We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

Flathub for Linux apps has been given quite the makeover

By - | Views: 32,307

Flathub is my favourite place to grab various apps for Linux and Steam Deck and it just had a bit of a makeover and it's looking fancy.

The new update brings with it a rotating featured banner with 5 apps updated weekly, an app of the day listing, new grouping for trending apps along with a tabbed section for trending, popular, new and updated. Thanks to their work behind the scenes to get developers to update all their listings to have proper branding and colouring, it's all looking a bit swish.

The tabbed section switch below the featured banners is a good touch, giving you a quick and easy glance at some of the latest and popular. The team on Mastodon noted that this has been "almost a year in the making, including tons of work on documentation, backend, frontend, and the actual metadata in apps".

Oh, and according to developer Cassidy James on Mastodon there's now well over 3 million active users of Flathub.

Nice to see Flathub continue to evolve and improve, especially nice with their team actually doing proper verification for apps and games getting listed along with noting unverified apps.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
24 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
See more from me
11 comments
Page: 1/2»
  Go to:

vipor29 Apr 24
i have really enjoyed flathub. i can find pretty much anything there
I had seen this yesterday afternoon on another news site. Unfortunately it wasn't til evening that I could try it out myself because the entire website went down.
belisama Apr 24
>>The new update brings with it a rotating featured banner

Ugh, I hate rotating banners. Nothing on the page should move unless I clicked on it. I hope they at least have the sense to make all the banners the same height, so the whole page doesn't jog up and down as they cycle.
So, I've never really used flatpaks, except maybe one or two that were actually in my distro's repository. So I'm wondering--If you install stuff from Flathub, how do you keep it up to date? Is there some mechanism or do you just have to sort of remember that you ought to, application by application? Do you update, or do you just reinstall a newer version?
wvstolzing Apr 24
Quoting: Purple Library GuySo, I've never really used flatpaks, except maybe one or two that were actually in my distro's repository. So I'm wondering--If you install stuff from Flathub, how do you keep it up to date? Is there some mechanism or do you just have to sort of remember that you ought to, application by application? Do you update, or do you just reinstall a newer version?

On the cli, it comes with a package manager of sorts; otherwise it integrates with gui managers like KDE Discover, or GNOME Software via packagekit transparently. I use `flatpak update` on the cli, whenever I check for stuff on the regular package manager.

One thing that does require a bit of manual tinkering is the permissions; there's an app called Flatseal that makes it a lot easier: https://flathub.org/apps/com.github.tchx84.Flatseal; KDE system settings also has a tab nowadays towards the same end.
Quoting: Purple Library GuySo, I've never really used flatpaks, except maybe one or two that were actually in my distro's repository. So I'm wondering--If you install stuff from Flathub, how do you keep it up to date? Is there some mechanism or do you just have to sort of remember that you ought to, application by application? Do you update, or do you just reinstall a newer version?
You just click the Update All button in GNOME Software or KDE Discover to update your system + Flatpak packages. They're all managed via PackageKit. It informs you if there have been any permission changes between versions. I assume the Linux Mint software GUI would have a similar screen. It updates like any other system package, replacing the older version.

You can also run:

flatpak update

in the terminal if you like.

Incidentally, rolling back to a previous version of a Flatpak requires the terminal and is a little obscure, but it's easily possible. For instance, let's say you want to downgrade GIMP. First we need to know the Parent commit:

flatpak remote-info flathub org.gimp.GIMP

Then update to the Parent commit:

flatpak update --commit=02da1cc51c2b5f9fe03487ff6024e95be68f22e1f10c73ca6a10f8de84e8d321 org.gimp.GIMP

To see all of the previous versions, run:

flatpak remote-info --log flathub org.gimp.GIMP


Last edited by pleasereadthemanual on 24 April 2024 at 3:35 pm UTC
belisama Apr 24
>> I assume the Linux Mint software GUI would have a similar screen.

Yes, Mint has integrated Flatpak updates into its update manager.
Quoting: wvstolzingOn the cli, it comes with a package manager of sorts; otherwise it integrates with gui managers like KDE Discover, or GNOME Software via packagekit transparently. I use `flatpak update` on the cli, whenever I check for stuff on the regular package manager.
Quoting: pleasereadthemanualYou just click the Update All button in GNOME Software or KDE Discover to update your system + Flatpak packages. They're all managed via PackageKit.
Quoting: belisamaYes, Mint has integrated Flatpak updates into its update manager.

Thanks everyone, that was very informative. And actually makes me much more likely to grab something from Flathub in future.


Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 24 April 2024 at 5:09 pm UTC
Caldathras Apr 24
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: wvstolzingOn the cli, it comes with a package manager of sorts; otherwise it integrates with gui managers like KDE Discover, or GNOME Software via packagekit transparently. I use `flatpak update` on the cli, whenever I check for stuff on the regular package manager.
Quoting: pleasereadthemanualYou just click the Update All button in GNOME Software or KDE Discover to update your system + Flatpak packages. They're all managed via PackageKit.
Quoting: belisamaYes, Mint has integrated Flatpak updates into its update manager.

Thanks everyone, that was very informative. And actually makes me much more likely to grab something from Flathub in future.

Ditto.
hardpenguin Apr 25
QuoteFlathub is my favourite place to grab various apps for Linux and Steam Deck
Same although it is a shame that so many of those apps are only available through third party (community?) packaging.
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
Login / Register


Or login with...
Sign in with Steam Sign in with Google
Social logins require cookies to stay logged in.