Ubuntu GNOME 16.04 uses GNOME 3.18 for the most part: GTK 3.18, along with GNOME Shell 3.18, GDM 3.18 and the 3.18.x release for most GNOME applications.

Exceptions are Nautilus (3.14), GNOME Software and GNOME Calendar (both updated to version 3.20.x).

Check Gnome Version Upgrade To GNOME

To upgrade to GNOME 3.20 in Ubuntu GNOME 16.04, youll have to use the GNOME 3 Staging PPA.

The PPA doesnt have the complete GNOME 3.20 though.

On a first look, I can tell you that the following packages werent updated to version 3.20 in the PPA: Bijiben, Cheese, Epiphany, Evince, Boxes, Disks and probably others.

To see all the packages available for Ubuntu (GNOME) 16.04 in the GNOME 3 Staging PPA, click HERE.

Ive been using GNOME 3.20 in Ubuntu GNOME 16.04 for a few hours and I didnt encounter any major issues however, there might be things I didnt notice.

So use the PPA with care and only if you know what youre doing Update: pierremichaud points out in a comment below that the GNOME Calendar and Evolution calendar synchronization with Google doesnt work for now.

Check Gnome Version How To Do This

Youll find instructions for how to do this at the end of the article.

How to upgrade to GNOME 3.20 in Ubuntu GNOME 16.04 (Xenial Xerus) Before proceeding, its important to mention that you should only use this PPA in Ubuntu GNOME.

In Unity for instance, updating GTK and other libraries, along with applications without Unity patches can result in quite a bad desktop experience, crashes, etc.

Also, I recommend switching to the default GNOME theme (Adwaita), to avoid any issues that may occur with a newer GTK version and the theme youre using.

To add th GNOME 3 Staging PPA and upgrade to GNOME 3.20 in Ubuntu GNOME 16.04, use the following commands (read the important notice below before running the dist-ugrade command): sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-teamgnome3-staging.

For instance, in my test, the dist-upgrade command displayed a message saying that grilo-plugins-0.2-base was about to be removed.

I knew thats ok because grilo-plugins-0.3-base was mentioned below, in the section that lets you know about new packages that will be installed: sudo apt dist-upgrade.

This is just an example though Once the upgrade is completed, its best to restart your system to avoid running into issues.

How to revert the changes and go back to GNOME 3.18 in Ubuntu GNOME 16.04 If you want to revert the changes and go back to GNOME 3.18 in Ubuntu 16.04 (Xenial Xerus), you can purge the PPA.

To purge the PPA, use the following commands: sudo apt install ppa-purge.