> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://itsfoss.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Ubuntu 26.10 "Stonking Stingray": All the New Features So Far - URL: https://itsfoss.com/news/ubuntu-26-10-features/ - Published: 2026-07-25T07:22:21.000Z - Updated: 2026-07-28T10:09:49.000Z - Description: As usual, Canonical is using an interim release to test features headed for the next LTS. Here, we keep a track of the features as they are added. - Author: Sourav Rudra - Tags: Ubuntu, News Every two years, Canonical puts out a [Long Term Support](https://itsfoss.com/long-term-support-lts/) release that gets five years of security updates, which can be stretched further with [Ubuntu Pro](https://ubuntu.com/pro?ref=itsfoss.com). In between those LTS releases, Canonical ships **an interim version every six months**, and each one is supported for nine months. Those releases don't carry the same importance as an LTS, but that's the point. They give [Canonical](https://canonical.com/?ref=itsfoss.com) room to test newer kernels, toolchains, and design changes with a smaller user base before those changes get baked into the next LTS. The next one, **Ubuntu 26.10**, carries the codename "**Stonking Stingray**", continuing the tradition of ordered alphabetical codenames after [Resolute Raccoon](https://itsfoss.com/news/ubuntu-26-04-lts/) (*26.04*). Stonking is British slang for something impressively big or excellent, and a stingray is the flat-bodied, boneless fish that spends most of its time half-buried in sand near the seafloor (*which is quite understandable seeing the state of this world*). If things go as planned, it will land on **October 15, 2026**, with a short support window that will close in July 2027. ## ⏱️ Ubuntu 26.10 Release Schedule ![fastfetch output of a development build of ubuntu 26.10 shown inside a terminal window](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2026/07/ubuntu-26-10-fastfetch-output.png) Below is the release schedule [as laid out by Canonical](https://documentation.ubuntu.com/release-notes/26.10/schedule/?ref=itsfoss.com); do keep in mind that some of these dates might change if there are any regressions or other developmental hurdles. | Milestone | Date | | ------------------------------ | ------------------ | | Ubuntu Testing Week (optional) | July 2, 2026 | | Feature Freeze | August 20, 2026 | | Ubuntu Testing Week (optional) | August 27, 2026 | | Beta Release | September 24, 2026 | | Kernel Freeze | October 1, 2026 | | Release Candidate | October 8, 2026 | | Final Release | October 15, 2026 | Know that this is kind of [a live blog](https://www.britannica.com/topic/liveblogging?ref=itsfoss.com) where we will be adding new changes and handling any anticipated features as they appear. So, yeah, let's see what's coming with Ubuntu 26.10\. 👇 ## Something for New Installations ![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2026/07/ubuntu-26-10-installer-1.png) ![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2026/07/ubuntu-26-10-welcome-dialog-1.png) **The typical installation and onboarding experience of Ubuntu.* Canonical **is redesigning how Ubuntu gets installed**, with a sharper focus on cutting down the complexity around partitioning and storage configuration. The new design is set to lean on safe defaults, guided workflows, and will be hiding advanced options behind a button (*presumably*) instead of throwing everything at you at once. Alongside the installer, **a new onboarding flow** is in the works too. Instead of asking you to make every decision during setup, Ubuntu will move personalization and configuration into a dedicated first-boot experience after the system is already up and running. Organizations deploying Ubuntu at scale will still be able to automate and configure these onboarding steps, just like they can with the current installer (*pictured above*). Worth noting that both of these are explicitly aimed at **Ubuntu 28.04 LTS**. The design work is happening during the 26.10 cycle, but don't expect the finished experience to show up fully baked in this release. ## Linux Kernel 7.x ![a terminal window showing outputs for various uname commands on an ubuntu 26.10 development build](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2026/07/ubuntu-26-10-linux-7-0.png) The Snapshot 2 build of Ubuntu 26.10 that I tested came with **Linux kernel 7.0.0-14**, but treat that as **a temporary implementation** rather than a final answer. Canonical changed its kernel selection policy [back