Linux App Release Roundup (May 2026)

May 2026 delivered a sizeable set of Linux software updates, including the set I’ve rounded up for your reading pleasure in this post. 

The month also saw a buffet of big browser updates, including Firefox 151 with new-look new tab page, Vivaldi 8.0 with a new-look generally and a new public beta of Kagi’s Orion.

Elsewhere, Ubuntu 26.04 LTS support was added to VMware Workstation (and Fusion for macOS), while open-source system cleaner BleachBit debuted a TUI for interactive command-line based spring cleaning.

Below, I run through a crop of other Linux app releases that landed in May and caught my eye.

Calibre talks to more AI

The open-source ebook viewer, manager and converter Calibre bookended the month with a pair of updates.

At the start of May, Calibre 9.8 was published with support for using local AI models that ‘export an OpenAI compatibly interface’ to power the small but growing set of AI features available in the app. On macOS 26, Calibre’s app icon adapts to dark mode.

In late May, Calibre 9.9 brought a much-needed SSL certificate fix for users on Fedora 44, improved the accuracy of page counting of fixed layer ePub files and added a clutch of Hungarian and Czech news sources.

Bug fixes and assorted smaller tweaks came in both updates, like a fix for a Linux crash in the MTP driver when connecting devices with large collections.

Smaller changes included the ability to reset zoom to 100% by right-clicking the preview panel in the book editor, an option to keep the current search when switching between virtual libraries, and tweaks to Calibre auto-closing after auto-complete jobs.

Download Calibre for Windows, macOS or Linux from the official website (a script you can run on Ubuntu to install or update an existing install is also listed).

Haruna casts new features

Haruna, a Qt-based media player, picked up new features in its v1.8.1 update, including support for opening multiple files from the command-line, or only selected files via the file manager. It also shows filename/title in the OSD when a file is opened.

Elsewhere, there’s a new setting to enable taskbar progress, you’ll find a ‘stop’ action in toolbar to end media playback without quitting the app and you might spot a new custom loading animation (or not, depending on what you’re doing in the player).

Bug fixes, compatibility and minor UI tweaks aplenty, including a setting for mpv’s sub-border-style property, playlist item graphics handles appearing on hover and the MPRIS hook will look for an external image file when playing audio files without embedded artwork.

You can get the latest version of Haruna from Flathub or the Snap Store. If you don’t need the latest, then Ubuntu 26.04 LTS carries the previous release in the archives, but a sudo apt install haruna away.

Drawy dots its v1.0 release

Drawy, a “handy, infinite brainstorming tool” built in Qt, put out its version 1.0 release at the start of May. The app is a lightweight whiteboard tool providing a focused set of tools for doodling down diagrams and jotting down notes using (primarily) a stylus input.

It provides an infinite canvas, work with pressure-sensitive graphics tablets and allow you to import mages, add regular text and use basic shapes (ovals, arrows, etc) to your session. Whiteboards can be saved as an image to add, use or share elsewhere.

A deft little tool – if you want to try this whiteboard out, go grab Drawy on Flathub.

Scrcpy

Scrcpy, an open-source Android screen mirroring tool, moved its rendering and input handling from SDL2 to SDL3 in version 4.0. The upside (aside from using a maintained library) is the end of black-border letterboxing when resizing a mirrored display window.

If you liked those black borders you can get them back: pass the --no-window-aspect-ratio-lock flag when launching scrcpy.

Version 4.0 also added a flex display mode (enable with --flex-display) which lets virtual displays resize dynamically alongside the client window, while a new --keep-activeflag acts like caffeine to prevent the device from sleeping during a session.

Scrcpy is free and open-source. Grab the latest release from GitHub, where you’ll find builds for Windows, macOS and Linux.

Photoflare’s back in the frame

Nearly six years after its last major release, Photoflare returned with a feature-packed update in May.

Photoflare 1.7.0 sees the Qt-based image editor ported to Qt 6, with all the benefits that entails, including better HiDPI scaling. Memory usage was reduced during large edits thanks to a rewritten rendering pipeline, while G’MIC integration expands filters and effects.

Other changes include on-canvas rulers by default (optional), ellipse and lasso selection tools and selected areas can be moved using arrows or mouse. A handful of new filters are included: Pixelate, Vignette, Pixel Scatter and Sketch.

