Another year lay ahead – what's next on your wishlist?

What Do You Want to See From Ubuntu in 2026?

It’s fair to say that 2025 delivered plenty of wins for Ubuntu and the wider Linux ecosystem.

Wayland is no longer “on the way”, but settled in and feeling comfortable (for most of us); gaming on Linux is practically mainstream at this point (thanks to Valve); and Ubuntu’s desktop team continued to think big with app/tooling changes, dual-boot handling, etc.

But some things remain a sore point.

Snaps may work better than ever, but the format feels forgotten by app developers (and, to a degree, Canonical). Many snaps are unofficial and outdated, and the App Center defaults to suggesting those old snaps despite newer DEBs being in the repos.

It’s not great.

Plus, Ubuntu’s resistance in embracing the fact that Flathub is an established part of the Linux desktop ecosystem with software vendors favouring it over other formats – it’s not going anywhere! – increasingly feels a political snub than a technical preference.

Still, one shouldn’t lose sight of how great things are.

In a chronically online world, attention is forever fixated on what’s new, what’s next, and (via the outrage industrial complex) what is the absolute worst. Mindfulness isn’t a meme; it’s easy to overlook how competent Linux distros, apps and components work because they work.

But still: progress is a process, not an place. Each improvement made gives a new vantage point to spot what’s next for the todo list.

The year ahead looks promising

The upcoming 12 months should prove fruitful ones for Ubuntu.

The Ubuntu 26.04 LTS release (and, as importantly, the 26.04.1 LTS point release that follows – when users can officially upgrade from Ubuntu 24.04 LTS) will deliver a new stable foundation for users of Ubuntu and beyond – Linux Mint, Zorin OS, Pop!_OS, et al.

In early 2026, bigger user-facing changes will start to arrive in Ubuntu 26.04 development builds. The final release in April will offer GNOME 50, Linux Kernel 6.20/7.0 (depending on Linus’ mood), new default apps (Resources and Showtime), and no plenty of other surprises.

Ubuntu’s Prompting Client, long gestating as an ‘experimental’ feature, is also gearing up to be enabled by default. It improves security by prompting you to okay access when apps attempt to access hardware features or filesystem locations.

Once the new Long Term Support release is out of the way, expect to see Ubuntu’s developers pursue bolder, potentially breaking changes in Ubuntu 26.10, due in October.

Ubuntu’s engineers are testing x86-64 v3 packages as an optional extra, but is it time to raise the baseline in the default ISO? Any issues booting newer Ubuntu on older hardware could solved by a legacy ISO or some install-time foo.

And Ubuntu’s new desktop lead developers has mentioned plans to broaden the App Center snap in to a unified package management tool. Snaps, DEBs, Flatpaks, repos, update settings – all in one place.

Finally, Ubuntu’s decision to focus its future RISC-V support on newer, more capable versions of the processor should begin to pay off as actual hardware becomes more readily available for tech tinkerers and enthusiasts to push the limits on.

We’ll learn even more about Ubuntu’s 2026 plans in the coming months. I provide you with coverage of all that here, on OMG! Ubuntu, as I’ve done since 2009.

What do you want to see?

But let’s skirt the probables and imagine about what’s possible.

What’s the one thing Ubuntu could do in 2026 that would make you quietly fist pump the air (and heck: maybe believe this could be the Year of the Linux Desktop. Too far?).

I don’t want you to reach for diplomatic or vague answers, but honest ones. For example, everyone wants better laptop battery life on Linux, but would does “better” look like to you?

Whatever your hopes, wants, or wishes are for Ubuntu in 2026, share them in the comments below. Be specific. Be ambitious. Say not just what you want, but why it matters to you, your workflow and your Ubuntu experience.