punktfunk/docs-site/content/docs/install-client.md

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Install a Client	Install the Punktfunk client for the device you're streaming to — Linux, Steam Deck, Windows, macOS, iOS, or Android.

This page is the install path for each client device. For what each client is and which to pick, see Clients; to install the host, see Install the Host. Whichever client you install, the first connection needs a one-time pairing. If the app installs but your host doesn't appear in its list, start at Troubleshooting → The host isn't found on the network.

Already installed? Skip to Keeping a client up to date or Removing a client.

The links below are the stable channel (moves on vX.Y.Z releases). For the latest main build, use the canary channel — TestFlight / Play Internal, the …Canary.flatpakref, or the canary/ download URLs. See Release Channels.

Pick your device

Device	Install
Linux desktop / laptop	Flatpak (any distro) or native apt/rpm/Arch packages
Steam Deck	Decky plugin for Gaming Mode, or Flatpak in Desktop Mode
Windows	Signed MSIX from the package registry
macOS	Notarized .dmg from the releases page
iPhone / iPad / Apple TV	TestFlight beta
Android / Android TV	Google Play, or sideload the APK
LG webOS TV	Community client (sideloaded .ipk)
Anything else (browser, old phone, TV)	Moonlight

Linux desktop (Flatpak)

The recommended path on any Flatpak distro — install once, then flatpak update tracks new builds. One command adds the signed unom remote, pulls the GNOME runtime from Flathub automatically, and installs the client:

flatpak install --user https://flatpak.unom.io/io.unom.Punktfunk.flatpakref
flatpak run io.unom.Punktfunk

Updates, from then on — without sudo (this is a --user install; sudo flatpak update only touches the system scope and silently skips it):

flatpak update                       # or: flatpak update --user io.unom.Punktfunk

Prefer your native package manager? The client also ships as real packages (add the repo once — see the linked guide — then it tracks updates with your normal apt upgrade / dnf upgrade / pacman -Syu; a layered Atomic install needs one extra step, under Keeping a client up to date):

Distro	Install	Guide
Ubuntu 26.04 or newer	sudo apt install punktfunk-client	packaging/debian
Fedora	sudo dnf install punktfunk-client	Fedora for the /etc/yum.repos.d/punktfunk.repo block (pick the group matching your release), then packaging/rpm
Fedora Atomic / Bazzite	The Flatpak above — no layering. rpm-ostree install punktfunk-client only if you already layer packages	Bazzite for why layering is a last resort; packaging/rpm for the bazzite group repo block
Arch	sudo pacman -Syu punktfunk-client (signed binary repo)	Arch Linux

The client .deb needs SDL3 and GTK4 ≥ 4.20, which Ubuntu 24.04 LTS doesn't ship, so apt install punktfunk-client can't satisfy its dependencies there. On 24.04 (or any older distro) use the Flatpak above — it carries its own libadwaita and SDL3. This limit is the client's alone: the host .deb is built separately and installs on 24.04 LTS through 26.04.

Then launch it, pick your host from the list, and stream. Every one of these packages — Flatpak included — also installs the headless punktfunk command for scripts:

punktfunk hosts list --probe    # saved hosts, each with a live reachability check
punktfunk launch <host-ref>     # stream to one, waking it first if it's asleep

Under the Flatpak, reach it as flatpak run --command=punktfunk io.unom.Punktfunk hosts list. The older punktfunk-client --connect <host>:9777 still works for existing scripts. Full verb list: Clients → the punktfunk CLI.

Steam Deck

Most Deck users want Gaming Mode: install the Decky plugin and a Punktfunk panel lands in the Quick Access Menu, so you can find a host, get let in (a PIN, or a request the host's operator approves), and stream without dropping to the desktop. Everything else — settings, the game library, adding a host by address — is one tap away in the client's own gamepad UI. Follow the Steam Deck (Decky) guide — it walks through Decky Loader, the plugin, and the one-time client install.

