Major improvements are coming to the Linux Mint Software Manager app, the Ubuntu-based distribution’s default app store.

Announcing the news in the latest newsletter Linux Mint project lead Clement Lefebvre says his distro was one of the first Linux distributions to ship with a graphical “app store” of sorts, called ‘Software Manager’.

“This manager is still really good but it needed attention,” he says.

“A huge amount of work went into revamping it, making it look modern and polishing it to give a better user experience.”

Taking interface cues from GNOME Software (called Ubuntu Software on Ubuntu), Clem says the news UI of Mint’s Software Manager is “simpler, more consistent than before”.

Webkit is no longer used, and the app has been ported to GTK3. This change delivers performance improvements — the app launches 3x faster than before — and means the app now looks great on HiDPI displays.

With AptDaemon powering the backend, Software Manager now runs in user mode by default. This means you won’t need to enter your user password to browse applications, only if you try to install or remove an app.

“Authentication is remembered for a little while so you can install or remove other apps without having to enter that password again,” Clem notes.

The new Software Manager will be made available in Linux Mint 18.3, where it’ll debut alongside a stack of other updates, including more a more configurable login screen and support for HybridSleep.