Ubuntu 25.04 is coming in just over a month, and it will, without a doubt, be packed with new features. Notable changes in each iteration include the kernel and desktop, and Plucky Puffin is expected to use Linux 6.14 and GNOME 48. Default applications are also changing lately, and the next version will feature a new document viewer: a Papers, currently in the GNOME circle, which is a fork of Evince with more active development.
Users who are running Ubuntu 25.04, either natively — not recommended in most cases — or in a virtual machine will not have noticed any changes yet, but they will soon. Papers is not in the Daily Build ISOs, nor is it available in the OS. the package has not been updated yet eitherWhat's happening is that the Ubuntu team has already done more than just make the decision to change; they have sent the request for it to take effect.
Papers is a better maintained fork than Evince
Yo I have discovered this news in OMG! Ubuntu!, where they explain that If the step had not yet been taken it was because the package was needed paper work before you can continue. Now, the package ubuntu-meta, which is currently in -proposal, includes the change, which has resulted in the removal of Evince and the inclusion of Papers. With all this, it is a matter of hours, or days at most, before we see it reflected in our Plucky Puffin, in my case in a virtual machine.
Now, although Papers is better maintained than Evince, the latter still has some advantages. For example, Papers need to move forward to be able to show previews, and the .desktop file needs to be updated to display the app name as a document viewer in the app drawer.
In any case, Canonical continues to move forward with the development of Ubuntu 25.04, which will surely have everything well tied up before its official launch in April.