KDE developers continue preparing Plasma 6.6, and although there are still over a month to go before the final stable release (scheduled for February 17, 2026), the team posts weekly updates on the KDE Blogs about what changes to expect from this version. After covering some of them in December, we now have a new batch to look at.
A notable new feature in Plasma 6.6 is the implementation of Slow Keys for Wayland sessions. It allows users to configure how long a key must be held before it registers, helping people with motor impairments avoid accidental key presses.
Plasma’s Zoom effect has also gained a new mode that keeps the pointer fixed at the physical center of the screen. This behavior can significantly reduce disorientation for users who rely on magnification, particularly on large or high-resolution displays. At the same time, the Emoji Selector application now lets users define a preferred skin tone for hand and people emojis.
Notifications have seen refinement, too, and users can now disable visible timeout indicators.
Usability improvements extend across the desktop shell. Game controller input is now treated as user activity, preventing unintended screen locking or sleep during gameplay. Laptops that are plugged in or unplugged while suspended will wake with the correct power state awareness.
System Settings has become more context-aware, hiding the Touchscreen page entirely when no touchscreen hardware is present. The screen chooser on-screen display now includes a direct shortcut to the full display configuration page when its quick options are insufficient.
Several visual refinements are also part of Plasma 6.6. work. Overlay badges on widgets, particularly in the system tray, have been subtly redesigned for a cleaner appearance. The Application Dashboard launcher now highlights categories across the full width of the panel, improving visual consistency.
Additionally, the Large Icons Task Switcher has been adjusted to wrap icons onto multiple rows when many windows are open, avoiding excessive horizontal scrolling.
On the stability front, developers report a possible fix for one of the most common panel-related crashes in Plasma. Spectacle received a fix for toolbar positioning issues in complex multi-monitor layouts, while Kickoff no longer risks overflowing its “New!” badge on applications with unusually long names.
Finally, Plasma 6.6 continues to expand its cross-platform reach with multiple fixes and enhancements for OpenBSD, including improvements to PipeWire integration, system information, and hardware abstraction.
For more information, refer to Nate Graham’s series “This Week in Plasma” post on the KDE Blogs.
