To prepare for WordPress 5.8 which is tentatively scheduled to be released tomorrow, BuddyPress 9.0.0 “Mico” is now available. This version went through a rapid development cycle to the point of skipping beta releases in order to be available prior to WordPress 5.8. BuddyPress 9.0.0 adds 10 new widget blocks for a total of 15. Users will be able to manage these in the new WordPress 5.8 widget block editor. The widget blocks will also be available to use in the post block editor.
Users can convert their legacy BuddyPress widgets into Block Widgets using two mouse clicks. When a Legacy Widget is converted, its settings will transfer over. At some point in the future, Legacy Widgets will be retired in favor of Blocks.
In addition to Block Widgets, the team improved a number of existing REST API endpoints and included a new one called Sitewide Notices. This enables site administrators to create, edit, or delete notices and lets users retrieve the active notice.
Last but not least, there are fixes included for a few issues discovered in 8.0.0 and the BP Nouveau Template Pack. Major props to dancaragea, ianbarnes, nobnob, marbaque, markscottrobson for translating BuddyPress 9.0.0 trunk in such a short amount of time. You can check out all of the changes in 9.0.0 via the changelog.