Ubuntu 25.04 Plucky Puffin – A Brief Walkthrough

Ubuntu 25.04, codenamed Plucky Puffin, released in April 2025, is an interim release supported for 9 months (until Jan 2026). Ubuntu 25.04 is equipped with experimental features that will be tested until the next LTS, 26.04, and if declared stable, these features will be carried forward and may be part of Ubuntu 26.04, the next Ubuntu LTS in line.

In today’s guide, I’ll give you a brief overview of Ubuntu 25.04, what it looks like, and what other features are included in the development and testing.

Outline:

What’s New in Ubuntu 25.04 Codenamed Plucky Puffin?

With every interim release (just like Ubuntu 25.04), there comes a list of new features to be tested and some improvements to existing functionalities. This time we are focusing on Ubuntu 25.04, some major as well as minor updates will be provided:

GNOME 48

Ubuntu 24.04 is based on GNOME 46, whereas at the moment of writing this post, Ubuntu 25.04 is being experimented with GNOME 48. As of now, GNOME 48 is more modern and graphics-friendly, which is always, i.e., the latest version is supposed to overcome the deficiency of the previous GNOME version and improve over time.

Kernel 6.14

The kernel is the central nervous system of Linux, i.e., a bridge between the hardware and the software. Ubuntu 25.04 comes with a Kernel 6.14 (Upstream), i.e., developed and maintained by Linus Torvalds and the Linux kernel maintainers.

The first official release of Ubuntu 24.04 contained the Kernel 6.8. However, Ubuntu 24.04.2 is now updated to the Linux Kernel 6.11.

Security Center

Although Ubuntu is an open-source OS and is more secure than other OSs. However, to align with this top-tech era, Ubuntu might be seeking some additional application support. These applications require some permissions that a user has to give for smooth functionality. To deal with such permissions, Ubuntu has released a Security Center in this release, so that users may turn on or off the permissions.

Here’s the initial interface of the Security Center, where you can see that the feature is experimental at the moment.

If you enable it, the strictly confined apps request permissions. The app permissions can be checked in the settings, i.e., “Settings > Apps”

Updated apt Installation Interface

An interactive UI for the apt-based installations and uninstallations:

Uninstalling:

Well-Being

This is about the well-being of the Ubuntu lovers. The users can enable it and set the following features:

• Screen Time: Set the average screen time usage.
• Eyesight Reminder: A reminder to look away from the screen.
• Movement Reminder: A reminder to move around.

Document Viewer (PDF Viewer)

Ubuntu 25.04 is now equipped with a built-in Document Viewer for various types of files. You can open a variety of files on this viewer, i.e., PDF, comic books, DjVU, and TIFF documents. Here’s the document viewer:

HDR Display – High Dynamic Range

High Dynamic Range (HDR) is a state-of-the-art technology to provide better display with advanced coloring sense of the HDR technology. This is one of the significant additions in this update list. If you have an HDR monitor, now, you can attach it to your Ubuntu 25.04 to experience HDR displays.

Head over to “Settings > Display > HDR” to manage it.

Other Notable Updates in Ubuntu 25.04

Color to Color Management:

The Color section in the “Settings” has been replaced with Color Management in the Settings.

Timezone in Events:

Ubuntu 25.04 provides timezone support while creating events in the calendar. Here’s how you can locate it in the Calendar app of Ubuntu 25.04:

JPEG XL Image Support:

JPEG XL is an image type (an enhanced JPEG), and now it is supported by Ubuntu and providing a better experience for the users.

Notification Grouping:

Ubuntu 25.04 has now offered a notification grouping inside the notifications, making it easier for users to navigate through multiple notifications.

Yaru Theme:

The icon and theme experience is better than the previous releases. The icons are now more dynamic and are well integrated with the accent color support.

Updated Network Manager:

Ubuntu 25.04 has an updated Network Manager 1.52, whereas Ubuntu 24.04.2 (released parallel to Ubuntu 25.04) has 1.46. The significant change is that Network Manager 1.52 is more aligned towards IPv6 as compared to the 1.46 version.

Chrony (Network Time Protocol):

Ubuntu 25.04 has adopted Chrony as its Network Time Protocol client (SUSE and RHEL inspired), which synchronizes the system time as per the NTP servers, i.e., a GPS receiver.

