Flatpak is not installed here
Install it with your distribution's package manager, then reopen Flat.
Flat
Everything on this machine
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Every Flatpak app installed on this machine, with the size of the settings and data each one keeps. Tick the ones you want and press Add to My apps. They arrive there as Fresh installs; on My apps you choose which of them keep their settings.
Apps already on My apps say so, and adding them again changes nothing.
No Flatpak apps found on this machine.
Looking at what is installed…
The apps I always want
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Your list of apps. Switch Keep settings on for the apps whose settings you want on the next machine. Untick anything you want left out, then press Back up…: the file carries the ticked apps, and the settings of the ones switched on.
Apps join the list from All apps, or from the search box, which takes a name or a pasted ID.
A profile copied while its app is open comes out locked or half-written.
Name
App ID
Remote
Size
Keep settings
Your list is empty. Search above, or press Add everything here to start from what this machine already has.
Restore a backup
Flathub is not set up on this machine yet.
Almost every app comes from it. Nothing can be searched for or installed until it is added.
Open the backup you made on your old machine.
Apps install at their newest version, not the one you had. Settings almost always carry over, but now and then a newer version asks you to set something up again.
Name
App ID
Size
Keep settings
How to use Flat
The idea
Flat moves your Flatpak apps to a new computer, with their settings if you want them. It never copies the apps themselves: on the new computer each one is installed fresh from Flathub, at its newest version, and then your settings are put back into it.
- On your old computer — pick your apps on All apps, choose which keep their settings on My apps, and press Back up….
- Carry one file — the backup ends in
.fmpack. Put it on a USB stick, a server, anywhere. - On your new computer — put Flat and the backup in the same folder, open Flat, go to Restore and press Restore.
All apps
Everything installed on this computer, with how much each app keeps. Tick the ones you want — All ticks every one — and press Add to My apps. A small tick beside a name means it is on My apps already.
My apps
Your list — the apps you want on your next computer. Each row says:
- Size — how much of its settings the backup will take. Anything over 250 MB shows in amber, as a nudge to ask whether you need it.
- Keep settings — on for every app that has settings here. Switch it off and the app comes back brand new. No settings means the app has saved nothing, so there is nothing to keep.
- Full — whether to take the whole folder; the next page explains.
- A small tick by the name — the app is installed on this computer.
Everything starts ticked. Untick what you want left out, press Back up… and choose where to save. If an app whose settings are going is open, Flat names it and waits — a browser copied while running comes out broken. Check again looks once more; Close them for me closes it.
To add an app you do not have yet, search for its name or paste its ID.
Full, or just the settings
Browsers and apps built like them keep a lot that they can fetch again by themselves: copies of websites for offline use, speeded-up code, graphics caches, block lists and their own downloaded parts. On one real Brave browser that was 400 MB of its 950.
Unticked (normal): Flat leaves those out. Your bookmarks, passwords, history, open tabs, extensions and their settings, and what websites have saved for you all come along. The browser rebuilds the rest the first time it runs, which can make that first start a little slower.
Ticked: the app's whole folder goes, cache and all, exactly as it is. Use it if something did not come back right, or for an app that is not a browser and you want to be sure of everything.
The tick only appears where it makes a difference. The Size column changes as you tick it, so you can see what it costs.
Restore
Flat finds a backup on its own if it is beside Flat or in Downloads; otherwise press Open a backup…. You get the same list, with Keep settings already on for every app whose settings are in the file. Untick anything you do not want here and press Restore.
Each app is installed from Flathub first, then closed, then its settings are put back — in that order, because doing it the other way round is what makes an app open looking brand new. Nothing needs a password.
An app that is already on this computer is left exactly as it is, settings and all. Anything that goes wrong is named on its own line, and Flat carries on with the next app.
Good to know
- Apps come back at their newest version. Settings almost always carry over, but now and then a newer version asks you to set something up again.
- Some logins need doing again. Apps that keep their password in your computer's keyring (GNOME Keyring or KWallet) keep it outside the app, so it cannot travel. Firefox and Thunderbird keep theirs in their own folder and usually come back signed in.
- Flatpak apps only. Apps installed another way are not moved.
- Keep your backup safe. It holds your browser's saved passwords and history, and it is not locked with a password.
Updates
The small dot beside the version number, top right, keeps Flat up to date:
- Green — up to date. Click it to check again.
- Amber — a newer version is ready. Click to download it.
- Ring — downloading.
- Blue — downloaded. Click to restart into it.
- Red — the update server could not be reached. Click to try again.
More at flat.lightmorphic.com.
Working
Starting…