Install Element Desktop on TailsOS

Flatpak

Note: If you already have Flatpak installed and the Flathub repo configured, skip to Element-Desktop.

Starting with Tails OS version 6.14, Flatpak comes pre-packaged with Tails. This complicates the saving of our Flatpak settings, because they must be re-loaded from Persistent Storage after every restart. To resolve this, simply uninstalling the pre-packaged Flatpak, and then installing it again will allow Persistent Storage to recognize it properly. This is a one-time operation, and is detailed below.

1. Start Tails with Persistent Storage unlocked and set an Administration password.
2. Open Applications ▸ System Tools ▸ Console.
3. Update existing packages:

sudo apt update -y

4. Uninstall the pre-packaged version of Flatpak:

sudo apt remove flatpak -y

5. Install a fresh version of Flatpak:

sudo apt install flatpak -y

6. When prompted by Tails, click Install every time to make it Persistent.
7. Add the Flathub repository to Flatpak:

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

Note: Ignore this warning if shown: torsocks[PID]: [syscall] Unsupported syscall number 315.

Element-Desktop

1. Install Element Desktop:

torsocks flatpak install -y flathub im.riot.Riot

Note: If the installation fails or times out, simply execute the install command again.

2. Create a launcher to run Element via Tor with Wayland flags and audio access:

cat > ~/.local/share/applications/Element-TOR.desktop <<'EOF'
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Element (TOR)
Comment=Matrix client via Flatpak with Wayland flags and Tor proxy
TryExec=/usr/bin/flatpak
# Pass %U through Flatpak file-forwarding to the sandboxed app
Exec=/usr/bin/flatpak run --user --file-forwarding --env=ALL_PROXY=socks5h://127.0.0.1:9050 --env=HTTPS_PROXY=socks5h://127.0.0.1:9050 --env=HTTP_PROXY=socks5h://127.0.0.1:9050 im.riot.Riot --proxy-server=socks5://127.0.0.1:9050 --enable-features=UseOzonePlatform,WebRTCPipeWireCapturer --ozone-platform=wayland @@u %U @@
Terminal=false
Icon=im.riot.Riot
Categories=Network;
StartupWMClass=element
Keywords=Matrix;Element;
EOF

A new application named Element (TOR) appears in Activities Overview. Use this launcher to run Element over Tor.

(Optional) If it doesn’t appear, refresh the desktop database:

update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications 2>/dev/null || true

3. Create a “Flatpak Refresh” launcher to update apps and prune unused runtimes (with logging):

cat > ~/.local/share/applications/Flatpak-Refresh.desktop <<'EOF'
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Flatpak Refresh
Comment=Update user Flatpaks via Tor; log to ~/Persistent/flatpak-refresh-logs
TryExec=/usr/bin/flatpak
Exec=/usr/bin/env bash -lc 'set -Eeuo pipefail; LOGDIR="$HOME/Persistent/flatpak-refresh-logs"; mkdir -p "$LOGDIR"; TS=$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S); LOG="$LOGDIR/flatpak-refresh-$TS.log"; echo "== Flatpak Refresh: $(date) ==" | tee -a "$LOG"; /usr/bin/torsocks /usr/bin/flatpak remote-add --user --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo 2>&1 | tee -a "$LOG"; /usr/bin/torsocks /usr/bin/flatpak update --user -y --appstream 2>&1 | tee -a "$LOG"; /usr/bin/torsocks /usr/bin/flatpak update --user -y 2>&1 | tee -a "$LOG"; /usr/bin/flatpak uninstall --user --unused -y 2>&1 | tee -a "$LOG"; command -v notify-send >/dev/null 2>&1 && notify-send "Flatpak Refresh" "Success. Log Created: $LOG"; echo "Success. Log Created: $LOG" | tee -a "$LOG"'
Terminal=true
Icon=system-software-update
Categories=System;
Keywords=flatpak;update;uninstall;unused;log;refresh
EOF

A new application named Flatpak Refresh appears in Activities Overview. Run it regularly to update your Flatpak applications.

(Optional) Refresh the desktop database if needed:

update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications 2>/dev/null || true