KDE presents the first new features of Plasma 6.7, while focusing on polishing those of 6.6, which will arrive in a month.

  • Plasma 6.6 will no longer receive any new features, only bug fixes.
  • The new features are already destined for Plasma 6.7.
Pablinux

5 minutes

KDE Plasma 6.6 brush

KDE Plasma 6.6 has been finalized. This version of the desktop environment will arrive as a stable release in February, so it's time to take all the pieces and put them in place. In other words, they need to refine what they have to make it as good as possible for the final launch. This week's release note still mentions new features coming in Plasma 6.6, but the next changes should be limited to bug fixes.

What follows is the list with news which they presented this week. Among them, the first features of Plasma 6.7, scheduled for release in mid-2026, barring any unforeseen circumstances. Let's get to the list.

New Features Coming to KDE

plasma 6.6.0

  • The System Monitor now allows you to set process priorities graphically, just like the old KSysGuard application did.

KDE System Monitor

plasma 6.7.0

  • A switch has been added to the Brightness and Color widget that allows you to instantly switch between light mode and dark mode, or vice versa.
  • A global push-to-talk function has been added: when a push-to-talk key is configured, all microphones remain muted until the specified key is pressed and held.

KDE interface improvements

plasma 6.5.6

  • The HDR calibration assistant now temporarily disables night light during calibration to ensure an accurate result.

plasma 6.6.0

  • When mounting a removable disk, a file system scan is no longer performed by default; it is now a manual action initiated from the extended actions list.

Removable devices

  • The screen selector now includes a search and filter field that allows you to easily find a screen by name even when many windows are open.

KDE screen selector

  • Kicker search results no longer flicker or change size as you type, keeping columns stable for a smoother, faster experience.
  • The HDR calibrator now offers a summary page with an option to improve compatibility with HDR applications and games on Windows.
  • Some of the unclear technical text in the Bluetooth status and error notification titles has been replaced with more relevant and easier-to-understand messages.

Bluetooth notification

  • If you have a keyboard or other input device with "Search Forward" and "Search Backward" buttons, pressing them now works correctly by default.

plasma 6.7.0

  • The System Preferences pages related to game controllers, mice, and touchpads now only appear when the corresponding devices are present.
  • Discover now displays subcategories in the “Games” group for game launchers and related tools.

Discover in KDE

  • The operation of the global editing mode has been improved when used with touch screens.
  • On the System Preferences Accessibility page, the Mouse Navigation pop-up description now explains how to change mouse click modes using the numeric keypad.
  • When searching for “memory”, the System Monitor application now appears in the search results.

KDE Framework 6.23

  • The touch usability of the open and save dialogs has been improved.
  • The icon selection algorithm for missing icons has been improved, preventing the use of reduced versions of much larger icons with different styles.
  • By default, the left-edge sidebars and dropdown panels in apps that use Kirigami are now exactly the right width—not too wide and not too narrow. Some apps still override this value, so oddly sized sidebars will be corrected gradually rather than all at once when you upgrade to Frameworks 6.23.

KDE Gear 26.04.0

  • The System Preferences pages related to audio CDs now only appear when the computer has optical drives.

Performance and technical in KDE

plasma 6.6.0

  • Wayland's color management protocol version 2 has been implemented.
  • Some visual glitches in Firefox have been reduced by activating its HDR mode, which is disabled by default.

plasma 6.7.0

  • Network activity monitoring support has been implemented in FreeBSD in the System Monitor application and widgets.

Coming soon to your KDE desktop distribution

KDE Plasma 6.5.6 is expected to arrive on March 10th, and Frameworks 6.23 on February 13th. Plasma 6.6 is expected to arrive on February 17th, 2026. No official announcement has been made yet, so it is expected that there will continue to be three Plasma releases throughout at least 2026.

Vía: KDE Blog.