Spotify client on Flathub

[N3RO]

Plan

Premium

Country

Germany

Device

Steam Deck

Operating System

SteamOS 3.5.19 (KDE Plasma 5.27.5)

My Question or Issue

Is the Spotify client distributed on Flathub official?

It says 'Unverified' and I am a little hesitant on installing it.

https://flathub.org/apps/com.spotify.Client

[osornios]

Hey @N3RO 

Since the linux app is not officially supported, chances are it's not officially distributed there.

I believe the only version updated regularly is the snap version:

https://www.spotify.com/download/linux/

Hope it helps. 🙂

[N3RO]

Thanks for te reply. Ergo the version on Flathub should be avoided?

[s3tit]

Matter of personal preference, availability on distro in use etc. While the flathub/flatpak variant is not officially supplied by Spotify developers, the Flathub install is derived from the official Snap build. Essentially, Flathub downloads the official snap file, unpacks it, adds some additional patches allowing it to work with Flathub (and other potential fixes) then installs it. 

More often than not, the official DEB testing branch sees new builds first, then Snap will follow. Once a new Snap build is released the Flathub variant may follow. 

The Flathub client experience is generally the same as with the snap and Deb builds, though due to all the variables under the Linux variables... YMMV. Spotify developers/support may or may not provide support for issues reported from Flathub builds but some bugs are found across all distribution variants or other Flathub users may assist with Flathub-specific issues (their GitHub repo is ideal for Flatpak-specific issues).

The "official" yet unofficial Flathub release from https://flathub.org/apps/com.spotify.Client / https://github.com/flathub/com.spotify.Client is the one to use if Flathub is your preferred method of distribution. 

[osornios]

@N3RO 

As @s3tit mentioned, the Flathub version is derived from the Snap, so you need to have some level of trust on the conversion. It's personal preference, and how much trust you have installing third party builds.

[N3RO]

Sorry for the late reply. I'd honestly prefer not to trust some random individual that compiled the flatpack to be quite frank. Would it be possible for Spotify's Linux developers to maintain a flatpack on Flathub? Especially with the rise of the Steam Deck and many people moving to Linux in light of the recent Windows 11 privacy concerns, it seems like a good idea to publish an official Spotify version on there.

[osornios]

@N3RO 

That’s a good idea. You should post it in the Idea Submissions forum and it may be considered for future versions of the app.

Just be sure to check out if the idea is already there. If it's not, submit it after reading the idea submission guidelines. 🙂

[D50 · Accepted solution]

I saw this thread and noticed that the Idea had not been created in the "Idea Submissions" forum so I created one HERE .

Please like/vote or comment on it for visibility on this issue. Hopefully we can get the Spotify flatpak verified and help others from having to worry about this.

[N3RO]

Thanks for creating a suggestion! You chose better words that I ever could. Let's hope they consider this at some point. I wish Spotify, in general, would listen more to what their customers want...