Cinnamon 6.6: Top New Features

We wrap up the main features of the Cinnamon 6.6 desktop and point releases on this page.

Cinnamon 6.6 was released a few months back on November 2025 with months of bug fixes and feature improvements.

Linux Mint team is incrementally updating this core desktop environment for their Mint offerings. Version 6.6 brings some important changes, which are consistent with the modern desktop look and feel.

Let’s discuss the changes.

Cinnamon 6.6: Top Features

Redesigned application menu

The biggest highlight. It now features a cleaner, more modern layout with system buttons at the top, special categories at the bottom, optional user avatars, configurable places and bookmarks, floating color effects on system buttons. It also features the ability to switch between symbolic and full-color category icons.

XApp symbolic icons by default

Cinnamon switches to the new xapp-symbolic-iconset for better consistency across applets, panels, and categories, improving visual harmony, especially in light and dark themes.

Improved virtual keyboard

Now includes a layout switcher button, better theme integration, improved accessibility, improved display quality, and smooth in/out animations when showing/hiding the keyboard.

New keyboard shortcuts and handling

Direct shortcuts for switching keyboard layouts, a new shortcut to reset zoom levels, and reworked Python key binding management for better performance and multilingual support.

Notification badges on Panel applets

Window List, Workspace Switcher, and other applets can now show notification badges, making it easier to spot unread messages or alerts at a glance.

Improved night light

Add an “Always” schedule mode and a dedicated Night Light applet for more flexible blue light filtering.

Settings App Improvements

New Thunderbolt module, a dedicated tile tab in the Windows section, suspends options for battery-critical actions in power settings, manual night light scheduling, and support for the new System Information tool.

Smoother animations and performance

Lose the old Tweener library in favor of highlight-based animations for window manager, alt-tab, applets and desk chat. Also includes several backend optimizations.

Hot corners in full screen mode

You can now enable hot corners even when apps are in full screen, improving workflow for multi-monitor or gesture-based users.

Applet-specific improvements

First includes the latest notifications, multiple active VPNs in NetworkManager applet, window icons in Workspace Switcher, printer applet visibility only when printing, and volume OSD support for gesture changes.

download

Cinnamon 6.6.x is available out of the box Arch Linux for personal installation.

Linux Mint Debian edition 7 “gigi” should release an update with this version in a few days.

Linux Mint 22.3 “zena” which is currently being tested may get this version probably after a few days.

Rounding off

Finally, by redesigning the program menu, Cinnamon 6.6 is well designed in line with contemporary trends. And with the extra tweaks, it mostly means losing the “legacy” look, while maintaining the same performance. The end result is a desk that is aesthetically pleasing and very useful.

Via release notes