Every so often, something disappears from Ubuntu and it raises big questions. This time it’s “Software & Updates” (software-properties).
Joey has been faster than me to talk about this change in his article Ubuntu 26.04 Drops ‘Software & Updates’ Tool from New Installs.
If you’ve been using Ubuntu for a while, you probably know this application. It’s where you go when someone tells you to “Enable a repo” or “Check drivers”. It was created in 2004 and later forked from update-manager by Michael Vogt (hey mvo 
) to become its own package in 2006.
software-properties (0.50) feisty; urgency=low`
* fork source package from update-manager to support adding`
different frontends (thanks to Sebastian Heinlein and`
Jonathan Riddell)`
-- Michael Vogt <michael.vogt-at-ubuntu.com> Fri, 27 Oct 2006 10:23:39 +0200
Over time it became a kind of catch-all toolbox for anything vaguely related to Debian packages. Removing it might look, at first glance, like we’re taking power away from users.
We are not.
We are trying to reduce confusion.
For instance, here is what you see when you search “updates” in the application grid:
or “Software”:
We’ve accumulated a lot of software entry points. There’s the App Center. There’s the Software Updater. There’s Drivers. Then there’s Software & Updates, which sounds almost identical to other things. It’s hard for a new user to know which door they’re supposed to open.
Besides, Software Updater, Software & Updates, and Drivers are all very Debian-package-centric tools.
When you take a step back and look at this grid, you see multiple places that all feel like they manage the same thing. It’s clear that something went wrong along the way.
Back to Software & Updates. Inside one window, you can toggle repositories, manage signing keys, choose update frequencies, pick mirrors, install drivers, enable pre-release updates (-proposed), and even configure Ubuntu Pro. They just accumulated there because historically it was “the place for package stuff”.
User research also confirmed that, from a user perspective, it’s overwhelming. Most users never open this app. The ones who do often close it because they do not understand its purpose. They probably landed there because they followed a forum post or a blog, not because the workflow was obvious.
When we reviewed it closely, something else became clear: many of the controls either aren’t useful for most people, or are easy to misuse. Disabling core repositories (like main) can accidentally break updates. Turning off updates (including security) puts your system at risk. Managing GPG keys manually is deeply technical, and can also break updates. Enabling -proposed or sources is really a tester or developer workflow, and should be done on a per-package basis. This is not something everyday users should just stumble into.
So, we asked ourselves a simple question: Should these be first-class GUI options at all?
At the same time, we have been making Ubuntu Desktop cleaner and more focused. The App Center is becoming the natural home for installing and understanding software. Security features are moving into the Security Center. We want Drivers to have a clearer, dedicated experience.
In many cases, the right answer isn’t “add another setting”, it’s “pick a good default”.
Instead of one old dialog trying to do everything, we’d rather have fewer places that each do one thing well.
That’s the spirit behind this change.
Nothing you can do today is going away. Advanced users can still manage repositories, keys, or update policies exactly as before using apt and configuration files. Those workflows remain fully supported and documented. But they’re advanced tools, and they probably shouldn’t be surfaced to everyone by default. Software Properties will remain in the archive, and users are free to reinstall it if they really want it.
Ubuntu has matured a lot since the early days when every knob was exposed. Today our goal is different. We want the system to be understandable without needing a mental model of how apt repositories, mirrors, and keyrings work. We want fewer moments where users wonder “wait, which app handles this again?”
As users of Ubuntu, we all have preferences and workflows, and any change like this can be uncomfortable. That’s fair. But if something feels missing, we’d much rather design a better, clearer home for it than keep growing a legacy utility that tries to do everything and explains nothing.
As always, Ubuntu is built with you all. If this change affects your workflow, or you think something should live somewhere else, tell us. File a bug, join the conversation, or reach out on Discourse or Matrix. We’re listening, and the desktop keeps improving because of your feedback.
