Flathub in 2023: New Web Experience, Direct App Uploads, and More

RISC-V support could also be implemented in 2023 for Flatpak apps.
Flathub 2023

Endless OS Foundation CEO and GNOME Board President, Robert McQueen, shares with 9to5Linux.com details about the plans Flathub has for 2023, giving us an early look at the most exciting features coming to Flatpak apps on the Linux desktop.

Flathub currently offers more than 2,000 apps in the Flatpak universal binary format from over 1,500 collaborators and provides somewhere around 700,000 app downloads every single day. I think it’s safe to say that, looking at these numbers, Flatpak is currently the most popular universal app format for the Linux desktop, surpassing similar formats like AppImages and soon hopefully Canonical’s Snaps.

“Flatpak has, in my opinion, solved the largest technical issue which has held back the mainstream growth and acceptance of Linux on the desktop for the past 25 years: namely, the difficulty for app developers to publish their work in a way that makes it easy for people to discover, download, install and use,” said Robert McQueen.

For 2023, Flathub promises a brand-new and modern web experience, which you can already try in a beta version here, new branding, and direct app uploads, a feature that paves the way for other exciting features like the ability to build Electron apps outside of Flatpak Builder or driving automatic Flathub uploads from GitHub actions or GitLab CI flows.

Flathub also promises new verification features to distinguish the apps that are uploaded by their developers, enable the Flatpak repo subsets to allow users to select only verified and/or FLOSS apps, enable application developers to offer subscriptions in their apps, and automate linting and security scanning on the backend.

RISC-V support could also be implemented in 2023 for Flatpak apps, but this feature is currently only on paper, so if you’d like to help the Flathub devs turn it into reality, don’t hesitate to contact them. An Advisory Board is also planned for 2023 to expand Flathub’s governance, along with an independent legal entity to own and operate Flathub.

Is 2023 the year of Flatpak apps on the Linux desktop? Learn more about Flathub’s plans here.

Last updated 1 year ago

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