enricobuehler
e629606e39
Play production access landed 2026-08-01 and the listing is live, but the
docs still told Android users to beg for a tester invite on Discord and
warned that the Play link "only resolves once your account is on the
tester list". Both are now wrong, and the install page is the first thing
a new Android user reads.
Stable is a public Play listing. Canary is unchanged — it still goes to
the invite-only Internal testing track — so each page now draws that line
explicitly instead of describing both as test tracks.
Also corrects the release process: channels.md said CI "never
auto-publishes to the public stores" and that someone promotes alpha ->
production by hand. Since 43e3c7b6 a vX.Y.Z tag publishes to production
at 100% with no further click (android.yml resolves TRACK=production on
refs/tags/v*). Apple is still manual, so that half stands.
Touches install-client.md, clients.md, channels.md, support-matrix.md and
uninstall.md — the last one told people to ask on Discord to be removed
from a tester list that no longer gates the app.
14 KiB
title, description
| title | description |
|---|---|
| Clients | The ways to connect to a Punktfunk host — the Apple app, Moonlight, or the Linux client. |
A Punktfunk host accepts clients over its own punktfunk/1 protocol (the macOS, Linux, Windows, and
Android apps) and over GameStream (Moonlight). Pick whichever fits the device you're streaming to.
Ready to install?
Install a Client has the step-by-step for every device — plus how to
update and
remove each one.
Two things apply to every app, whichever you pick:
profiles and punktfunk:// links, and the keys and chords that
work while you're streaming. What each one lets you change — resolution,
bitrate, codec, HDR, audio, controllers — is catalogued in
Client settings.
Apple app (Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV)
The native app for Apple devices speaks Punktfunk's own punktfunk/1
protocol — the lowest-latency, most resilient path, with the full feature set:
- Automatic host discovery — hosts on your network appear under On this network; no IP typing.
- PIN pairing built in, and pinned reconnects after that.
- Controllers, including DualSense — rumble, adaptive triggers, lightbar, motion, and touchpad.
- A game library — browse the host's installed games with cover art and launch one straight into the stream.
- A live stats overlay (resolution, fps, bitrate, latency) and a built-in network speed test to pick a bitrate for your link.
- Widgets, Live Activities and Shortcuts — a hosts widget for the home screen, a Live Activity while a session runs, and App Intents so Siri and the Shortcuts app can start a stream.
Open the app, pick your host, pair once, and stream. It builds from the
clients/apple directory in the repo (Swift / VideoToolbox / Metal).
Moonlight (anything else)
Punktfunk also speaks the GameStream protocol, so any Moonlight client — a browser, a smart TV, an old phone, a games console — connects with no punktfunk-specific software. (Most platforms also have a native Punktfunk app below — Moonlight is the catch-all.) See Connect with Moonlight.
This is the broadest-compatibility option and great for couch gaming. It doesn't use the native protocol's FEC/encryption extensions, but for a healthy LAN that rarely matters.
Linux desktop client (GTK4)
punktfunk-client is the native graphical Linux client — a GTK4 / libadwaita app that speaks
punktfunk/1 directly, with vendor-ordered hardware decode (Vulkan Video first on NVIDIA and
AMD, VAAPI dmabuf first on Intel; whichever isn't first is the fallback, and software decode
is last), PipeWire audio, and SDL3 controllers (rumble, lightbar, DualSense touchpad/motion). To
force one, pick it in Preferences → Display → Video decoder or set
PUNKTFUNK_DECODER=vulkan|vaapi|software. Like the Apple app it discovers hosts on your network
automatically, does PIN pairing, pins reconnects, and browses the host's game library (with
cover art) so you can launch a title straight into the stream.