The plugin doesn't decode video itself — it drives whichever punktfunk-client is installed on the Deck. The Flatpak below is the tested default; a native package or a sysext works too. If your client isn't one the plugin can update for you (a sysext, a nix profile, a source build), the panel shows you the update command instead of an Update button. The Gaming Mode panel comes from the plugin, so a client on its own won't add it. The Decky guide covers installing both, so start there.

For Desktop Mode (or to add the client to Game Mode as a non-Steam app yourself), install the Flatpak exactly as above — it carries its own libadwaita + SDL3 and survives SteamOS updates:

flatpak install --user https://flatpak.unom.io/io.unom.Punktfunk.flatpakref

See packaging/flatpak.

Windows

The Windows client ships as a signed MSIX in the package registry, signed with a publicly trusted certificate — so there is nothing to import and nothing to trust by hand. Download, install.

1. Download the package. Each channel keeps one fixed URL, so this line always fetches the current build — in PowerShell:

   curl.exe -LO https://git.unom.io/api/packages/unom/generic/punktfunk-client-windows/latest/punktfunk-client-windows_x64.msix
   

   Swap _x64 for _arm64 on an Arm device, and latest for canary to track main. The same file is attached to every release, and every build is also kept under its own version on the packages page (generic group, punktfunk-client-windows).

2. Install it:

   # use the _arm64 file instead on an Arm device
   Add-AppxPackage .\punktfunk-client-windows_x64.msix
   

   If Windows reports a missing dependency, install the Windows App Runtime 2.x (the MSIX depends on Microsoft.WindowsAppRuntime.2), then re-run Add-AppxPackage.

   Install from a signed-in desktop session. Over a remote, non-interactive session (SSH, an RMM tool) Add-AppxPackage can fail with 0x80070005 when the Windows App Runtime it depends on is in use and Windows can't restart the apps holding it.

3. Launch Punktfunk from the Start menu and pick your host. The package also adds a second entry, Punktfunk Console — the same client as a controller-driven fullscreen interface for a TV or HTPC — and the headless punktfunk command on your PATH.

The Windows client's 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 solid alternative for Windows.

macOS

Download the notarized disk image from the releases page — Punktfunk-<version>.dmg. It's Developer-ID signed, notarized, and stapled, so Gatekeeper opens it without warnings:

1. Open Punktfunk-<version>.dmg and drag Punktfunk to Applications.
2. Launch it, pick your host from On this network, and pair.

The Mac app is also in the TestFlight beta; the DMG is the no-account path.

iOS, iPadOS, Apple TV

The Apple app is in TestFlight beta — one universal build covers iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and the Mac. Install Apple's TestFlight app, then join:

Join the Punktfunk beta on TestFlight →

Open the app, and your hosts appear automatically under On this network.

Android

The Android client (phone + Android TV — one package, the TV layout is the same app in leanback mode) is published on Google Play. It's a public listing: no invite, no tester list.

Get Punktfunk on Google Play →

Install it, open the app, and pick your host.

Prefer not to go through Play? The signed APK is published publicly on every build, so you can sideload it instead — no Play account needed:

https://git.unom.io/api/packages/unom/generic/punktfunk-android/latest/punktfunk-android.apk

Swap latest for canary to track main. Release APKs are also attached to each release. Android asks you to allow installs from your browser or file manager the first time.

Canary on Play is a separate Internal testing track, and that one is invite-only — ask on Discord and we'll add your Google account. The canary APK above needs no invite.

LG webOS TV (community)

Community project. pf-webos is built and maintained by dyptan-io, not the Punktfunk team — file issues and bugs on its own repo.

