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Introducing GNOME 44, “Kuala Lumpur”

March 22, 2023

After 6 months of hard work, the GNOME project is proud to present GNOME version 44. This latest release includes substantial improvements, with new features, enhancements, and lots of fixes. Highlights include major improvements to the Settings app, a better quick settings menu, and a streamlined Software app. More details are included in the release notes below.

GNOME 44 is code-named “Kuala Lumpur”, in recognition of the work done by the organizers of GNOME.Asia 2022.

File Chooser Grid View

File chooser grid view screenshot

GNOME’s file chooser dialogs have only ever had a list view, which is great when you want to pick a file based on its name, but isn’t so good when picking files based on their thumbnails. Over the years, GNOME users have therefore repeatedly requested that a grid view be added to the file chooser.

With GNOME 44, that request has finally been answered. This has been one of the most positively received changes in our history, so we are confident that people will like it!

The new grid view is available in file choosers that use GTK4. Some apps may use the older GTK3 version of the file chooser, which does not include the new grid view.

Updated Settings Panels

GNOME 44 is a big release for the GNOME Settings app, with four settings panels having been reworked for the new version.

Device Security

Device Security settings

Device Security was introduced to the Settings app last release, in GNOME 43. Since then, they have received a major round of updates.

The new version shows the device’s security status as a description, such as “Checks Failed”, “Checks Passed”, or “Protected”. This makes the panel easier to understand.

For those who want to dig into the technical details, or who want to report an issue about the security of their device, a new feature generates a full device security report for the device. This provides an overview of what is happening under the hood, and can be easily copied into issue reports and support requests.

Accessibility

Accessibility settings

GNOME’s accessibility settings have been redesigned for GNOME 44. The different sections of settings are now split up, to make them easier to navigate. The design of individual settings has also been improved, to be clearer and more consistent with the rest of settings. Additionally, many settings have had descriptions added.

The new accessibility settings also include some new features:

Sound

Sound settings

GNOME’s sound settings have also had an upgrade since last release, which overall makes them much easier to use:

The sound settings also have a number of other polish improvements, including new volume level indicators, and better presentation of missing devices.

Mouse & Touchpad

Mouse and Touchpad settings

The final settings panel to have been reworked for GNOME 44 is Mouse & Touchpad. The most noticeable change is the addition of videos which demonstrate the different available options. Not only do these look great, but they also make the various settings easier to understand.

Other improvements in the Mouse & Touchpad settings include a new testing window, a new Mouse Acceleration setting, and tick marks in the different sliders.

Enhanced Quick Settings

The quick settings menu was a new feature last release, which has subsequently been improved:

Streamlined Software

Software in GNOME 44 offers a smoother and faster experience. The pages for each software category are now displayed more quickly, so you can browse with less interruption. Reloading of pages has also been reduced.

The app also has improved support for next-generation software formats: Flatpak runtimes are now automatically removed when not needed, in order to save on disk space, and image-based operating system updates now have both progress information and descriptions.

Finally, Software version 44 includes a collection of UI enhancements, including better-looking reviews and error messages.

Files Improvements

Files comes with a collection of improvements for GNOME 44:

Even More Settings Improvements

In addition to the numerous reworked settings panels in GNOME 44, there is also a good collection of smaller Settings improvements. These include:

New Circle Members

GNOME Circle is a fantastic collection of apps that are developed as part of the GNOME Project. Since GNOME 43 was released, ten new apps have joined:

Welcome to GNOME!

And That’s Not All…

There are many other smaller improvements in GNOME 44, including:

New wallpapers

Developer Experience

GNOME 44 includes new features and improvements for developers who are using the GNOME platform. Read the developers section to learn more.

Getting GNOME 44

GNOME’s software is Free Software: all our code is available for download and can be freely modified and redistributed according to the respective licenses. To install it, we recommend that you wait for the official packages provided by your vendor or distribution. Popular distributions will make GNOME 44 available very soon, and some already have development versions that include the new GNOME release. You can also try the GNOME OS image as a virtual machine, using the Boxes app.

About GNOME

The GNOME Project is an international community supported by a non-profit Foundation. We focus on user experience excellence and first-class internationalization and accessibility. GNOME is a free and open project: if you want to join us, you can.