--- title: GNOME 51 released with passkey login and smoother UX description: GNOME 51 has been released, bringing FIDO2 passkey and web-based login support via GDM, a Reduced Motion accessibility toggle, and Mutter frame scheduling... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/gnome-51-released-with-passkey-login-and-smoother-ux-7h8vtlcpw twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: GNOME 51 released with passkey login and smoother UX | daily.dev og:description: GNOME 51 has been released, bringing FIDO2 passkey and web-based login support via GDM, a Reduced Motion accessibility toggle, and Mutter frame scheduling... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/gnome-51-released-with-passkey-login-and-smoother-ux-7h8vtlcpw og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/7H8VTlCPW.png og:image:alt: GNOME 51 released with passkey login and smoother UX og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # GNOME 51 released with passkey login and smoother UX **[omg\! ubuntu\!](https://daily.dev/sources/omgub)** · 9 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary GNOME 51 has been released, bringing FIDO2 passkey and web-based login support via GDM, a Reduced Motion accessibility toggle, and Mutter frame scheduling changes for smoother animations and scrolling. Core apps got updates too: Maps now supports offline area downloads and live transit data, Papers adds visual signature support for PDFs, and Nautilus loads large folders faster. Other changes include GNOME Shell saving per-monitor brightness, keyboard control for the screenshot tool, Sushi's GTK4 port, removal of legacy NVIDIA driver interfaces, and dropped WEP Wi-Fi support. Some planned features, like a GTK4 Disks port, slipped to a future release. Ubuntu 26.10 ships with GNOME 51 on 15 October, while Ubuntu 26.04 LTS remains on GNOME 50. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What new login authentication options does GNOME 51 add to GDM? GNOME 51's Display Manager (gdm3) gains a unified authentication framework adding web-based login via QR codes and URLs, plus FIDO2/passkey support, alongside existing smart card login. These are aimed primarily at corporate and remote setups rather than home users, and the framework is built to be expandable so additional auth methods can be added later. _Track GDM and login security changes like this on daily.dev before upgrading a fleet of Linux desktops._ ### Does GNOME 51 add background blur effects to the desktop? No, GNOME 51's Mutter compositor gained support for the Wayland background blur effect protocol, but no default GNOME Shell surfaces or apps request it, so there is no visible blur or toggle out of the box. Individual apps must opt in to use the effect, meaning it remains a developer-facing capability rather than a user-facing feature for now. _Follow how compositor protocol support like this evolves into real features on daily.dev._ ### Which Ubuntu release includes GNOME 51 and when does it ship? Ubuntu 26.10 ships with GNOME 51 on 15 October, along with Ubuntu's own customizations on top. Ubuntu 26.04 LTS stays on GNOME 50 for its entire supported lifecycle since GNOME releases are not backported to LTS versions. Rolling release distributions may package GNOME 51 sooner than Ubuntu. _Keep tabs on distro release timing and version support windows via daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [GNOME 51 Beta Released With Many Minor Improvements](https://daily.dev/posts/gnome-51-beta-released-with-many-minor-improvements-w2dc24lob) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [GNOME 51 Alpha Released With Numerous Enhancements](https://daily.dev/posts/gnome-51-alpha-released-with-numerous-enhancements-pb9tgaety) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#ubuntu](https://daily.dev/tags/ubuntu), [#passkeys](https://daily.dev/tags/passkeys) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/gnome-51-released-with-passkey-login-and-smoother-ux-7h8vtlcpw) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"GNOME 51 released with passkey login and smoother UX","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/gnome-51-released-with-passkey-login-and-smoother-ux-7h8vtlcpw","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/gnome-51-released-with-passkey-login-and-smoother-ux-7h8vtlcpw"},"datePublished":"2026-09-16T17:53:09.817Z","dateModified":"2026-09-20T19:26:08.753Z","description":"GNOME 51 has been released, bringing FIDO2 passkey and web-based login support via GDM, a Reduced Motion accessibility toggle, and Mutter frame scheduling...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/43bc37c06fa3acdc248a19c3b8d5529f?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/43bc37c06fa3acdc248a19c3b8d5529f?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"omg! ubuntu!","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"omg! ubuntu!","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/79e495adb3c3425785b9be27969a2562","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/omgub"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/gnome-51-released-with-passkey-login-and-smoother-ux-7h8vtlcpw","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"linux,ubuntu,passkeys","timeRequired":"PT9M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"omg! ubuntu!","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/omgub"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"GNOME 51 released with passkey login and smoother UX"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/gnome-51-released-with-passkey-login-and-smoother-ux-7h8vtlcpw#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What new login authentication options does GNOME 51 add to GDM?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"GNOME 51's Display Manager (gdm3) gains a unified authentication framework adding web-based login via QR codes and URLs, plus FIDO2/passkey support, alongside existing smart card login. These are aimed primarily at corporate and remote setups rather than home users, and the framework is built to be expandable so additional auth methods can be added later. Track GDM and login security changes like this on daily.dev before upgrading a fleet of Linux desktops."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Does GNOME 51 add background blur effects to the desktop?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"No, GNOME 51's Mutter compositor gained support for the Wayland background blur effect protocol, but no default GNOME Shell surfaces or apps request it, so there is no visible blur or toggle out of the box. Individual apps must opt in to use the effect, meaning it remains a developer-facing capability rather than a user-facing feature for now. Follow how compositor protocol support like this evolves into real features on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Which Ubuntu release includes GNOME 51 and when does it ship?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Ubuntu 26.10 ships with GNOME 51 on 15 October, along with Ubuntu's own customizations on top. Ubuntu 26.04 LTS stays on GNOME 50 for its entire supported lifecycle since GNOME releases are not backported to LTS versions. Rolling release distributions may package GNOME 51 sooner than Ubuntu. Keep tabs on distro release timing and version support windows via daily.dev."}}]} ```