LG's webOS doesn't allow apps outside the LG Content Store without sideloading, so install needs Developer Mode and the Homebrew Channel once:

1. Enable Developer Mode on the TV and install the Homebrew Channel — follow its install guide if you haven't done this before.
2. Grab the latest .ipk from the pf-webos releases page.
3. Install it: either sideload with ares-install / the project's task deploy TV_HOST=root@<tv-ip> (see the repo's README), or side-copy the .ipk onto the TV and install it from the Homebrew Channel's app.
4. Launch Punktfunk from the TV's launcher, discover your host over LAN (or add it by IP), and pair with a PIN.

Anything else — Moonlight

Any device with a Moonlight client (browser, old phone, smart TV) connects over GameStream with no punktfunk-specific software. See Connect with Moonlight.

Keeping a client up to date

Every platform is released from one tag. A client and a host don't have to be on the same version, but keeping them close is the least surprising. (Updating the host is its own page: Updating.)

Client	How it updates
Linux Flatpak	flatpak update --user io.unom.Punktfunk — without sudo (see the Flatpak section)
Linux apt / dnf / pacman	your normal sudo apt upgrade / sudo dnf upgrade / sudo pacman -Syu, or the app's own updater below
Fedora Atomic (layered)	rpm-ostree upgrade on its own is not enough — see the note below the table
Windows MSIX	no self-update — download the newer .msix as in Windows and re-run Add-AppxPackage. Coming from 0.28.1 or earlier, see the note below the table
macOS .dmg	download the newer Punktfunk-<version>.dmg and drag it over the copy in Applications
iOS / iPadOS / tvOS	TestFlight updates it
Android	Google Play updates it; if you sideloaded, download the APK again and install over it
Steam Deck (Decky)	the panel's Update button — see Steam Deck → Updating
LG webOS	install the newer .ipk the same way you installed the first one

Fedora Atomic, if you layered the client. rpm-ostree upgrade upgrades the base image and only re-resolves layered packages when that base actually changes — so on a base that sits still it keeps reporting no updates while a newer punktfunk-client waits in the repo. Force a re-resolve of just that layer, in one transaction, then reboot to activate it:

sudo rpm-ostree refresh-md --force
sudo rpm-ostree update --uninstall punktfunk-client --install punktfunk-client
systemctl reboot

The client's own updater below runs exactly that dance for you, if you'd rather not remember it. (A layered host has the same trap — Updating covers it.)

Windows, coming from 0.28.1 or earlier — uninstall first. Those builds were signed with our own self-signed certificate. The move to a publicly trusted one changes the package's publisher, and an MSIX's identity is its name plus its publisher — so Windows treats the new package as a different app rather than an update, and installing it leaves you with two Punktfunk entries. Remove the old one first, then install the new .msix as above:

Get-AppxPackage *Punktfunk* | Remove-AppxPackage

This is one-time; releases after that upgrade in place. Note that a packaged app's settings live inside its package, so removing the old one also removes this client's identity and its paired hosts — expect to pair again once. Nothing on the host side is affected.

The Linux client can update itself

The native Linux client checks its own channel and can apply the update in place, so you don't have to remember which package manager installed it:

punktfunk-client --check-update    # prints installed vs available for this box's channel
punktfunk-client --apply-update    # install it

--check-update is scriptable: it exits 0 when you're up to date, 10 when an update is available, and 1 when it couldn't tell (offline, or the check is disabled) — "couldn't tell" is deliberately not "up to date". Add --json to either for machine-readable output.

Applying an update needs root, so it's opt-in: join the punktfunk-update group once, and a packaged root helper does the install (the same group and the same grant as the host's one-click updating, described in Updating).

sudo usermod -aG punktfunk-update $USER

Membership is re-read on every check, so there's no need to log out and back in. Without it, --check-update prints the opt-in line and the plain package-manager command instead. On a Flatpak install --apply-update isn't used at all — the client tells you to run flatpak update.

Removing a client

The removal command for every client, and what removal deliberately leaves behind — this device's identity and its saved hosts, and the pairing on the host — are on Uninstalling → Clients. The same page covers forgetting your saved hosts without uninstalling anything, and removing the host.