{"id":220511,"date":"2026-03-06T01:09:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T06:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/06\/linux-mint-shows-off-its-new-lock-screen-screensaver\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T05:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T10:50:09","slug":"linux-mint-shows-off-its-new-lock-screen-screensaver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/06\/linux-mint-shows-off-its-new-lock-screen-screensaver\/","title":{"rendered":"Linux Mint shows off its new lock screen\/screensaver"},"content":{"rendered":"

Linux Mint shows off its new lock screen\/screensaver<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.omgubuntu.co.uk\/2026\/03\/linux-mint-cinnamon-lock-screen-screensaver<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-03-06 01:09:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.omgubuntu.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

Linux Mint is working on a redesigned screensaver and lock screen for the Cinnamon desktop. Based on our first look, it\u2019s a solid improvement.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If the word \u201cscreensaver\u201d conjures flying star fields or photo slideshows, that\u2019s fair, but in Cinnamon it also acts as the \u2018screen locker\u2019. In 2026, \u2018saving\u2019 the screen is less of a concern than \u2018locking\u2019 it, but many users enjoy seeing a pretty \u2018idle\u2019 display.<\/p>\n

Cinnamon\u2019s new lock screen will, based on designs shared by Linux Mint, convey more information without you needing to unlock. Battery level, time and date, media player controls and unread notifications counts are shown.<\/p>\n

Image: Linux Mint (edit: me)<\/p>\n

Plus, the screen will be able to let you toggle the on-screen keyboard, use your fingerprint to unlock and invoke the user switcher.<\/p>\n

Why the revamp?<\/h3>\n

Until now, Cinnamon\u2019s screen locking was handled by a separate package,\u00a0cinnamon-screensaver, running alongside Cinnamon as its own process. The new approach bakes things in to Cinnamon itself, using the same UI toolkit and widgets as the rest of the desktop does.<\/p>\n

It also brings support for Wayland. Linux Mint defaults to Xorg\/X11, but Cinnamon\u2019s Wayland session is improving. While it doesn\u2019t plan to rush a decision on a switch, Linux Mint\u2019s Clement Lefebvre \u201cwants to have the option on the table\u201d. <\/p>\n

Other benefits include bolstering visual finesse since a native approach will resolve the (slightly) janky transition between desktop and Lock Screen. A clean start also relieves developers of needing to unpick an unnecessarily complex codebase inherited from the GNOME 2 era.<\/p>\n

\u201cScreensavers are very important\u201d, Clem says in a blog post. \u201cThey need to look good, they need to work well, and they cannot under any circumstance fail to protect the user\u2019s privacy.\u201d <\/p>\n

Because of the stated \u2018importance\u2019, the new native screen lock\/saver will undergo thorough testing in both Xorg…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Linux Mint shows off its new lock screen\/screensaver https:\/\/www.omgubuntu.co.uk\/2026\/03\/linux-mint-cinnamon-lock-screen-screensaver Publish Date: 2026-03-06 01:09:00 Source Domain:…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":220512,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.omgubuntu.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Linux-Mint-New-Screensaver.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[71,110],"class_list":["post-220511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-linux","tag-linux","tag-linux-mint"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220511"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220511"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":220513,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220511\/revisions\/220513"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}