whole is that there's no true responsibility." Later in October, the band announced that they had created a new record label called lowercase people records, in order to better make a direct connection with their fans.

Subsequently, Foreman began working on his own set of solo EP's (one named after each season of the year); the first of these was released on November 27, 2007, the last on June 10, 2008. Foreman also began a side project with Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek originally called "The Real SeanJon" but later renamed "Fiction Family".

With their new status as an independent band, Switchfoot embarked on their 2007 fall tour, playing shows with Relient K and Ruth. The tour, dubbed the "Appetite for Construction Tour", was designed to benefit Habitat For Humanity, with the bands donating one dollar per ticket sold to the cause. In addition, Foreman wrote the song "Rebuild" with Matt Thiessen from Relient K, and released it as a way to raise additional money for Habitat. By the end of the tour, the bands had raised over $100,000 for Habitat for Humanity. With no album to promote, the band continued touring for philanthropic causes, booking a short national tour in March through May titled the Up In Arms Tour), partnering with and benefitting the organization To Write Love on Her Arms.

Later that year, Columbia Records/Sony Music, released the first ever Switchfoot greatest hits compilation album titled The Best Yet, a sort of "final farewell from Sony".

Hello Hurricane (2008–2010)

Prior to the label split, Foreman had announced in a March 17, 2007 MySpace blog that Switchfoot had begun pre-production for a new album, saying that "the new SF record is underway." Later, on October 12, 2007, Foreman also announced that the band had begun construction of their own studio in their hometown of San Diego. It was completed in the spring of 2008, and the band began recording their follow-up to 2006's Oh! Gravity.

In March, the band wrote and recorded a new song called "This Is Home" for the film The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. The song was included on the film's official soundtrack and an accompanying music video was also filmed, with footage from the film.

In April, the band announced that instead of one studio album, they had actually been at work on 4 albums-worth of material, and had decided at the time to release them one after another, starting with the first one on November 10, 2009, titled Hello Hurricane. The album to follow it will be called Vice Verses, set to release at an undetermined date.

Upon completion of Hello Hurricane, the band began searching for "the right partners" to distribute the songs globally. On August 7, 2009, the band announced that lowercase people records was licensing the album to Atlantic Records, ensuring "these tunes are heard around the world." To help promote this new release, the band took a hands-on approach with their lead single, "Mess of Me," by hiding copies of the single all across the world and encouraging fans to share it around by finding the discs and making copies of their own to hide. Through this, the single spread all across the world in grassroots fashion in advance of a traditional radio release, which saw the track hitting the Top 15 of Modern Rock radio. This was followed by the release of "The Sound (John M. Perkins' Blues)," which went on to become the band's first Top 10 Modern Rock hit since "Dare You to Move."

On December 1, 2010 it was announced that Hello Hurricane had been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album.