in 2024](https://itsfoss.com/news/ubuntu-latest-kernel/), opting to ship whatever upstream kernel version is the latest available at release freeze, even if it's still in *Release Candidate* status. That policy got extended further [in 2025](https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/kernel-development-release-cadence-and-deprecation-of-linux-modules-extra/65176?ref=itsfoss.com) to also track interim kernel versions during the development cycle itself through monthly snapshots, for better test coverage along the way. That means the kernel version could easily shift between now and October. We have already covered what [Linux kernel 7.0](https://itsfoss.com/news/linux-kernel-7-0-release/) itself brought to the table, so if you want the full rundown, that's a good place to start. ## A Major D-Bus Change Ubuntu is finally swapping out [dbus-daemon](https://dbus.freedesktop.org/doc/dbus-daemon.1.html?ref=itsfoss.com), the default D-Bus implementation it's used since its very first release back in 2004, in favor of [dbus-broker](https://github.com/bus1/dbus-broker?ref=itsfoss.com). If you didn't know, [D-Bus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-Bus?ref=itsfoss.com) is the messaging system your desktop relies on constantly, letting apps, background services, and the system itself pass messages back and forth. Anything from plugging in a USB drive to updating a notification badge runs through it. Dbus-daemon has held up fine as the reference implementation for over two decades, but it has limits. Under heavy load, messages can vanish unexpectedly, and it queries message targets sequentially instead of all at once, which adds up to latency as the bus gets busier. Dbus-broker addresses both by design, built around an asynchronous, event-driven architecture from the ground up, and it's already the default on several other distros. ## GNOME 51 ![an early build of gnome 51 is showcased here on a development build of ubuntu 26.10 where the settings app and file manager are open](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2026/07/ubuntu-26-10-gnome-51.png) Ubuntu 26.10 is shipping with **GNOME 51**, the upcoming stable release from the [GNOME](https://www.gnome.org/?ref=itsfoss.com) project that's scheduled to be out sometime in mid-September. We start with **the *Shell* changes first**, which has picked up many fixes that you will actually notice during daily use. Screenshot selections now stretch cleanly to monitor edges instead of stopping short, the power-off dialog properly shows its "*Install Updates*" checkbox again, and the overview search box stops resetting its loading spinner every time you type a character. It also swaps in custom sound effects instead of pulling from the system sound theme, saves and restores your monitor brightness across sessions, and only lights up the audio input icon in the top bar while your mic is actually recording. The rest of the [desktop environment](https://itsfoss.com/what-is-desktop-environment/) picks up smaller but still visible changes. The Settings app drops the "*Windowing System*" (*Wayland ftw, I guess?*) field from the *About* page and condenses system details into a single page. Similarly, [Software](https://apps.gnome.org/Software/?ref=itsfoss.com) now warns you before installing an app that's already reached end-of-life, and [Calendar](https://apps.gnome.org/Calendar/?ref=itsfoss.com) got its internals rebuilt around GListModel **for better performance** and has **picked up support for opening Teams meeting links directly**. **Mutter**, GNOME's window manager, is dropping support for legacy NVIDIA drivers. ## AI is Coming If you remember, Canonical [shared their plans](https://itsfoss.com/news/ubuntu-is-getting-ai/) to handle AI on Ubuntu back in April, when Jon Seager split things into two approaches. Implicit AI improves things you already use without you noticing, and explicit AI is the kind you'd actually summon on purpose. The short version of it all was that **everything would be local-first** and built around open-weight models rather than forcing a cloud subscription onto users. One of the earliest features under this new initiative is [Myna](https://itsfoss.com/news/myna-ai-speech-to-text-tool/), a local speech-to-text tool built around a simple push-to-talk flow. Hold a hotkey, speak, and the transcribed text lands wherever your cursor was sitting. Recognition happens entirely on your machine through a sandboxed component called the *Canonical Inference Snap*, with different