Installing Flatpak Applications from Flathub

Flathub is a centralized repository that hosts thousands of Flatpak applications. Flatpak is a containerization technology that packages applications with their dependencies in a sandboxed environment. This approach provides several benefits including improved security through isolation, compatibility across different Linux distributions, and simplified dependency management.

Flatpak applications work across all Linux distributions, not just Fedora. Once an application is packaged as a Flatpak, it can run on any system with Flatpak installed without requiring distribution-specific packaging. Therefore, many software vendors choose to distribute their applications as Flatpaks on Flathub to reach a wider Linux audience.

Flatpak applications run in a sandbox with limited access to your system. Each application only has access to the resources it explicitly needs, providing an additional layer of security compared to traditional package installation.

Because Flatpak applications are self-contained, they can use different versions of libraries and dependencies than those provided by your system. This means you can run multiple versions of the same application or library simultaneously without conflicts.

Installing and removing Flatpak applications is straightforward and does not leave system-wide dependencies or configuration files scattered across your system.

Flathub and Flatpak include built-in automatic update functionality, keeping applications current with minimal user intervention.

Fedora Workstation includes Flatpak support pre-installed and configured, making it easy to get started with Flathub applications.

To use Flathub on Fedora, ensure Flatpak is installed:

If not already enabled, add the Flathub repository to your system:

On Fedora Workstation, Flatpak is typically pre-installed and configured to use Flathub, so you may not need to perform these steps.

Flatpak applications run in a sandbox with restricted access to your system. Some applications may request additional permissions to function properly:

When installing an application, review the requested permissions and decide whether to grant them based on the application’s functionality.

If an application needs additional permissions, you can grant or modify them using Flatseal, a graphical permissions manager:

Alternatively, modify permissions from the command line using flatpak override.