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Budgie’s biggest change is already here: Budgie 10.10 moved the desktop from X11 to Wayland, and the 10.10 series is now in maintenance mode. The latest upstream release listed, Budgie 10.10.3, arrived September 27, 2026, with several user-facing additions. Budgie 11 is the next major project, but it is an early Qt 6 re-architecture with no announced release date—not a set of finished features you can install today.
What changed in Budgie 10.10
Budgie 10.10 is the first release series in which the project migrated the desktop from X11 to Wayland. The announcement, published January 10, 2026, also says Budgie 10 is moving into maintenance mode so the team can focus on Budgie 11. The transition followed more than two years of Wayland work, according to the project’s January 2026 review.
The desktop’s familiar elements—panels, applets, Raven, desktop icons, and keyboard shortcuts—remain central to the experience. The important difference is the display system underneath them: Budgie 10.10 is Wayland-only, and the project recommends the labwc compositor. Budgie 10.10 release announcement · Budgie FAQ · Project review
What Wayland-only means for existing apps
Budgie’s move to Wayland does not mean every X11 application stops working. Legacy X11 apps can run through XWayland, the compatibility layer. However, applications running that way are not the same as using a native X11 desktop session, and X11-specific workflows may differ or be unavailable. The Budgie FAQ also notes the desktop’s reliance on Wayland protocols.
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What Budgie 10.10.3 adds
The upstream release list dates Budgie 10.10.3 to September 27, 2026. Its listed additions and improvements include:
- Favorites in Budgie Menu.
- The return of the Keyboard Layout applet.
- Primary-monitor selection.
- Freedom to place desktop icons rather than having them restricted to fixed positions.
- Improved integration with labwc.
These changes add useful refinements, but they do not signal a new feature-development era for Budgie 10: the series is in maintenance mode. The preceding release, Budgie 10.10.2, was released March 7, 2026, with further labwc bridge improvements, better application matching in Icon Tasklist, and general stability fixes. Budgie Desktop upstream releases
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What Budgie 11 is intended to become
Budgie 11 is planned as a broader re-architecture, not merely Budgie 10 rebuilt with a different toolkit. The project has chosen Qt 6; Joshua Strobl wrote, “It is Qt6,” in the January 11, 2026 review. There is already a shipped Qt 6 foundation: Budgie Desktop Services in Budgie 10.10 uses Qt 6 code for Wayland output management and persistent display configuration. That does not mean the Budgie 11 architecture or its proposed user features are already complete.
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The project’s stated direction centers on a shared Budgie Core and presentation layers that could be adapted to different devices and workflows. The review names desktops, laptops, TVs, VR/AR devices, phones, and tablets as possible form factors, while saying the team does not expect to build every presentation layer itself. Other goals include more adaptable multitasking, swappable components and extensions, theming, and easier extension discovery. These are plans, not current Budgie 10.10 capabilities.
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Architecture work is still early
The January 2026 review described work on versioning and ABI stability, repository structure, lessons from Budgie 10, and early architecture definitions. It also said not every decision had been made. In its March 2026 status summary, the project FAQ said there was no fixed release date and that the team could not commit to a specific migration path from Budgie 10 while Budgie 11 remained early in development. Budgie project review · Budgie FAQ
When will Budgie 11 be released?
There is no announced release date. The FAQ’s status summary, as of March 2026, says the project has not set one. It also does not promise a complete or specific upgrade path from Budgie 10 to Budgie 11, so users should wait for distribution and upstream guidance rather than assume an in-place migration will work a particular way.
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Budgie versions depend on the distribution
Budgie is packaged by distributions, so the version and session options available to you depend on which distribution release you install. Ubuntu Budgie 26.04 LTS is one specific example, not a universal description of Budgie: its April 16, 2026 release notes say it ships Budgie 10.10.2, uses labwc by default, and provides no Xorg session. Those notes also describe Wayland portals for screenshots and screen sharing, recommend wdisplays for display configuration, and state three years of support from the Ubuntu Budgie team. Check your distribution’s own release notes for its bundled version, session choices, and support terms. Ubuntu Budgie 26.04 LTS release notes
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