model sizes to match whatever hardware you're running. ## Ubuntu Certified Check If you ever wondered whether your device was officially supported by Ubuntu, then you will like this one. The *Settings* menu is getting [a simple way](https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/07/ubuntu-2610-certified-hardware-check?ref=itsfoss.com) to check whether your machine is [Ubuntu Certified](https://ubuntu.com/certified?ref=itsfoss.com). Once live, it will show up inside the *About* page, where it will pull a certification status for your exact hardware model, checked against Canonical's own database. **Results range from** *fully certified* to *certified for a different Ubuntu version*, *close to a certified model*, *not certified*, or *unable to check*. ## Package-Agnostic Approach ![the app center app on ubuntu 26.10 handling deb file installation](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2026/07/ubuntu-26-10-deb-installation-1.png) The [App Center](https://snapcraft.io/install/snap-store/ubuntu?ref=itsfoss.com) is getting rebuilt to handle apps consistently **no matter which packaging format they come in**, with unified search, ratings, categories, and metadata. Earlier, when Canonical rebuilt Ubuntu's software center into App Center for 23.10, it launched without the ability [to install local DEB files](https://itsfoss.com/install-deb-files-ubuntu/) at all. Double-clicking one either threw an error or left you staring at a spinner that never resolved. That got fixed with an update to Ubuntu 24.04's App Center [months later](https://itsfoss.com/news/ubuntu-24-04-deb-install/). ## Continued Rustification Canonical is putting more weight behind memory-safe Rust rewrites, recently becoming [a Gold Sponsor](https://itsfoss.com/news/ubuntu-ntpd-rs-push/) of the Trifecta Tech Foundation with **a €40,000 yearly contribution**. Ubuntu's already swapped *coreutils*, *findutils*, *diffutils*, and *sudo* for their Rust equivalents, with [sudo-rs](https://itsfoss.com/sudo-vs-sudo-rs/) becoming the default in 25.10\. Ntpd-rs is next in line, a Rust rewrite of the tools Ubuntu uses to keep system clocks synced. The Trifecta funding is going toward catching ntpd-rs up to [chrony](https://chrony-project.org/?ref=itsfoss.com) on features like multi-threaded NTP servers and GPSd support, alongside AppArmor and seccomp hardening. Although [ntpd-rs](https://trifectatech.org/projects/ntpd-rs/?ref=itsfoss.com) is arriving in the testing archives for 26.10, it becoming the default is planned for next year, when Ubuntu 27.04 is introduced. ## Miscellaneous Additions And here are a bunch of smaller but important changes that deserve your attention now that you have scrolled so far. ☠️ - Continued push toward [WCAG 2.2 AA](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/?ref=itsfoss.com) accessibility compliance. - New wallpapers, chosen through the usual community wallpaper contest, though Canonical hasn't announced it yet. - The full desktop experience for RISC-V, targeting [RVA23](https://ubuntu.com/blog/risc-v-profiles-why-is-rva23-significant?ref=itsfoss.com)\-compliant hardware. - Better driver management controls, with clearer metadata and maturity indicators for available drivers. - Microsoft password and MFA authentication support through [authd](https://ubuntu.com/docs/authd/stable-docs/?ref=itsfoss.com), with approval requests routed through [Microsoft Authenticator](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/authenticator/about-microsoft-authenticator?ref=itsfoss.com). - An experimental amd64v3 ([x86-64-v3](https://hackaday.com/2024/02/25/what-is-x86-64-v3/?ref=itsfoss.com)) package archive for testing performance gains on newer Intel and AMD CPUs. - A proposed change to strip signed GRUB builds down [to bare essentials](https://itsfoss.com/news/ubuntu-26-10-grub-overhaul/) for Secure Boot, dropping support for filesystems like Btrfs and ZFS in the process. ## 📥 Download Ubuntu 26.10 While the stable ISOs for this interim Ubuntu release are a few months out, you can take [the snapshots](https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/releases/26.10/release/?ref=itsfoss.com) for test runs on a virtual machine or a spare machine. We don't recommend installing such images on computers that are used daily or on production-sensitive deployments because these contain components that might break at any time. [Ubuntu 26.10 (snapshots)](https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/releases/26.10/release/?ref=itsfoss.com)