The first alpha of GNOME 43 should be released before the GUADEC 2022 conference (July 20-25th) in Guadalajara, Mexico (which is the first in-person GNOME event since the pandemic hit). Although GNOME 43 isn’t going to be ready for the masses any time soon, there are a few features that should get you excited about the upcoming release.

First off, GNOME 43 will introduce support for Web Apps (with a particular focus on Progressive Web Apps – PWAs) in GNOME Software. Because of this, users will find even more available applications to install.

GNOME 43 also brings some much-needed improvements for Flatpak apps, with both the Flatpak GUI package manager and GNOME Software able to display file system permissions that are required for Flatpak apps.

Other features coming to GNOME 43 include new touch gestures (particularly for swiping back), an Other Apps by Author section in GNOME Software, improved caching of downloaded metadata and notifications, mouse navigation of app screenshots, global accent colors, adaptive design for the Nautilus File Manager, a new Image Viewer, screenshot annotations, a rewrite of the Disk Usage Analyzer, a new Device Security section in Settings > Privacy that displays the security status of your hardware (such as HSI security levels and Secure Boot status), pre-configured security levels for hardware, and initial support for WebExtensions to GNOME Web (the re-branded Epiphany browser).

The official release for GNOME 43 should fall somewhere around September 21, 2022.

For more information about the release, check out this blog by GNOME developer, Chris Davis.