Kubuntu 25.04 arrived on 17 April, 2025 with very little fanfare, which is unusual when you consider it actually marks the 20th anniversary of the first Kubuntu release, 5.04, which was out on 8 April, 2005. But, maybe that is not so unusual for the Kubuntu Devs to keep things rather low-key. In fact, their website’s home page makes no mention of this new interim release at all, still pushing the last long term support (LTS) version for download instead. You have to get into their website’s “news” page to learn that Kubuntu 25.04 has come out. 25.04 is Kubuntu’s 41st release and the second with the new Qt-toolkit-based Plasma 6 desktop. It is the middle of three interim releases in this development cycle and that means it is one step in building towards the next LTS which will be Kubuntu 26.04 LTS, due out in April, 2026. The first release of this new cycle was Kubuntu 24.10 and it brought not only a new Plasma desktop version but also Wayland as the default display server. Those two roll-outs were both pretty flawless and also both pretty invisible to most desktop users. As the second interim release in the cycle, Kubuntu 25.04 brings mostly just updates to the default suite of applications and not much else new. That points to the next LTS, a year down the road, being very similar to this release and I believe that will please most of the dedicated Kubuntu users who tend to think that their favorite distribution is already pretty good and doesn’t need any major changes.
Installation I downloaded the Kubuntu 25.04 ISO file using BitTorrent from the official source and did a command line SHA256 sum check. This quick test is well-worth the time to complete, as it confirms file integrity and it can save a lot of time running a bad ISO. This Kubuntu ISO file download was 4.7 GB in size which is, interestingly, the same size as the last release, Kubuntu 24.10. I dropped the ISO file onto a USB stick equipped with a new version of Ventoy, 1.1.05, and it booted up without any problems. That was expected as Kubuntu is listed as officially supported by Ventoy.
System requirements The recommended minimum system requirements for Kubuntu 25.04 are the same as for Ubuntu. They have not changed this release and remain: 2 GHz dual-core processor 4096 MiB RAM (system memory) for physical installs 2048 MiB RAM for virtualised installs 25 GB (8.6 GB for minimal) of hard-drive space (or USB stick, memory card or external drive but see LiveCD for an alternative approach) 3D acceleration-capable GPU with at least 256 MB of VRAM 1024×768 or higher resolution display USB flash drive or DVD drive or for the installer media Internet access is helpful I should note that the recommended 4 GB of RAM is probably underpowered for web browsing here in 2025 and a bare minimum of 8 GB is more realistic.
New Kubuntu 25.04 uses the Qt 6.8.3 toolkit and KDE Frameworks 6.12.0. It has fresh applications from KDE Gear 24.12.3 and features the KDE Plasma 6.3 desktop. Like all the other Ubuntu 25.04 series of releases, Kubuntu 25.04 comes with Linux kernel 6.14 and uses systemd 257.4 as its initialization system. This release not only marks 20 years of Kubuntu but ten years of systemd being employed on Kubuntu and it has been pretty flawless in service. It has given Kubuntu fast and smooth boot-ups with everything running right. The KDE Plasma 6 desktop replaced Plasma 5 starting in the previous release, Kubuntu 24.10. Waiting until the first interim release of the new development cycle to introduce it means that this new desktop version will go through three interim releases of development and testing before it lands in the next LTS. This measure ensures that the LTS version, which is the version which most users run, is as bug-free and as stable as possible. So far, Plasma 6 seems to work very well with no major issues noted but this use of a conservative development approach is always the safest bet.
This release is the second to make a Wayland display server session the default, although the venerable X11 server may be selected during the boot-up if needed. Kubuntu will retain the last used display server as default for future boots. Since Ubuntu has been using Wayland for a while now, Kubuntu is being cautious here too, letting the Ubuntu developers do the heavy lifting. So far, the display server transition seems to be quite smooth. Wayland does provide some advantages besides just being more modern software such as eliminating monitor flicker. Other than new application versions, this Kubuntu release introduces almost nothing new. That points to the next interim release and the subsequent LTS being very similar to 25.04.
