We are especially proud to present you Tails 5.0, the first version of Tails based on Debian 11 (Bullseye). It brings new versions of a lot of the software included in Tails and new OpenPGP tools.

New features

Kleopatra

We added Kleopatra to replace the OpenPGP Applet and the Password and Keys utility, also known as Seahorse.

The OpenPGP Applet was not actively developped anymore and was complicated for us to keep in Tails. The Password and Keys utility was also poorly maintained and Tails users suffered from too many of its issues until now, like #17183.

Kleopatra provides equivalent features in a single tool and is more actively developed.

Changes and updates

• The Additional Software feature of the Persistent Storage is enabled by default to make it faster and more robust to configure your first additional software package.

• You can now use the Activities overview to access your windows and applications. To access the Activities overview, you can either:

  • Click on the Activities button.
  • Throw your mouse pointer to the top-left hot corner.
  • Press the Super key on your keyboard.

  You can see your windows and applications in the overview. You can also start typing to search your applications, files, and folders.

Included software

Most included software has been upgraded in Debian 11, for example:

• Update Tor Browser to 11.0.11.

• Update GNOME from 3.30 to 3.38, with lots of small improvements to the desktop, the core GNOME utilities, and the locking screen.

• Update MAT from 0.8 to 0.12, which adds support to clean metadata from SVG, WAV, EPUB, PPM, and Microsoft Office files.

• Update Audacity from 2.2.2 to 2.4.2.

• Update Disk Utility from 3.30 to 3.38.

• Update GIMP from 2.10.8 to 2.10.22.

• Update Inkscape from 0.92 to 1.0.

• Update LibreOffice from 6.1 to 7.0.

Hardware support

• The new support for driverless printing and scanning in Linux makes it easier to make recent printers and scanners work in Tails.

Fixed problems

• Fix unlocking VeraCrypt volumes that have very long passphrases. (#17474)

For more details, read our changelog.

Known issues

• Additional Software sometimes doesn't work when restarting for the first time right after creating a Persistent Storage. (#18839)

  To solve this, install the same additional software package again after restarting with the Persistent Storage for the first time.

• Thunderbird displays a popup to choose an application when opening links. (#18913)

• Tails Installer sometimes fails to clone. (#18844)

See the list of long-standing issues.

Get Tails 5.0

To upgrade your Tails USB stick and keep your persistent storage

• Automatic upgrades are not available to 5.0.

  All users have to do a manual upgrade.

To install Tails on a new USB stick

Follow our installation instructions:

• Install from Windows
• Install from macOS
• Install from Linux
• Install from Debian or Ubuntu using the command line and GnuPG

The Persistent Storage on the USB stick will be lost if you install instead of upgrading.

To download only

If you don't need installation or upgrade instructions, you can download Tails 5.0 directly:

• For USB sticks (USB image)
• For DVDs and virtual machines (ISO image)

What's coming up?

Tails 5.1 is scheduled for May 31.

Have a look at our roadmap to see where we are heading to.

Support and feedback

For support and feedback, visit the Support section on the Tails website.