Install and Use Flatpak on Ubuntu 22.04

In this guide, we want to teach you to Install and Use the Flatpak package manager on Ubuntu 22.04.

Flatpak is a package management utility that lets you distribute, install and manage software without needing to worry about dependencies, runtime, or Linux distribution. Since you can install software without any issues irrespective of the Linux distribution, Flatpak is called a universal package.

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Install and Use Flatpak on Ubuntu 22.04

Install and Use Flatpak on Ubuntu 22.04

To complete this guide, log in to your server as a non-root user with sudo privileges. To do this, you can follow our guide on Initial Server Setup with Ubuntu 22.04.

Installation Steps of Flatpak on Ubuntu 22.04

First, you need to update your local package index with the command below:

sudo apt update

The Flatpak package is available on the default Ubuntu repository. To install it, simply run the following command:

sudo apt install flatpak -y

Verify your Flatpak installation by checking its version:

flatpak --version

Output
Flatpak 1.12.7

How To Use Flatpak Package Manager

At this point, we want to show you how to use your Flatpak package manager.

Enable Flathub on Ubuntu 22.04

Now you need to enable the Flathub before using the Flatpak. FlatHub is an efficient and popular platform used for searching applications.

To do this you can use the following command:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Search Apps with Flatpak

To search for a specific app, you can use the following syntax:

flatpak search <Application_name>

For example, search for OpenJDK:

flatpak search openjdk

Output
Name      Description               Application ID        Version Branch Remotes
OpenJDK … The latest version of th… …dk.Extension.openjdk         21.08  flathub
OpenJDK … The latest version of th… …dk.Extension.openjdk         20.08  flathub
OpenJDK … The latest version of th… …dk.Extension.openjdk         19.08  flathub
OpenJDK … The latest version of th… …dk.Extension.openjdk         18.08  flathub
OpenJdk … OpenJdk 8 Sdk extension   …k.Extension.openjdk8         22.08  flathub
OpenJdk … OpenJdk 8 Sdk extension   …k.Extension.openjdk8         21.08  flathub
OpenJdk … OpenJdk 8 Sdk extension   …k.Extension.openjdk8         20.08  flathub
OpenJDK … The LTS (long term suppo… ….Extension.openjdk17         22.08  flathub
OpenJDK … The LTS (long term suppo… ….Extension.openjdk17         21.08  flathub
OpenJDK … The LTS (long term suppo… ….Extension.openjdk17         20.08  flathub
OpenJDK … The LTS (long term suppo… ….Extension.openjdk11         22.08  flathub
OpenJDK … The LTS (long term suppo… ….Extension.openjdk11         21.08  flathub
OpenJDK … The LTS (long term suppo… ….Extension.openjdk11         20.08  flathub
OpenJDK … The LTS (long term suppo… ….Extension.openjdk11         19.08  flathub
OpenJDK … The LTS (long term suppo… ….Extension.openjdk11         18.08  flathub

Install an App with Flatpak

When the desired application is searched, you can install it on Ubuntu 22.04, using Flatpak.

flatpak install <Application_name>

For example:

flatpak install openjdk

This will ask you which version you want to install.

Looking for matches…
Similar refs found for ‘openjdk’ in remote ‘flathub’ (system):

   1) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8/x86_64/21.08
   2) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk10/x86_64/18.08
   3) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk/x86_64/18.08
   4) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk17/x86_64/20.08
   5) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8/x86_64/22.08
   6) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk11/x86_64/18.08
   7) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk/x86_64/19.08
   8) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk17/x86_64/21.08
   9) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk11/x86_64/19.08
  10) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk/x86_64/20.08
  11) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk17/x86_64/22.08
  12) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk11/x86_64/20.08
  13) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk/x86_64/21.08
  14) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8/x86_64/18.08
  15) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk11/x86_64/21.08
  16) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk9/x86_64/18.08
  17) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8/x86_64/19.08
  18) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk11/x86_64/22.08
  19) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk10/x86_64/1.6
  20) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8/x86_64/1.6
  21) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk9/x86_64/1.6
  22) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8/x86_64/20.08

Which do you want to use (0 to abort)? [0-22]: 1

When your installation is completed, you will get the following output:

Output
            ID                                                Branch            Op            Remote            Download
        ID                                                Branch            Op            Remote            Download
 1. [✓] org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8            21.08             i             flathub           119.0 MB / 115.2 MB

Installing… ████████████████████ 100%  19.8 MB/s  00:00

Uninstall Apps with Flatpak

To uninstall an App with Flatpak, you can use the following syntax:

flatpak uninstall APP-ID

For example:

flatpak uninstall runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8

Output
Similar installed refs found for ‘org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8’:

   1) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8/x86_64/18.08 (system)
   2) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8/x86_64/21.08 (system)
   3) All of the above

Which do you want to use (0 to abort)? [0-3]: 3


        ID                                             Branch         Op
 1. [-] org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8         18.08          r
 2. [-] org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8         21.08          r

Uninstalling 2/2…

For more information, you can visit the Flatpak Docs page.