Running BudsLink as a Flatpak Application

BudsLink can be packaged and run as a Flatpak application. This mode is intended for distribution, testing on multiple architectures, and simplified installation. Currently, BudsLink is not submitted to Flathub and is still in a testing phase.

Supported Architectures

BudsLink Flatpak builds are provided for:

  • x86_64 – standard 64-bit Intel/AMD CPUs
  • aarch64 – 64-bit ARM CPUs, commonly used in modern ARM laptops and single-board computers

Download the appropriate .flatpak file from the GitHub release page corresponding to your CPU architecture. These Flatpak bundles are automatically built for each release using the GitHub workflow. Before installing BudsLink, make sure Flatpak is installed and the Flathub remote is added.

Install Flatpak:

# Fedora
sudo dnf install flatpak

#Ubuntu
sudo apt install flatpak

Add the Flathub repository (if not already added):

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

Install the Flatpak locally:

For Intel/AMD CPUs:

flatpak install --user --reinstall /path/to/BudsLink-vX.Y.Z-x86_64.flatpak

For ARM-based CPUs (e.g., Mac running Asahi Linux or Chromebooks):

flatpak install --user --reinstall /path/to/BudsLink-vX.Y.Z-aarch64.flatpak

Run BudsLink:

flatpak run io.github.maniacx.BudsLink

If you want to build BudsLink from source, you can use Flatpak Builder. The GitHub workflow uses a manifest file io.github.maniacx.BudsLink.yml for this purpose.

Install Flatpak Builder:

#Fedora
sudo dnf install flatpak-builder

#Ubuntu
sudo apt install flatpak-builder

Download / Clone BudsLink repository:

Download and Extract the Budslinks repo using download link on Github OR use Git clone

git clone https://github.com/maniacx/BudsLink.git

Build and Install the Flatpak:

Change directory to path/to/BudsLink and run the command below.

cd BudsLink

flatpak-builder --user --install --state-dir="localdata/flatpak" "localdata/build" io.github.maniacx.BudsLink.yml

The --state-dir="localdata/flatpak" and "localdata/build" flags will create the build directory and cache inside the localdata folder, which can be deleted after building.

Run the locally built Flatpak:

flatpak run io.github.maniacx.BudsLink

Mic Access and Audio Playback

This application does not record audio, does not listen to the microphone, and does not access any input streams.

The app store may still show this application as having access to microphone and audio playback. This is a limitation of Flatpak’s audio permission model.

The application requires --socket=pulseaudio only to inspect audio cards and sinks, detect the default output device, determine whether a Bluetooth device is using the A2DP profile, and read or adjust volume and mute status (for features such as conversation awareness).

Flatpak does not provide separate permissions for audio control versus microphone access. As a result, the permission appears broader than its actual usage, even though the microphone is never accessed.