This simple tutorial shows how to apply a blur effect to GNOME Shell UI elements in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04, and Ubuntu 24.04.

Since the previous Blyr extension is no longer updated. Here’s the new “Blur my Shell” extension, which adds blur effects to:

• top panel
• dash
• activities overview
• and lock screen.

To install the extension, do following steps one by one:

1.) Open terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard, then run command:

sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell

2.) Go to extensions.gnome.org, and click the link to install the browser integration.

3.) Finally go to Blue my Shell web page, toggle on the slider icon to install the extension.

4.) Install the ‘Extensions’ utility to toggle blur effect:

sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-prefs

Once installed, search for and open ‘Extensions’. Then click on the gear icon to change the extension settings.