It ships as a real package, not just a source build — full steps in Install a Client:
- Any Flatpak distro (recommended) — one command from the hosted
flatpak.unom.iorepo; the guide linked above has the exact command and how updates work. It's also the client the Decky plugin uses by default, though the plugin drives a nativepunktfunk-clientjust as well. - Ubuntu 26.04 or newer —
apt install punktfunk-clientfrom the Punktfunk apt registry. The client package needs SDL3 and GTK4 ≥ 4.20, which Ubuntu 24.04 LTS doesn't ship — on 24.04 use the Flatpak above. - Fedora —
sudo dnf install punktfunk-clientfrom the Gitea RPM registry (add the repo as in the Fedora guide). - Fedora Atomic / Bazzite — use the Flatpak above.
rpm-ostree install punktfunk-clientworks, but layering slows every OS update, so it's a last resort on an image-based system (see Bazzite). - Arch —
sudo pacman -Syu punktfunk-clientfrom the signed binary repo (see Arch Linux).
Launch it, pick your host from the list, and stream. For scripting, use the
punktfunk CLI that ships in the same packages:
punktfunk launch <host-ref> # start a session, waking the host first if it's asleep
punktfunk-client --connect <host>:9777 # the older flag — still supported for existing scripts
The client also updates itself (punktfunk-client --check-update / --apply-update) — see
Keeping a client up to date.
Android app (phone + Android TV)
The native Android app speaks punktfunk/1 directly, on both phones and Android TV. It does hardware
HEVC decode (including HDR10), Opus audio with a mic uplink, game
controllers with rumble and DualSense feedback, automatic host discovery, PIN pairing with pinned
reconnects, the host's game library with cover art, and a live stats overlay — with D-pad and
game-controller focus navigation for the couch. It builds from the clients/android directory
(Kotlin + a shared Rust core).
Controllers. Plug a DualSense, DualSense Edge or DualShock 4 into the phone or tablet by USB and grant the USB permission Android asks for when it attaches — Punktfunk then drives the pad itself instead of taking what Android's gamepad layer exposes, so the host gets rumble, adaptive triggers, the lightbar and gyro. The app's Controllers screen lists attached pads and their capture state, and the switch that turns this off is DualSense / DualShock passthrough (USB) in Settings. Over Bluetooth the pad still works as an ordinary gamepad, but adaptive triggers and the lightbar need the USB connection.
The app is on Google Play as a public listing — no invite — or you can sideload the public APK instead (see Install a Client); canary builds ride a separate, invite-only Play Internal testing track. Then open the app, pick your host, pair once, and stream.
Windows desktop client
punktfunk-client for Windows (clients/windows) is the native graphical client for Windows — pure
Rust, the same punktfunk/1 core as the Apple, Linux, and Android apps, with a WinUI 3 UI (host
list, settings, PIN pairing); the stream itself runs in Punktfunk's Vulkan presenter. Its decoder
order is per-vendor: Vulkan Video, then D3D11VA, then software on NVIDIA and AMD, and
D3D11VA first on Intel and other GPUs (Intel's driver advertises Vulkan Video, but DXVA is the
proven path there), with 10-bit/HDR present, WASAPI audio + mic,
SDL3 controllers (rumble, lightbar, DualSense), network discovery, the host's game library with
cover art, and the full PIN-pairing trust surface. It builds for both x86_64 and aarch64 and
ships as a signed MSIX. Launch it and pick a host from the list, just like the other native apps.
The package installs two Start-menu entries — Punktfunk, the desktop window, and
Punktfunk Console, a controller-driven fullscreen interface for a TV or HTPC (host list, pairing,
settings and game library, all navigable with a pad) — plus the headless
punktfunk command on your PATH.
Hardware decode and HDR10 present are validated on glass on NVIDIA and Intel (including HDR pass-through on the Intel D3D11VA path). If anything misbehaves, Moonlight is a proven alternative for Windows.
For scripting, prefer the punktfunk CLI. The window binary's own
headless flags stay supported too:
punktfunk-client # open the WinUI 3 window (host list / settings)
punktfunk-client --discover # list hosts on the network
punktfunk-client --headless --speed-test --connect <host>:9777 # no window: probe the link, print measured/recommended bitrate
Prefer the broadest compatibility, or no install? Moonlight also streams to Windows (see below).
webOS (LG TV) — community
pf-webos is a native client for LG webOS TVs, built and
maintained by the community (dyptan-io) on top of Punktfunk's
punktfunk/1 protocol and core. It's not an official Punktfunk app, but it speaks the real protocol
directly (not Moonlight/GameStream) — LAN discovery or add-by-IP, PIN pairing with pinned reconnects,
hardware video decode via webOS's NDL DirectMedia API, and a browsable game library with cover art,
navigable with the Magic Remote.
