Ubuntu 25.10 entered user-interface freeze this weekend, but not before the Yaru design team managed to slip in a notable set of theme improvements.
Yaru is Ubuntu’s default theme, which is a modified version of the GTK4/libadwaita stylesheet that themes modern apps and GNOME Shell (the desktop). Yaru also includes a custom icon set (increasingly influenced by Adwaita) and a sound theme.
What’s particularly neat is that Yaru is developed and maintained by a community team, albeit with some input and pointers from Canonical’s engineering and design teams. Anyone is free to contribute and get involved.
Theme Changes in Ubuntu 25.10
The latest release of the Yaru theme, which will ship in Ubuntu 25.10 and will not be back-ported to existing releases, includes work to keep pace with the new features and interface changes introduced in GNOME 49.
Yaru-ified symbolic icons have been added for the new login accessibility menu GNOME 49 adds to the login screen. There are some new icons, and some restyled ones to better match upstream GNOME:
Ubuntu 25.10 ships with two new desktop apps: Loupe and Ptyxis as default image viewer and terminal apps respectively. While these could’ve inherited their predecessor’s icons, it would make it hard for people who install the old ones from the repos to differentiate.
So new icons have been added.
Loupe uses a similar icon to the previous image viewer (to keep things consistent for upgraders), albeit now colourful. Similarly, Ptyxis reuses the previous GNOME Terminal icons, albeit coloured purple to both differentiate it and give a nod to its use of colour:
New mimetype (icons for files) have been added for .toml and .csv files, and the mimetype icon for YAML tweaked and made to work with more types of yaml project files.
Earlier this year I reported on an effort by the Yaru team to redesign the trash icons shown in the Ubuntu Dock. That effort didn’t end up in the bin; a new, more bin-like trash icon features in Ubuntu 25.10.
A handful of older icons have been revised, including that of GNOME Software (for those who install it). There are new icons for System Monitor, Firmware Updater and GNOME Builder (for those who install the latter).
In addition to Yaru-ified icons for the accessibility menu at the login screen are a swathe of new and improved revised symbolics. Among them, sharper protected wi-fi networks, an airplane disabled mode glyph, and Bluetooth ‘acquiring’ status.
Sticking with symbolics, a full battery—don’t groan ;)—of charging icons have been drawn, coloured and packaged:
Other changes include improved spinner cursor icons (said be less jittery), a rounder password input box on the login screen, and adjusted padding and border radius on various UI prompt dialogs within GNOME Shell to improve overall system consistency.
This update to the Yaru theme is rolling out to Ubuntu 2510 daily builds and monthly snapshots now, and will be on show, out-of-the-box in the Ubuntu 25.10 beta later this month, ahead of the final, stable release in early October.