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Podman Desktop 1.21 Release

· 23 min read
Philippe Martin
Philippe Martin
Principal Software Engineer

Podman Desktop 1.21 Release! 🎉

podman-desktop-hero-1.21

Podman Desktop 1.21 is now available. Click here to download it!

This release brings exciting new features and improvements:

  • Updated dashboard notification design: Brought notifications in line with the latest extension design (#13106)
  • Notify when multiple Podman installations are detected: Added a warning for duplicate Podman installations (#12011)
  • Update Podman to v5.6: Updated Podman to version 5.6 for enhanced features (#13427)
  • Make libkrun the default when creating a Podman machine: Changed default provider from AppleHV to libkrun on macOS (#11453)

Release details 🔍​

✨ Enhancements​

Updated dashboard notification design​

Dashboard notifications now follow the same design as the latest extensions (e.g., AI Lab). This enhancement ensures consistency in the user interface by implementing the updated notification design. The change addresses the visual inconsistency between dashboard notifications and newer extension notifications, providing a more cohesive and polished user experience.

Updated dashboard notification designUpdated dashboard notification design

Notify when multiple Podman installations are detected​

Added a notification system to detect and warn users when they have multiple Podman installations (e.g., one installed through the website download and another through Homebrew). This enhancement addresses the issue where duplicate installations can lead to unexpected behavior, such as the UI displaying outdated version information even after running brew update. The notification informs users of the duplicate installation situation, allowing them to uninstall one version to resolve potential conflicts.

Updated dashboard notification designUpdated dashboard notification design

Update Podman to v5.6.0​

Updated the Podman engine to version 5.6.0, which was released on August 15, 2025. This update ensures that Podman Desktop users have access to the latest features, improvements, and bug fixes from the Podman project. The upgrade maintains compatibility and provides enhanced functionality for container management and orchestration tasks.

More information about Podman release are available on Podman 5.6 Released and Podman 5.6 Released: Rosetta Status Update blog posts.

Make libkrun the default when creating a Podman machine​

Changed the default provider from AppleHV to libkrun when creating new Podman machines on macOS. This enhancement ensures that the default provider is synchronized with the CLI configuration, particularly for first-time users or when no existing machines are present. The change addresses the need for users to recreate machines when switching to AI model support, providing a more seamless experience.

🐞 Bug Fixes​

UI/UX Issues​

  • Cannot edit any Input value for path / folder: Fixed input field editing issues in preferences and file selection dialogs (#13603)
  • Unable to save or make changes to any Preferences input value: Resolved preference input field saving problems (#13601)
  • When shrinking and expanding Pods the UI layout breaks: Fixed CSS responsiveness issues with pod expansion/collapse (#13287)
  • Upgrading from v19 to v20 causes shortcut errors: Resolved Windows upgrade path issues and shortcut problems (#13214)
  • Website: Podman Desktop gets trimmed on some responsive sizes: Fixed logo trimming issues on responsive website layouts (#13510)
  • Prompt box behaviour not handling secrets as expected: Fixed password input obfuscation in extension API (#13476)
  • After setting up Podman from dashboard notifications, the notification is still active: Fixed persistent notification after setup completion (#12877)
  • Onboarding initial tiles are not rendered until all built-in extensions are activated: Fixed dashboard tile rendering dependency issues (#13047)
  • Logs of cancelled tasks keep going on forever: Fixed persistent logging for cancelled VM/cluster creation tasks (#12430)

Container and Pod Management​

  • bug(ContainerList): column environment should compare on engine name: Fixed container list environment column comparison logic (#13556)
  • bug(ContainerList): container groups do not have environment set: Fixed missing environment information for pod and compose groups (#13553)
  • Pod may be listed several times on the pod page: Fixed duplicate pod listings and Svelte key errors (#13048)

Extensions Issues​

  • Fix the podman extension monitoring loop to avoid infinite loop when deactivated: Fixed extension deactivation loop issues (#13149)
  • Cannot build an image on macOS with X-Registry-Config header errors: Fixed image building with invalid registry configurations (#13061)
  • When creating a kind cluster with default values, http port should be detected dynamically: Fixed port conflict detection for Kind cluster creation (#12405)
  • Update button for particular CLI tool not removed after uninstallation: Fixed CLI tool update button persistence after removal (#13128)

Community thank you​

🎉 We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who helped to make Podman Desktop even better. In this release we received pull requests from the following people:

Final notes​

The complete list of issues fixed in this release is available here.

Get the latest release from the Downloads section of the website and boost your development journey with Podman Desktop. Additionally, visit the GitHub repository and see how you can help us make Podman Desktop better.

Detailed release changelog​

features 💡​

fixes 🔨​

chore ✅​

refactor 🛠️​

test 🚦​

docs 📖​