Install Franz on Linux

Franz currently ships for macOS and Windows. A Linux build is in active development as part of the Franz 6 cycle, and we are working on it as quickly as we can. There is no official Linux installer yet, so anything you find on third-party download sites is not from Franz and should not be trusted with your accounts.

What we are building first

The first Linux release will target the formats that cover the largest share of desktop Linux users with the least friction:

1. AppImage — a single portable file that runs on virtually any modern Linux distribution without a package manager. This is the universal fallback if your distribution is not Debian-based.
2. Debian and Ubuntu (.deb) — Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Debian 12, and Debian-based distributions such as Linux Mint, Pop!_OS, elementary OS, and Zorin OS.

An .rpm package for Fedora and openSUSE is not part of the first wave. Users on those distributions can run the AppImage in the meantime. Snap, Flatpak, and Arch (AUR) packaging are planned as follow-ups once the first wave is stable. We would rather ship one solid Linux build than four fragile ones.

Use Franz 5 on Linux today

If you do not want to wait for the Franz 6 Linux build, the older Franz 5 release still runs on Linux and is available as an .AppImage and a .deb package from the original repository: Franz 5.11.0 on GitHub.

Franz 5 is no longer actively developed. It will not receive new services, security updates, or Franz Cloud features, and it cannot sign in to current Franz accounts. Treat it as a way to keep the classic Franz experience on Linux until the Franz 6 build is ready, not as a long-term setup.

How to prepare

1. If you want to try Franz on Linux as soon as the build is ready, plan to run it on a current Ubuntu LTS or Debian 12. Those are the platforms we will test against first. On other distributions, expect to use the AppImage.
2. Keep your Franz account credentials available. The Linux build will sign in to the same Franz account you use on macOS or Windows, so your workspaces and services follow you across devices.
3. Do not install repackaged or community-built Franz Linux binaries from third-party sources. They are not maintained by Franz, can break automatic updates, and may not handle account storage safely.

Get notified when Linux ships

To hear when the Linux build is ready, subscribe to the Franz Newsletter. We don't send automatic announcements to existing accounts, so the newsletter is the way to be told directly. Release notes will also be posted on the website before they appear in any third-party tracker.