Easy Installer

The app manager for AppImages

Install apps on Linux. The easy way.

Easy Installer manages your AppImages and portable apps. Double-click a download to install it, find it in your app menu, keep it up to date and remove it cleanly. Just like running a setup on Windows, or dragging an app to Applications on a Mac.

Download for Ubuntu See how it works

Free and open source (MIT) · .deb for Ubuntu 24.04+ and Ubuntu-based systems like Zorin OS 18 · Version 0.2.2

The Easy Installer window lists installed apps with their versions. Two apps show an Update button, and a banner says that 2 updates are available.

01 — Install

How to install Easy Installer.

  1. 1
    Download the .deb

    easy-installer_0.2.2_all.deb from the latest release.

  2. 2
    Open it

    Double-click the file. Your Software Center installs it.

  3. 3
    Open your first AppImage

    Easy Installer offers to become the default app for AppImage files.

Download .deb · v0.2.2

Needs Ubuntu 24.04, Zorin OS 18 or newer (GTK 4.14, libadwaita 1.5). Everything else comes with the package.

Or in a terminal:

# download the latest version
wget https://github.com/CodingStukka/easy-installer/releases/download/v0.2.2/easy-installer_0.2.2_all.deb
# install it (asks for your password)
sudo apt install ./easy-installer_0.2.2_all.deb

02 — What does it do?

Without Easy Installer, you are the app manager.

An AppImage is just a file. Without help you write its menu entry yourself, look for updates yourself and clean up yourself. With Easy Installer you see at a glance what's installed, what's being updated, and how to remove it.

Without Easy Installer
# 1. move it somewhere permanent
mv ~/Downloads/Blockwork*.AppImage ~/Applications/
# 2. make it executable
chmod +x ~/Applications/Blockwork.AppImage
# 3. find an icon somewhere…
./Blockwork.AppImage --appimage-extract
# 4. write a launcher by hand
nano ~/.local/share/applications/blockwork.desktop
# 5. tell the desktop about it
update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications
# 6. a month later: which file was Blockwork again?
ls ~/Downloads ~/Applications
# 7. is there a new version? check the website…
# 8. uninstall: delete 3 files you hopefully remember
rm ~/Applications/Blockwork.AppImage ~/.local/share/…

With Easy Installer

  • All your apps in one listName, version, size, and whether it's just for you
  • Menu entry and icon, done for youReal name, real icon, the file types it opens
  • See what's being updatedNew versions, Update All, and Go Back
  • Know where everything livesThe app's folder, where it was downloaded from
  • Remove it cleanlyApp, launcher and icon. Its data only if you want

Install & update

Install an AppImage in three steps. Update it in one click.

  1. 1
    Open the AppImageDouble-click it, or drop it onto the window.
  2. 2
    Check what you getName, icon and version, read without running the app.
  3. 3
    Click InstallIt's in your app menu and search right away.
  • One-click updatesOr Update All at once.
  • Go BackOld version kept for 14 days.
  • Self-updates noticedThe launcher stays current.
  • Keep bothOld and new side by side.

Only asks the server an app names itself, over HTTPS, at most once a day. Nothing about you or your apps is sent.

The install dialog for Inkpad shows its icon, version and description, with a choice to install it only for you or for everyone on the computer. The app list with a banner saying 2 updates are available and buttons such as Update to 1.1.4.

Trust & the rest

Safe. Tidy. Handled.

Easy Installer shows where an app comes from, cleans up after itself, and fixes the things that usually send you searching forums.

Know where your apps come from

See the website a file came from and who signed it. If a new version isn't signed by the same maker, you get a clear warning first.

Install dialog for an update: the older version is kept for 14 days, the file was downloaded from github.com and is signed.
All good“Signed by the same maker as the installed version.”
Install dialog with a warning: the installed version was signed by its maker, but this file is not signed by the same maker.
CarefulNot signed by the same maker? You're warned before anything happens.
.zip .tar.gz .tar.xz

Apps that come as a .zip

Some apps come as a packed folder instead. Easy Installer unpacks it safely into its own folder. Several programs inside? You pick the one that starts the app.

Install dialog for an app from an archive, where you choose the program that starts the app.

Uninstall without leftovers

App, launcher and icon are removed. Settings and data go to the trash, but only if you tick them. Your own files are never touched.

Uninstall dialog with checkboxes to also move the app's settings, data and temporary files to the trash.

Apps that won't start

On Ubuntu 24.04+ many Electron apps hit the sandbox block. One password and they just start.

Missing FUSE

AppImages need libfuse2. Easy Installer installs the right package, or runs apps without it.

Just you, or everyone

No password for yourself. For all users on the PC, it asks once.

Never run to look inside

Name and icon are read straight from the file. The app itself isn't started.

Speaks your language

English, Deutsch and Nederlands. Light and dark mode, like your desktop.

A command line, too

install, list, update, rollback, uninstall: everything the window does, for scripts.

03 — But why?

Look, it can be this easy on Linux, too.

Lots of people would love to make the jump to Linux. What stops them is one thought: “It's different. I'll have to relearn everything.” And when things do work differently and nobody shows them the way, they get frustrated and go back, even though they really wanted to switch.

That's what Easy Installer is for: giving people what they're used to.

  • WindowsSetup.exe

    Double-click, Next, Next, Finish.

    In the Start menu and Windows search

  • macOSApp.dmg

    Open it, then drag it into Applications.

    In Launchpad, Spotlight and the Dock

  • Linux · usuallyapp.deb

    Software Center, or apt install.

    In your app menu, updated with your system

  • Linux · AppImageApp.AppImage

    Double-click… it runs. Once.

    Not in your menu. No icon. Lost in Downloads.

With Easy Installer, the AppImage works like the others:

  1. Click the AppImage
  2. Easy Installer opens
  3. Click Install. Done.

Ready? Install apps the easy way.

Download for Ubuntu