A Qt alternative to Pinta? Sorta! Learn more on the update via the official blog.

Photoflare is free, open-source software. Download the new Linux AppImage or add the official PPA Ubuntu 25.10, Ubuntu 26.04 LTS and 26.10) to install it on Ubuntu.

Nocturne scores gapless playback and real-time lyrics

Nocturne is pitched as “a modern music player that can play songs from your OpenSubsonic, Jellyfin and local libraries”, with support for audio visualisation, equalisers and lyric fetching – a frontend for your own personal music streaming service.

The Nocturne 1.0 release landed in May 2026 with new features, including Replay Gain support, gapless playback and real-time lyrics. Options to use a dynamic background in the main window and show a sidebar player were introduced.

The release notes also flag a “faster and more stable interface”.

Nocturne also works as a standalone music player. If you like the look of the interface and feature set, but don’t have a Jellyfin or Navidrome/OpenSubsonic server setup for streaming, you can still try it.

Get Nocturne on Flathub or build it from source.

Euphonica learns the play the keyboard

Euphonica, the unapologetically flashy frontend for Music Player Daemon (MPD), picked up a flurry of visual changes in its new beta builds.

Redesigned seekbar, bottom bar and the Now Playing panes are said to be “more space-efficient, especially vertically”. The entirety of the seekbar is clickable and gains an “Aero-esque glow animation” to appear more prominent. The play/pause button is now pill-shaped.

Elsewhere, Euphonica 0.99.3 beta plumbed in drag and drop re-ordering of tracks in the queue view and the regular playlist editor, makes the volume dial usable on touchscreens and defaults to auto-jumping to now playing track in the Queue View.

Euphonica 0.99.4 arrived with a slew of keyboard shortcuts, making the client largely usable without a mouse – though not entirely. Press ctrl + ? with the player in focus to view and search through the key combos.

Performance optimisations, memory reductions and some new optional settings also make it in. Where art thou v1.0 release? Euphonica’s devs say more features are to come before that milestone is announced – including further UI tweaks.

You can install Euphonica from Flathub – it is an MPD frontend so you will need to have an MPD instance to connect to make use of it.

Audacious Winamp revival

Lightweight, local music player Audacious 4.6 arrived at the end of May with a GTK port of the existing playback history plugin and, for those using it there, a Now Playing plugin for macOS which supports the native desktop media controller.

A new file browser plugin is included, which lets you browse for music files across your computer (not located in your configured folders) and add them to a playlist or play them straight away – without moving them. You need to enable the plugin to make use of this.

Audacious’ optional Winamp interface now runs in Xwayland compatibility mode, as some of its features aren’t supported natively by Wayland.

The player is able to open Musepack SV8 files, read lyrics tag from Opus, Ogg Vorbis and FLAC files, and read ReplayGain tags for more files via the FFmpeg plugin.

Other changes include the an option to re-enable playlist deletion confirmation dialogs, modifying the global shortcuts for preview/next album and the playlist manager now handles del and F2 key presses. You can also now sort playlist entires by bitrate.

Get the source code from GitHub. Unofficial snap and Flatpak builds are available. Apple users can install Audacious on macOS via Homebrew.

Also arriving in May 2026 was the first maintenance update in the current Kdenlive stable series. Kdenlive 26.04.1 fixed a ‘serious vulnerability’ that allowed remote code execution when a malicious project file was opened.

Refine, a utility akin to GNOME Tweaks, revamped its sidebar and the way settings are retrieved in in 0.8 release, available now from Flathub. Inkscape 1.4.4 was put out as a ‘bridge release’ ahead of the 1.5 release with minor changes.

QtBittorrent 5.2.0 brought assorted UI changes, including an option to show free disk space in the status bar so you know if you have enough room for a torrent to complete. After upgrading, enable it via Preferences > Behaviour.

Not app-related, but I was pleased to see one of my go-to GNOME Shell extensions, Day Progress, finally added support for GNOME 50. That’ll keep me aware of how much time I spend procrastinating instead of writing.

Got app news? Let me know

May done and dusted, but the releases never stop. If you see a software update arrive you want me to write about, get in touch via the contact form – your article tips, corrections and content suggestions are (as always) much appreciated.