Grab your calendar – or a biro, your hand and a stedfast commitment to not wash for the next six months — as here are the key dates in the Ubuntu 26.04 LTS release schedule.

Unless you’ve been lounging away at a tech-free retreat, you’ll know that Canonical’s engineers and community developers have started work on Ubuntu 26.04, codename ‘Resolute Raccoon’, which serves as the next Long-Term Support (LTS) release.

Ubuntu 26.04 LTS receives 5 years of ongoing updates (up until 2031), with a further 5 years of Expanded Security Maintenance (ESM) updates provided through Ubuntu Pro (free for home users, paid for enterprise/businesses).

The Ubuntu 26.04 LTS release date is set for April 23, 2026.

The Ubuntu release schedule is subject to change as development progresses.

Trivia: April 23rd is is the most common Ubuntu release date with Ubuntu 9.04, 15.04 and 20.04 LTS all released on this date in their respective years.

DateMilestone
February 19, 2026Feature Freeze
March 12, 2026User Interface Freeze
March 19, 2026Kernel Feature Freeze
March 23, 2026Beta Freeze
March 26, 2026Ubuntu 26.04 Beta Release
April 9, 2026Kernel Freeze
April 16, 2026Release Candidate
April 23, 2026Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Final Release
August 6, 20261Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS Release
(upgrades from 24.04 LTS enabled)

Ubuntu 26.04 monthly snapshots will return this cycle. There’s no fixed ‘dates’ for these, but they aim to appear on Ubuntu’s release server towards the end of each month. Monthly snapshots start in November and continue until March, when the beta arrives.

Ubuntu 26.04 features TBD

We have a good idea about some of the new features Ubuntu 26.04 LTS will include, although development on the release is still in the early stages and everything is subject to change.

The givens: GNOME 50, and whatever the latest Linux kernel is come April, plus updated graphics drivers. More Rust-ification of core components is likely, along with improved TPM-backed encryption, and Snap prompting client losing its ‘experimental’ status.

Plans are to replace Totem and GNOME System Monitor with ‘modern’ alternatives Showtime and Resources respectively, and streamlining Ubuntu’s disparate package and firmware tools into a cohesive experience.

Might we potentially get a means install Ubuntu 26.04 with amd64v3 packages by default?

The default ISO will continue to use regular ol’ amd64 v1 packages as its baseline, but a separate installer or dynamic tool could make it easier for those with compatible CPUs to benefit.

Will you be trying it?

Anyway; if you plan on testing Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, bookmark this schedule so you know what’s coming and when – or just jot down the final release date if you’d rather wait for a stable stability. Not that you need to upgrade: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS support ends in 2028 (standard)

You don’t have to wait for any release milestone, of course: you can download Ubuntu 26.04 daily builds at at time from the Ubuntu image server.

  1. Very tentative; based on the typical gap between final release and first point release. ↩︎