Ubuntu 22.04 LTS will be officially released in a few weeks, this version has many changes from the previous LTS version. In addition to some of the new features introduced as part of Ubuntu 22.04, LTS users will finally benefit from the cumulative changes in Ubuntu 20.10, 21.04, and 21.10.
To help those upgrading from LTS to LTS get up to speed as soon as possible, Joey Sneddon of OMG Ubuntu has written a guide detailing 20 new features, changes and improvements in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 'Jammy Jellyfish' for your reference.
20 Changes Between 20.04 and 22.04
1. Default Wayland
Wayland is the default display server in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. With technologies like Pipewire, even screen sharing, etc., works out of the box under Wayland without any hassle. In Ubuntu 22.04, Wayland is even provided by default for those computers with NVIDIA graphics cards.
However, if you find that your hardware, applications, or your overall experience isn't performing well in Wayland, just log out and select the "Xorg" session from the login screen.
2. Light default appearance
The Yaru GTK theme has dropped the "mixed" theme (dark title bar and light controls) in favor of a completely light theme. The window's "close" button is no longer represented by a bright red dot; instead, echoing the look of libadwaita in vanilla GNOME 42, Yaru has placed subtle grey "backdots" behind all three window controls .
3. A more compact Desktop UI
Due to upstream design changes in GNOME Shell, Ubuntu 22.04 looks more "compact" than before.
Panel applets, popovers, and menus use tighter margins , bringing items closer to their origin points; padding within menus has been reduced; OSDs (e.g., volume, brightness, etc.) have also been overhauled to be less visible .
4. Improved desktop icon experience
The new version switched to a better desktop icon extension than in Ubuntu 20.04, and you can drag and drop files and folders from the file manager to the desktop and vice versa.
A small number of desktop icon settings are available through the (new and improved) Appearance panel in System Settings. and new folders added to the desktop appear by default in the lower right corner instead of the upper left; but you can configure it yourself.
5. Horizontal Workspaces
Workspaces in Ubuntu 22.04 are added/managed horizontally, not vertically. Workspaces are still dynamic, and there are new multitasking settings; but pages are left-to-right.
You can access the workspace switcher by pressing the super key once, or by clicking on the "activities" tab in the upper left corner. Alternatively, you can invoke Workspace at any time by using the new multi-touch gestures.
When 2 or more Workspaces are in use, you can access and interact with a thumbnail-sized Workspace from the App Launcher .
6. App Launcher Changes
Like Workspace, it has been changed to horizontal. In Ubuntu 22.04, the full-screen launcher swipes up from the bottom of the display and flips pages from the left or right.
There are some other quality improvements to enhance the App Launcher experience. Includes the ability to freely rearrange app shortcuts (just drag and drop icons to rearrange them however you like), as well as truncated /omitted shortcut names in full when you mouse over a shortcut .
7. Dock Differences
Made some tweaks to the Ubuntu Dock. The trash can item is now in the Dock instead of on the desktop, and a new separator separates running app icons from pinned app icons.
The System Settings > Appearance section provides more settings for the Dock, including a switch to turn off panel mode (i.e. to get more of the Dock appearance); options in the Dock that should or shouldn't appear; and options for how the Dock behaves in a multi-monitor setup choose.
8. Accent Colours
Ubuntu has replaced most of the purple tones in the Yaru theme with orange tones. But if orange isn't your thing, Ubuntu 22.04 lets you choose from 10 different accent colors . These affect GKT themes, GNOME Shell themes, and even some icons.
9. Trackpad Gestures
New trackpad gestures are available in the default Wayland session of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS for opening and closing the Workspace Switcher and App Launcher , and for paging within them.
Use the Workspace Switcher with a three-finger swipe on a compatible multi-touch trackpad, and a further three-finger operation brings up the App Launcher . You can use a two-finger swipe to page left/right.
Gesture animations are 1:1, and they react in the same way as your hand movements. "It may not sound great, but it's a real 'icing on the cake' improvement that makes Ubuntu feel more like a refined and cohesive whole."
10. Password protected compressed files
Password-protected .zip files can now be extracted directly (using the right button > extract here option).
You can also create password-protected .zip files in Nautilus. Right-click on a folder and select "zip"; select the password-protected zip option in the option box that appears, and then enter a password.
11. Microphone mute alert
Ubuntu 22.04 (technically GNOME 42) has a handy help: when a call is active, your microphone status is displayed in a bar at the top. When your mic is muted, you'll see a gray pattern to let you know no one can hear you.
12. Calendar events in the notification area
Events from the Calendar application appear in the notification shade/clock applet. By default, you'll see all of the day's events, but you can select a date in the calendar to see events from other days. If there is an event scheduled for the day, there will be a small "dot" icon below it, and the event will be previewed in a card below the calendar.
13. Power Options
Ubuntu 22.04 offers a range of new power management features, including three power modes: "Energy Saver", "Balanced" and (depending on the hardware) "Performance". Modes can be set/accessed via the power panel in system settings, or selected from the new power section of the main status menu.
On portable devices, "Power Save" mode is automatically activated when the battery is low. There is no direct GUI way to choose how low the battery needs to be to boot, but a gsettings level can be set via the command line.
14. "Display battery percentage"
Ubuntu has taken a long time to provide users with this very basic option, out of the box, with no tweaking tools or custom scripts: showing the battery percentage in the top bar.
15. Prominent reboot options
There is finally an obvious restart option in the session options of the Status Menu.
16. Keyboard shortcut settings
GNOME Developers has revamped the keyboard shortcuts settings page. It's now a subsection of Keyboard Settings, better organized, faster to scan, and fully searchable; finding a specific keybinding to tweak is easier than ever.
17. Multitasking options
There are tons of multitasking options available in the System Settings app. Here you can choose whether to use dynamic workspaces (created on demand) or stick to fixed numbers. You can disable the hot corner that triggers the workspace switcher; and optionally disable window snapping.
18. New Snipping Tool
In Ubuntu 20.04, clicking print screen just captures the entire screen and saves it. In Ubuntu 22.04, hitting the same key opens an interactive screenshot tool.
You can resize the handles on the screen to grab a specific section, take a full-screen grab, or grab a screenshot of a specific window (hint: to perform the last action faster , right-click the app's title bar and select "screenshot").
You can also screen record the entire screen, regions, or specific programs with the new interactive screenshot tool .
19. Proper Dark Mode
In Ubuntu 20.0 4, selecting the "dark" theme option in the Appearance panel does not affect the GNOME Shell user interface. The effect is... when dark mode is enabled, half of the UI is still lit. Ubuntu 22.04 fixes this with a truly comprehensive dark theme that affects the entire UI, including GNOME Shell.
20. Firefox will only provide snap packages
Firefox Snap was the default in Ubuntu 21.10, and remains the default in 22.04. When you upgrade from Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, your existing .deb version of Firefox will be replaced with a Snap version.