Settings Kubuntu’s strong point and one of its biggest attractions for fans has always been the wide range of user customization built in and Kubuntu with the Plasma 6 desktop maintains that philosophy. Kubuntu 25.04 comes with five global themes, four application styles, five Plasma styles, five window color schemes, three window decoration styles, two icon sets, eight cursor styles, three system soundscapes, three splash screens (including “none”), two login screens and ten boot splash screens. As always, these are just the installed options given that most of the settings pages have one-button downloads to retrieve many more. With all these options, it is pretty easy to make Kubuntu look any way you want. This approach really contrasts with mainstream Ubuntu which offers only two window themes, light and dark and not much else in the way of customization.
Kubuntu 25.04 also comes with 68 pre-installed desktop widgets, one more included than in the last release. Widgets are small applications that can be added to the desktop, like clocks and weather reports. Hundreds more of these can be downloaded for installation, limited only by your tolerance for desktop clutter. As with most Kubuntu releases, this one has a new default wallpaper, an attractive modernist abstract entitled “Nuvole” by Krystian Zajdel. It has both light and dark wallpaper modes which swap automatically when you change the application window color scheme. There are 47 wallpapers provided, two more than the last release, including some nice general Kubuntu logo ones. Many of the included wallpapers are from past Kubuntu releases, so if you had a previous favorite it is probably still in the collection. As is usually the case with Kubuntu, the developers have ignored code name tie-ins for this family of Ubuntu releases, “Plucky Puffin”, so there are no puffin wallpapers.
Applications Some of the applications included with Kubuntu 25.04 are: Ark 24.12.3 archive manager Discover 2.1.2 software store* Dolphin 24.12.3 file manager Elisa 24.12.3 music player Firefox 137.0.2 web browser** Gwenview 24.12.3 image viewer Haruna 1.3.3 video player Kate 24.12.3 text editor Kcalc 24.12.3 calculator KDE Partition Manager 24.12.3 partition editor Konsole 24.12.3 terminal emulator Kmahjongg 24.12.3 game Kmines 24.12.3 game Kpatience 24.12.3 game Ksudoku 24.12.3 game LibreOffice 25.2.2.2 office suite, less only LibreOffice Base database NeoChat 24.12.3 Matrix client Okular 24.12.3 PDF viewer PipeWire 1.2.7 audio controller Plasma System Monitor 6.3.4 system monitor Skanlite 24.12.3 scanning utility SkanPage 24.12.3 multi-page scanning utility Spectacle 6.3.4 screenshot tool Startup Disk Creator 0.4.1 (usb-creator-kde) USB ISO writer* Thunderbird 128.9.1 esr email client** Vim 9.1.0967 console text editor * indicates same application version as used in Kubuntu 24.10 ** supplied as a Snap, so version depends on the upstream package manager
As can be seen, almost all applications provided have been updated to their KDE Gear 24.12.3 versions, each one bringing minor changes and updates. There was only one unannounced change in the application mix provided: the deletion of the Konversation IRC client. This probably makes sense here in 2025, as the defaults provided should be the applications which a majority of users would want and use. As a service, IRC saw its peak use in 2006 and is probably only used by a small number of people today. If you want it, you can certainly still install it from the repositories. As is usually the case, LibreOffice 25.2.2.2 comes almost complete, missing only the LibreOffice Base database application. Base is probably the least used component of the suite and it can be added from the repositories, if desired. As in past releases, Kubuntu 25.04 does not include a webcam application, an image editor or video editor by default. There are many options available in the repositories.
Conclusions Kubuntu 25.04 has very little new for desktop users beyond updated application versions. As the middle release of three in this development cycle, I think this points to the next LTS, Kubuntu 26.04 LTS due out in April 2026, not having a lot of changes over Kubuntu 24.10. So far the most notable introductions in this development cycle have been the Plasma 6 desktop and the use of the Wayland display server, both of which appeared in the previous interim release. We will have a look at what the third and last interim release of this cycle brings, when Kubuntu 25.10 is released on 9 October, 2025. Overall, I think Kubuntu fans will like what they see in this 25.04 release and also in how this development cycle is going. Both point to just incremental changes that give more of what makes Kubuntu popular: lots of user choice and a very polished desktop experience. External links Official website: https://kubuntu.org/