Announcing Sovereign Tech Agency Investment in Flatpak

The German Sovereign Tech Agency has invested €508,640 into the development and oversight of Flatpak, a secure, sandboxed platform for packaging and distributing Linux desktop software. This two-year initiative, co-organized by Modal and supported by Para-Real Ltd., aims to accelerate Flatpak's evolution and address its current limitations in security, robustness, and user and developer experience.

Flatpak is the primary application distribution method for image-based operating systems such as Fedora Silverblue, openSUSE Aeon, SteamOS, and GNOME OS. Major ecosystems like GNOME, KDE, and elementary prefer Flatpak as their preferred format. While Flatpak is a mature project, it still lags behind proprietary platforms like Android and iOS in security and sandboxing features.

Technical limitations include the inability to separate audio output from microphone access, as well as the lack of dedicated Portals for networking and VPNs. The investment will focus on closing critical gaps in the sandboxing story, introducing long-requested infrastructure, and ensuring general maintenance. The project will be led by Sebastian and Adrian, with organizational support from Kateryna and Cade.

Experienced contractors such as Philip Withnall, Julian Sparber, and Dhanuka Warusadura will contribute to the technical execution. The project is expected to run through the end of 2027, with plans to build long-term community capacity and formalize Flatpak's structures. The Sovereign Tech Agency invites the community to follow progress and engage on Matrix in #flatpak:matrix.org and #xdg-desktop-portals:matrix.org.