It ships as a sideloadable .ipk (homebrew package) rather than through the LG Content Store — see
Install a Client for the sideload steps.
Scripting: the punktfunk CLI
punktfunk is the headless client — the same core the graphical apps use, with no window. It ships
in every Linux client package (apt, dnf, pacman and the Flatpak) and in the Windows MSIX, so
if you have a desktop client you already have it:
punktfunk hosts list --probe # saved hosts, each with a live reachability check
punktfunk pair <host>[:port] --pin 1234 # enrol this device with a host
punktfunk library <host-ref> --json # the host's games, machine-readable
punktfunk launch <host-ref> --game <id> # stream, waking the host first if it's asleep
punktfunk open 'punktfunk://connect/<host-ref>'
punktfunk speed-test <host-ref> # measure the link, print the recommended bitrate
A <host-ref> is a saved host's id, its name, or an address — the same reference a punktfunk://
link takes. There is also hosts add / hosts forget,
wake, reachable, profiles list and reset; run
punktfunk help <command> for a verb's flags.
Exit codes are stable, so a script can branch without parsing prose: 0 ok, 2 connect failed, 3 trust rejected (re-pair), 4 the renderer couldn't start, 5 nothing matched what you named, 6 it needs a person (pairing, or an unknown host).
Under the Flatpak, run it as flatpak run --command=punktfunk io.unom.Punktfunk <args>.
The older headless flags stay supported for existing scripts —
punktfunk-client --connect,--discoverand--headless --speed-teston both Linux and Windows.punktfunkis the surface to build new things on: it wakes a sleeping host before connecting, which those never did.
punktfunk-probeis a different thing again — an in-repo protocol test and latency-measurement tool for development. It isn't shipped in any package; you build it from source.
Profiles and links (every app)
Two things work the same in the Apple, Linux, Windows and Android apps. Settings profiles are
named sets of stream overrides — bitrate, resolution, codec, HDR and the rest — that you bind to a
host or pick for a single connect, with every field you didn't touch still following your defaults.
And a punktfunk:// link starts a stream from a browser, a desktop shortcut, a home-automation
rule or punktfunk open, carrying only references to things that already exist on your device —
never a setting, and never a trust decision.
Profiles and links has both in full: the link grammar, where each app
puts Copy link and Create shortcut…, and what a link is refused for. From a script,
punktfunk profiles list and punktfunk launch --profile <ref> reach the same profiles.
While you're streaming
Click the stream and the desktop clients capture your keyboard and mouse — everything goes to the host until you let go. Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Q (⌃⌥⇧Q or ⌘⎋ on a Mac) gives it back.
That chord, the three others a stream reserves, the controller chord that works with no keyboard in reach, which app honours which of them, the two mouse modes, the three touch modes and stylus input are all on Mouse, touch and pen.
Copying between the two machines is a separate opt-in: the host operator allows it in host.env
and you turn it on for that one host in your client. Content crosses today from the macOS, Windows
and Android apps — the Linux client has the switch but no bridge behind it yet, and iOS, iPadOS and
tvOS have neither. See Shared clipboard.
Which should I use?
| You're streaming to… | Use |
|---|---|
| A Mac, iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV | The Apple app |
| A Linux desktop or laptop | punktfunk-client (GTK4) |
| A Steam Deck | The Decky plugin in Gaming Mode, or the GTK4 client in Desktop Mode |
| An Android phone or TV | The Android app |
| Windows | The native punktfunk-client (signed MSIX) or Moonlight |
| An LG webOS TV | The community pf-webos client, or Moonlight |
| A browser, another smart TV, or any other device | Moonlight |
| Scripts, plugins, home automation | The headless punktfunk CLI |
| Protocol development / latency measurement | punktfunk-probe (source build only) |
Whichever you choose, the first connection needs a one-time pairing, and Install a Client covers installing, updating and removing it.