Raspberry Pi OS adds an icon dock and app launcher

Raspberry Pi has revamped the desktop interface of Raspberry Pi OS, introducing an optional icon dock, a full-screen application launcher, and a new Control Centre. The updates were announced on September 15, 2026, with the latest OS image and package updates, according to Phoronix. These changes are offered as optional upgrades to the existing desktop experience, emphasizing that they do not force any modifications on current installations.

The most notable addition is the icon dock, where users can rearrange icons by dragging, arrange them alphabetically, or group them into menu categories. A search box allows users to find applications by name easily. The application launcher replaces the old main menu widget with a new launcher screen, reflecting a pattern seen in phones and macOS. When an application is open, its icon shows an overlay indicating the number of windows active for that application, and a right-click menu manages those windows individually.

The screenshot functionality also changed; taking a screenshot now opens a dialog offering options to open the image in an editor or copy it to the clipboard. Additionally, pressing Alt and PrtScrn simultaneously captures a selected area instead of the entire screen. All these features operate on Wayland using the labwc window manager, a detail that is significant for developers maintaining software that previously assumed X11 on a Pi.

Control Centre, the central settings hub, consolidates the settings for the new features into organized pages. Users can customize the dock's color, position, and icon size, as well as set default styles for widgets—choices like Dock, Taskbar, or a combination of both—all of which can be toggled off in one click. For those on constrained boards with less than 2GB of RAM, a recommended update is to use swaybg, a dedicated program for drawing the desktop background, which uses less memory than before.

This tweak is particularly beneficial for systems that are memory-bound, providing free headroom for other processes.

Developers releasing desktop applications for the Pi are advised to test their applications against labwc on Wayland, as the dock, launcher, and window-count overlays are new elements that could affect application performance. If building images or kiosks, the Defaults page in Control Centre serves as a compatibility switch, allowing fleets to keep a taskbar at the bottom of the screen if preferred.

The swaybg option could result in noticeable memory savings on constrained boards, making it an important consideration for memory-intensive workloads.

Overall, these enhancements position Raspberry Pi OS as a more versatile desktop experience, akin to a general-purpose computer, with familiar features like docks, launchers, and settings apps. By offering these options alongside the option to revert to the old layout, Raspberry Pi ensures a smooth transition for existing users while modernizing the desktop interface.

This evolution reflects Raspberry Pi's commitment to expanding its appeal as a desktop platform beyond its traditional role as a small, affordable computing board.