Key New Features and Improvements in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish)

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish) builds on previous LTS releases by adding numerous visual, usability, and system improvements.

1. Default Wayland Wayland is now the default display server, offering out‑of‑the‑box screen sharing via PipeWire and even supporting NVIDIA GPUs; users can switch back to Xorg from the login screen if needed.

2. Light‑Mode Default Appearance The Yaru GTK theme now uses a fully light colour scheme, replacing the mixed dark‑title‑bar style with subtle grey back‑dots on window controls.

3. More Compact Desktop UI Upstream GNOME Shell changes make the desktop appear more compact, with tighter margins on panels, pop‑ups, menus, and OSD elements.

4. Improved Desktop Icons A new desktop‑icon extension allows dragging files and folders between the file manager and the desktop, with configurable placement of new folders.

5. Horizontal Workspaces Workspaces are added and managed horizontally rather than vertically, supporting dynamic workspaces and new multitasking gestures.

6. App Launcher Changes The launcher now slides up from the bottom, supports horizontal paging, and allows free rearrangement of app shortcuts via drag‑and‑drop.

7. Dock Differences The Ubuntu Dock now includes a trash item, a separator between running and pinned apps, and additional appearance settings in System Settings → Appearance.

8. Accent Colours The default purple accent is replaced by orange, with a choice of ten accent colours affecting the GTK and GNOME Shell themes.

9. Touch‑Pad Gestures New three‑finger gestures open the workspace switcher and app launcher, while two‑finger swipes page left/right.

10. Password‑Protected Zip Files Users can extract password‑protected .zip archives directly via the right‑click “Extract Here” option and create such archives from the “Compress” dialog.

11. Microphone Mute Indicator When the microphone is muted, a grey icon appears in the top bar, providing a clear visual cue.

12. Calendar Events in Notification Area Calendar events are shown in the notification shade/clock applet, with a dot indicator for the current day and a preview card.

13. Power Options Three power modes—Power‑Saver, Balanced, and Performance—are available, with automatic activation of Power‑Saver on low battery.

14. Show Battery Percentage The battery percentage is now displayed by default in the top bar without extra configuration.

15. Prominent Restart Option A clearly visible restart entry has been added to the session menu.

16. Keyboard Shortcut Settings The keyboard shortcuts page is now a searchable sub‑section of the Keyboard settings, making it easier to find and edit bindings.

17. Multitasking Options Users can choose dynamic or fixed workspaces, disable the hot‑corner for the workspace switcher, and turn off window‑snapping.

18. New Screenshot Tool Pressing Print Screen opens an interactive screenshot utility that allows region, window, or full‑screen capture and screen recording.

19. Proper Dark Mode Ubuntu 22.04 provides a true dark theme that affects the entire GNOME Shell UI, fixing the half‑light issue of previous releases.

20. Firefox Delivered as Snap Firefox is now distributed as a Snap package by default, replacing the .deb version when upgrading from earlier Ubuntu releases.