# Plasma 6.9 adds redesigned weather widget, on-screen keyboard overhaul

> **Key takeaway:** KDE Plasma 6.9 development brings a redesigned weather widget with hourly forecasts and Open-Meteo support, plus a rebuilt on-screen keyboard with full-size layout and Japanese swipe input.

**Published:** 2026-10-19T09:30:19+00:00 
**Source:** Planet openSUSE 
**Category:** distro-planet 
**Canonical URL:** https://fosswire.org/news/plasma-69-adds-redesigned-weather-widget-on-screen-keyboard-.html 

## Summary
KDE's weekly development update reveals significant work underway for Plasma 6.9. The weather widget gains hourly temperature and precipitation forecasts alongside Open-Meteo compatibility. The on-screen keyboard now supports a full-size layout with arrow and modifier keys, Japanese swipe input, and layouts independent of system locale settings. Plasma 6.8.1 also received minor interface polish including OSD brightness feedback at maximum level.

## What's coming in Plasma 6.9
- **Weather widget**: New design with hourly temperature and precipitation forecasts; adds Open-Meteo as a forecast source (kdeplasma-addons MR #1037)
- **On-screen keyboard**: Full-size option with arrow keys and modifiers; Japanese swipe keyboard; keyboard layouts decoupled from system locale (plasma-keyboard MR #109)
- **Night Light**: Can now be temporarily toggled on/off for a set period without affecting regular schedule (kwin work item #321)
- **System tray**: Option to set system tray icons to a smaller size (plasma-workspace MR #6978)
- **Clipboard shortcuts**: Moved to dedicated section in System Settings; history rotation function relabeled for clarity (plasma-workspace MR #7208)

## Why it matters
The weather widget improvements address long-standing user complaints that third-party alternatives outperformed the default. The on-screen keyboard overhaul makes Plasma more viable for touch-first devices and non-Latin input methods.