Flatpak

How to get rid of Flatpak on Linux Mint so the software manager is not cluttered up with 3GB versions of 50MB apps. Or huge bloated software that is not available in efficient packages.

How to Make the Mint Software Manager Work Without Flatpaks

The goal is to install the underlying flatpak system to prevent the Software Manager
from crashing, but then remove the connection to the Flathub repository so no Flatpak
apps actually appear.

Step 1: Install the Flatpak package. This satisfies the software manager’s dependency. It won’t run without it!

sudo apt install flatpak

Step 2: Remove the Flathub remote. This is the master command that tells your system to forget where to find Flatpak apps.

sudo flatpak remote-delete flathub

Step 3: Refresh the software manager’s cache. This forces the app to rebuild its software list using the new, empty Flatpak configuration.

  • Open the Software Manager.
  • Click the hamburger menu (☰) and select “Refresh”. (If the above refresh ever fails, you can force it by closing the app and running rm -rf
    ~/.cache/mintinstall     in the terminal).

To Re-Enable Flatpak in the Future:

If you ever change your mind, you only need to run this one command to add the Flathub
repository back:

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

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