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Shotwell 0.33 Open-Source Image Viewer for GNOME Is Here with GTK4 Port
The biggest news for the Shotwell 0.33 release is that the application has finally been ported to GTK4 for a more modern UI experience. The GTK4 port should improve compatibility with Wayland, such as drag-and-drop exporting, and overall utilization of modern desktop portals.
Apart from the GTK4 port, Shotwell 0.33 also brings a few enhancements, such as a help overview of the keyboard shortcuts, improved image exporting, reworked printing support, support for Toasts to replace simple dialogs, and support for opening URIs with the viewer.
OMG Ubuntu:
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Shotwell 33 goes stable with its long-awaited GTK4 port - OMG! Ubuntu
A GTK4 port of Shotwell has been in the works since 2025. It’s the first big toolkit port the image tool has since since it migrated to GTK3 in 2012 (v0.12.0).
Yet despite the leap, the user-facing result is just a plain port; it’s not as visually transformative as gThumb’s GTK4/libadwaita port (which looks like an entirely new app)
A more substantive visual revamp using GTK4/libadwaita may follow.
For now, Shotwell 33 looks like Shotwell v32 – the benefit is more in the underlying technologies and packages that help it work on modern GNOME desktops are in sync. Linux distributions are trying to drop vestigial GTK3 dependencies where possible.
UbuntuHandbook:
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Shotwell 33.0 Released with GTK4 Port, How to Install in Ubuntu
Shotwell, the digital photo organizer for GNOME, released new major 33.0 version a day ago.
The new version of this Ubuntu default/pre-installed app (when Ubuntu installed in Extended selection mode) is finally ported to GTK4.
Shotwell 33.0 now is based on GTK4 app but NOT Libadwaita. Meaning it can now use GPU-accelerated rendering, it has improved Wayland and HiDPI support, and it features better GNOME integration.