How to update Plasma ?

[oshunluvr]

lololololol.
No, just no.

This translates into running pre-pre-release quality software, as opposed to Neon User edition, which has the latest, official, stable releases. A bit fresher than the latest Kubuntu + official updates PPAs

Neon Dev stable is a better choice to see what the next plasma version will actually be like, as it is beta software, and is extremely close to what the next Plasma version will be, as opposed to the more wild west playground that the Unstable is.

Right. That's what VMs are for...

[claydoh]

So if you're curious about how the latest plasma is doing (and for my part I'd say it's doing really quite well) Neon unstable is the way to go.

lololololol.
No, just no.

This translates into running pre-pre-release quality software, as opposed to Neon User edition, which has the latest, official, stable releases. A bit fresher than the latest Kubuntu + official updates PPAs

Neon Dev stable is a better choice to see what the next plasma version will actually be like, as it is beta software, and is extremely close to what the next Plasma version will be, as opposed to the more wild west playground that the Unstable is.

[oshunluvr]

I use KDEneon User Edition and it's on 5.16.5.

No KDE related issues I'm aware of except the continuous and annoying (old) bug where some of my widgets shift position on their own.

I still only do fresh installs. I'm fearful of old cruft causing shenanigans. Plus, each major release usually has fixes and changes in functionality so I like to give it a chance to perform on it's own.

[Don B. Cilly]

Just my 2ç, take with grain of salt:
In my (very limited) experience, upgrading distros never led to ·breakage", only minor glitches.

If you do decide do make a clean install, and are mainly interested in the Plasma part, you may want to consider Neon unstable.
It's "semi-rolling", in the way that the current one is based on 18.04 - and will stay there - but the plasma, it updates pretty much constantly.
I'm currently using 5.17.80 (which is pretty much 5.18 beta).

So if you're curious about how the latest plasma is doing (and for my part I'd say it's doing really quite well) Neon unstable is the way to go.
Downside, some of the updates you get, will malfunction.
For example, for the past week or so, right-clicking on the desktop (shutdown, widgets, configure, etc.) and on the panel (options, etc.) does nothing.
I've reported it, it's not fixed yet.
Usually they fix them more quickly, tough.

One upside I really like is the handling of updates. Probably because they are so often. No unattended ones whatsoever, they don't bug you, and the xapian index is updated when you want.

[claydoh]

As you are using 18.04 LTS, which by design will only have Plasma 5.12 LTS, the only way to get a newer version is to upgrade to Kubuntu 19.04, and then to 19.10 once that is released.
Plasma version upgrades are quite safe, as they normally have updates regularly, and non-LTS users can get them via PPAs if they can't wait for the next Kubuntu release every six months.
Now, upgrading the whole OS, that can for some be troublesome as there is always a risk of breakage. I have had great luck as I only upgrade my main systems, bar any hardware failures. My desktop has been upgraded every 6 months since 12.10, except for a hard drive replacement on 17.10.

Others swear by clean installs.

[dagmann]

I have Plasma v5.12.9 and it appears that v5.16 is available.
https://kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.16.0.php

Question is how do you update Plasma? Is updating safe?

I am using Kubuntu 18.04 LTS

Update; it doesn't seem possible at this time to udpate plasma on 18.14