We know that changes to a familiar development environment can feel disruptive and frustrating, especially when they affect your daily workflow. We are genuinely sorry for any stress or confusion this change may have caused, and we deeply appreciate the time and care many of you have put into configuring the IDE just the way you like it.

Our goal with this article is to explain what happened, help you get back to a comfortable setup as quickly as possible, and be transparent about why we are making these changes and how we plan to support you going forward.

What happened?

With version 2025.3.3, we re-introduce the Islands theme as the new default visual experience for all JetBrains IDEs.

As part of the effort, if you had the Classic UI plugin enabled, it is turned off after the upgrade to help showcase the new UI and its features.

When you first open the updated IDE, you will see a dialog offering a quick tour of the refreshed elements of the main window:

These tips are there to help you get oriented quickly, but we understand that they can still feel like an unwelcome surprise if you were not expecting a change.

How do I re-enable Classic UI?

Many of you installed and enabled the Classic UI plugin deliberately, which is a clear signal that the New UI did not work well for your needs. Having that preference overridden in a minor update can understandably feel disrespectful of your time and choices. We are truly sorry for the inconvenience this update has caused. Our intention is not to force you into a UI you dislike, but to move the platform forward while still offering you the tools to keep working in a way that feels familiar.

If you prefer to continue using the Classic UI after trying the new look, you can re-enable it at any time:

1. Go to Settings | Plugins | Installed and search for "classic ui"

2. Enable the plugin and restart the IDE

   

3. If you were using a non-default editor color scheme before, open Settings | Appearance & Behavior | Appearance | Editor color scheme and re-select your preferred scheme.

We recognize that needing to re-enable a plugin and restore your color scheme is extra work you did not ask for, and we are sorry for that inconvenience.

Why is this change being made?

The Islands theme, available in both dark and light modes since version 2025.2.3, represents a visual refresh of the IDE. The goal of this switch in 2025.3.3 is to give every user, including those who previously stayed on Classic UI, a real opportunity to experience and (re-)evaluate the new default appearance.

At the same time, we understand that you did not explicitly opt in to this change, and that for many of you it affects your daily work.

Why replace the old UI at all?

There are two main reasons:

• Making the IDE more beginner-friendly Over time, it accumulated many controls and options that can be overwhelming for new or occasional users. The New UI and Islands theme are designed to provide a cleaner, more approachable starting point, while still remaining powerful for experienced users.

• Modernizing the codebase so we can improve faster Updating the UI architecture allows us to implement new features more quickly, fix bugs and visual inconsistencies more reliably, and deliver improvements across all supported platforms in a more sustainable way.

⚠️ The New UI in general - and Islands theme in particular - is not final. It is evolving constantly based on what we hear from you. If you are unhappy with a particular aspect of the New UI, or if you feel something important is missing compared to the Classic UI, we sincerely want to know. Even if you are frustrated or tired of repeating the same concerns, your feedback helps us prioritize what to improve next. You can share it with us here: https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/newIssue?project=IJPL

How to make the New UI look and feel more like the old one?

If you would like to give the New UI a chance but still want something that feels very close to what you had before, the New UI is highly customizable. With a few adjustments, you can make it look and behave almost like the Classic UI.

To try it yourself, refer to this step-by-step guide: How to configure New UI to behave more like Classic one

Is the Classic UI plugin going away already?

Not yet. We know that the possibility of losing the Classic UI altogether is a major concern.

Here is what we can commit to at the moment:

• The Classic UI remains available as a free plugin in the JetBrains Marketplace and can be installed or re-enabled at any time.
• We are committed to maintaining it until most of the outstanding issues (like IJPL-158776 and IJPL-43772) are reviewed and resolved.

Unfortunately, we cannot commit to a specific long-term maintenance timeline for the plugin, so we encourage you to give the Islands theme a try when you get the chance.