How to Improve Your Linux Application Experience with AppImage?

What is AppImage?

Linux typically uses command-line installation for applications. But this is better suited for CLI apps. For GUI third-party applications, we want them to be free from OS limitations:

1. Download and use immediately
2. Work across different distributions
3. No dependency on a central package manager

There are currently several solutions:

1. snapd — proposed by Ubuntu, generally not well-liked.
2. flatpak — more people like it, but Ubuntu doesn’t include it by default.
3. AppImage — vendor-independent, a third-party ecosystem. I happen to like it.

Benefits of AppImage

The advantage of AppImage is that you download it, put it anywhere in a directory, add executable permissions, and run it. In this regard, it’s very much like Mac OS.

Drawbacks of AppImage

1. You often forget where you put it
2. No application icons — not intuitive to find, and not visually appealing.

How to Improve the Experience

1. appimage-thumbnailer — displays icons in Nautilus. Download: https://github.com/kem-a/appimage-thumbnailer/releases/tag/v4.0.0
2. appimage-launcher — shows your AppImage apps in the launcher. Download: https://github.com/TheAssassin/AppImageLauncher/releases/tag/v3.0.0-beta-3

Best Practices

I usually do what I do on Mac OS — create an Applications folder in my Home directory and put all AppImage apps there. After installing the two tools above, the experience is excellent.