Canonical sets out what it plans to include in Ubuntu 25.10

At the start of the month, Neowin reported that Ubuntu 25.10 had a codename, Questing Quokka, and that development had begun. At the time, we didn’t have a clear picture of what would be included in Ubuntu 25.10, but now we have a better picture thanks to a post on Ubuntu Discourse.

The most notable thing users should look out for in the upcoming version is GNOME 49, which is still under development itself. Canonical said it will ship with updated shell extensions and a refreshed user interface, aligned with the GNOME upstream. It also announced that it will include the Loupe image viewer and Ptyxis terminal emulator to modernize the default application set.

Another interesting thing to look out for in this update is accessibility improvements. Canonical says that the European Union will begin enforcing the European Accessibility Act (EAA) from June 2025, so it wants to check that all of its accessibility features are up to scratch so that it is compliant with the law.

NVIDIA GPU owners are also set to get some love with 25.04 as Canonical has been working closely with GNOME and NVIDIA to polish the Wayland experience. Wayland is a display server that has replaced X.org in recent years. While it offers benefits and is more secure, it's still maturing, and this work between Canonical, NVIDIA, and GNOME helps with this.

Graphics-wise, users who install Ubuntu 25.04 will also benefit from VRR support in Mutter, as well as the window manager and compositor. VRR, which stands for Variable Refresh Rate, will provide you with enhanced visual smoothness if you have a compatible monitor. Gamers will notice this in particular.

Over the years, Canonical has been getting closer to Microsoft, and this upcoming version will further the integration between the two. With this update, there will be deeper enterprise integration with Microsoft Entra ID device registration, allowing Ubuntu devices to be registered directly with Entra ID, enabling policy enforcement

The other planned change mentioned includes:

• Fully functioning desktop sessions on RISC-V architecture.
• Improved permission prompting for a smoother user experience.
• Landscape integration will arrive in the Ubuntu Desktop installer, allowing admins to auto-install config files and streamlining device enrollment and management workflows.
• Revamped desktop documentation that will be more accessible and discoverable.

Ubuntu 25.10 is not going to be supported for long, as it’s not an LTS release. However, it will be the final release before Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, which makes it pretty important, as the release cycle after will probably be focused on stabilizing previously included changes.

Source: Ubuntu Discourse via Phoronix

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