Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised May 31, 2026

Flatpak

Flatpak is a utility for software deployment and package management for Linux. It provides a sandbox environment in which users can run application software, or "apps", in (partial) isolation from the rest of the system. Flatpak was known as xdg-app until 2016.

Last revised
May 31, 2026
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≈ 3 min
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Wikipedia ↗
Flatpak
Original authorAlexander Larsson
DeveloperFlatpak Team1
Initial releaseSeptember 2015 (2015-09)2
Stable release
1.16.63 Edit this on Wikidata / 10 April 2026 (10 April 2026)
Written inC
Operating systemLinux
LicenseLGPL-2.1-or-later4
WebsiteFlatpak
Flathub
Repository
Preferred badge for promoting apps on Flathub since 2023, English version source ↗

Flatpak is a utility for software deployment and package management for Linux. It provides a sandbox environment in which users can run application software, or "apps", in (partial) isolation from the rest of the system.56 Flatpak was known as xdg-app until 2016.7

Features

Applications using Flatpak need permissions to access resources such as Bluetooth, sound (with PipeWire), network, and files. These permissions are configured by the maintainer of the Flatpak and can be added or removed by users on their system.89

Another key feature of Flatpak allows application developers to directly provide updates to users without going through Linux distributions, and without having to package and test the application separately for each distribution.10

Because Flatpak runs in a sandbox, which provides a separate, ABI-stable version of common system libraries and operating system interfaces11, it uses more space on the system than common native packages. However, OSTree, a technology underlying Flatpak, deduplicates matching files. This means that the first few Flatpak installations will occupy more space, but as more packages are added, the system will use space more efficiently.12

Flathub

Flathub, a centralized repository (or remote source in the Flatpak terminology) located at flathub.org, is the de facto standard for obtaining applications packaged with Flatpak.13 Packages are contributed by both Flathub administrators and application developers, with a stated preference for submissions directly from the application developers.14 By 2023, Flathub had more than 700,000 downloads per day.15

Although Flathub is the de facto source for applications packaged with Flatpak, it is possible to host a Flatpak repository that is independent of Flathub.161718

Support

Theoretically, Flatpak apps can be installed on any existing and future Linux distribution, including those installed with the Windows Subsystem for Linux compatibility layer, so long as Bubblewrap and OSTree are available.

It can also be used on Linux kernel-based systems like ChromeOS.19

See also

See also

References

References

  1. "About". Archived from the original on 2023-07-14. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
  2. "Flatpak's History". GitHub. Archived from the original on 2022-04-10. Retrieved 2018-08-19.
  3. "Release 1.16.6". 10 April 2026. Retrieved 11 April 2026.
  4. "COPYING". GitHub. 31 March 2015. Archived from the original on 2021-10-26. Retrieved 2021-10-14.
  5. Larsson, Alexander (29 April 2016). "Using bubblewrap in xdg-app". Alexander Larsson: Cool links and commentary. GNOME. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  6. Willis, Nathan (2015-01-21). "GNOME and application sandboxing revisited". LWN. Archived from the original on 2018-11-25. Retrieved 2016-01-03.
  7. Larsson, Alexander (9 May 2016). "Renamed to flatpak in git". freedesktop.org. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  8. "Sandbox Permissions". Flatpak documentation. Archived from the original on 2019-06-20. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
  9. "flatpak-run". Flatpak documentation. Archived from the original on 2019-06-26. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
  10. Larsson, Alex (21 August 2018). "Kick-starting the revolution 1.0". Retrieved 14 April 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  11. Brodkin, Jon (2016-06-21). "Linux's RPM/deb split could be replaced by Flatpak vs. snap". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
  12. TheEvilSkeleton (2022-05-16). "Response to "Flatpak Is Not the Future"". TheEvilSkeleton. Archived from the original on 2023-02-11. Retrieved 2023-02-11.
  13. "7 Flatpak Apps You Can Install Right Now from Flathub". OMG! Ubuntu!. 2017-07-20. Archived from the original on 2019-05-29. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  14. Submission - Flathub Documentation., Flathub, 2024-02-05, archived from the original on 2024-02-05, retrieved 2024-02-05
  15. Wallen, Jack. "Flathub Vying to Become the Standard Linux App... » Linux Magazine". Linux Magazine. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
  16. "List remotes". Flatpak documentation. Archived from the original on 2019-07-06. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
  17. "Hosting a Repository". Archived from the original on 18 February 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  18. "Reasons to use Flatpak". Flatpak documentation. Archived from the original on 2019-06-17. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
  19. "Chrome OS Quick Setup". Archived from the original on 2020-08-02. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
External links
  • Media related to Flatpak at Wikimedia Commons