Until now, Ubuntu has been using “systemd-timesync” as its Network Time Protocol client, which is also known as SNTP (Simple Network Time Protocol). The SNTP synchronizes the system clock with the remote server and has less accuracy when compared with Chrony (Full NTP).

• What is NTP? The purpose of the NTP is to synchronize the clocks of the systems over a network to ensure the security, performance, event coordination, and logging. NTP ensures the time sync is as accurate as possible, i.e., in milliseconds / submilliseconds.

Developer Tools and Libraries:

Since Ubuntu is well-liked in the developer community, the Ubuntu contributors continuously work on providing updated tools. Ubuntu 25.04 is equipped with updated tools, i.e., Python, GCC, Rust, and Go.

Similarly, a few of the developers associated libraries are also upgraded, i.e., glibc, binutils, and OpenSSL.

Gaming Support (NVIDIA Dynamic Boost):

The NVIDIA dynamic boost enables the gamer to manage the power between the CPU and GPU. This is now enabled by default in Ubuntu 25.04.

System Monitor’s Interface:

Ubuntu’s system monitor shows information about the processes, resources, and file systems. In Ubuntu 25.04, there is a slight change in the interface of the Ubuntu System Monitor. For instance, the info inside the processes tab is restricted to, i.e., ID, CPU, Memory, Disk Write, and Disk Read. Here’s the interface where you can see this.

However, in older versions, the Processes tab has some additional info for each process:

That’s all from the notable features of Ubuntu 25.04.

Would you like to upgrade your Ubuntu to Ubuntu 25.04?

How to Upgrade to Ubuntu 25.04 Plucky Puffin

If you are using any other release of Ubuntu (Ubuntu 25.10 or Ubuntu 24.04), you can easily upgrade to Ubuntu 25.04. Let’s go through the steps to upgrade:

Important Note: If you are using a Ubuntu LTS release other than Ubuntu 24.04, then you have to first upgrade to Ubuntu 24.04:

Once upgraded to Ubuntu 24.04, you are now ready to follow the steps below and upgrade to Ubuntu 24.10.

Step 1: Upgrade Your Ubuntu to Ubuntu 24.10

Since it is an interim release, you must have the previous release installed to get Ubuntu 25.04. Here’s how you can upgrade to Ubuntu 24.10:

• Update and upgrade the system repositories:

Note: It is recommended to use “sudo apt autoremove” after update/upgrade, to clean up the system from any useless dependencies/packages that are not required.

• If you are using Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, then you have to enable the non-LTS release upgrade. For that, open the release-upgrader file in an editor:

Now, change the “Prompt” parameter’s value from “lts” to “normal”, as can be seen below:

• Start the upgrade using the do-release-upgrade command:

Here you go:

Press “y” to proceed with the installation:

While upgrading, you will be prompted several times asking for acceptance of the changes being processed:

Step 2: Upgrade to Ubuntu 25.04

Once you are in Ubuntu 24.10, use the do-release command again to upgrade to Ubuntu 25.04:

Note: If you get any prompt like “please install all updates available for your release”, then use the command “sudo apt dist-upgrade” and reboot to fix it.

Here’s the Ubuntu 25.04:

That’s all from this guide.

Conclusion

Ubuntu 25.04, codenamed “Plucky Puffin”, is an interim Ubuntu release supported for 9 months. Ubuntu 25.04, released in April 2025, features the updated GNOME (48), updated Kernel (6.14), an improved apt version (3.0), and a security center. Other features include the HDR display, enhanced color management, timezone support in events, etc.

This post briefly lists the notable features of Ubuntu 25.04 and also explains the process to upgrade to Ubuntu 25.04.

FAQS

How Long Will Ubuntu 25.04 be Supported?

Ubuntu 25.04 will be supported until January 2026. Since Ubuntu 25.04 is an interim release and an Ubuntu interim release is supported for 9 months after its release.

Is Ubuntu 25.04 LTS?

No, Ubuntu 25.04 is an interim release, not an LTS. The current latest LTS is Ubuntu 24.04 codenamed Noble Numba, and the next in line LTS is Ubuntu 26.04.

How to Upgrade to Ubuntu 25.04?

First, upgrade to Ubuntu 24.04, then to 24.10, and from there, you can upgrade to Ubuntu 25.10.