Some minor issues with flatpak apps after reboot

AwwsmGaurav · 2 June 2026 18:39

So I am experiencing this issue for a while now… but just realised that it’s happening with multiple flatpak applications than just Zen Browser which is loudest to show this issue…

So basically what’s happening is when I restart or just normal startup the system after shutdown, then after logging in and everything, the flatpak apps don’t seem to fetch the fonts or there’s some sort of problem in config I’m not understanding the actual issue…

Zen Browser shows this issue the best, as when I launch it, the fonts in Zen Browser are generic fonts like in Firefox, even though I have set custom font in zen settings…
plus the zen browser draws it’s own window decorations, so the minimize, maximize and close buttons are drawn by zen…
When this font issue happens, the minimize and maximize buttons are just not there at all…

So as usual, I thought this must be a Zen Browser issue, apparently not, I’ve made an issue on the GitHub repo,they couldn’t find the cause or recreate it…

github.com/zen-browser/desktop

Sometimes Zen Launches with no minimize/maximize buttons and generic fonts.

opened 04:38AM - 23 May 26 UTC

AwwsmGaurav

Bug component: other platform: linux

### Preliminary Checks - [x] I have read and understood the important section a…bove. - [x] I have searched existing issues and avoided creating duplicates. - [x] I am not filing an enhancement request. - [x] I have checked that this issue cannot be reproduced on Mozilla Firefox. - [x] I have checked that this issue can be reproduced once I removed all my Mods and Custom CSS. ### What happened? I am using flatpak version of Zen on Arch Linux. A lot of the times after system restart, the browser launches without maximize and minimize buttons. Only way to fix this is to log out and back in then open again. The close button too is very different than normal mode close button, it's larger than usual and looks a little different. In addition to that, I have set the default font in settings>preferences to custom font Galada (derivative of Lobster font family), when this issue happens, it's also the generic font everywhere in browser UI than the one I set to be used. This has been happening every now and then for last month or so, first I thought this must just be a small issue and will be fixed automatically. Another thing I noticed which might help in identifying the core cause of this : when the bugged version is being used there are no functional problems, though things like highlight colors (when you select text or hover over any UI button, the highlight color matched system theme color of KDE Plasma, and the right click menu UI looks a little like generic firefox ones (maybe that's just because of the generic fonts? idk) ### Expected behavior The Browser should launch with maximize and Minimize buttons everytime and follow the font settings I put in preferences. ### Actual behavior After system restart the browser launches without Minimize/Maximize buttons and generic font. ### Steps to reproduce It happens very often after restart of the system, but not every single time, in addition, when it happens simply quitting the app and relaunching doesn't fix it, I have to log out and in again to fix it up. ### Screenshots and videos <img width="1366" height="768" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/6ded9aa9-e201-4fbc-8e43-c98ffd4256f9" /> In this screen shot you can see the minimize/maximize buttons are not there and the close button is also different than usual, and the font is generic ### Version 1.19.13b ### What platform are you seeing the problem on? Linux (Flatpak) ### What component is this issue related to? Other ### Relevant log output if applicable ```shell ```

And just as luck, I noticed another flatpak app (specifically MCPE Launcher) doing the same generic font thing… then I thought this must be bigger issue than just Zen Browser.

One key detail about this situation is, if I log out and in again, everything works as it should, all the fonts are fine, the buttons render okay and everything…
And this happen everytime with clean startup…

linux-aarhus · 3 June 2026 04:21

I know nothing about the compilation of the files necessary - but your issue is not the first I read about.

The flatpak format is intended to be self-contained.

Truth is - they are not necessarily 100% self-contained.

The author of the flatpak may have decided to exclude some parts; parts the author may expect to be available on all target systems.

In your case it is a font(-family), other cases has been theming.

The question in this case - which font is expected? And I have no idea.

pwx · 3 June 2026 04:33

Did you try flatpak -v run or even flatpak -vv run and inspect the output?

AwwsmGaurav · 3 June 2026 13:29

That doesn’t explain why it works after relogging…
I don’t really understand the technical stuff yet, but I do pay to technical stuff on everything, which lets me guess roughly what might have happened…

This issue to me seems like something related to (what I’d call) the ‘flatpak system’, on fresh log in something seems to not fetch a file or whatever dependency there might be… which is causing silent error and the flatpak relies on generic system stuff than it’s own config.

More like a temporary permission issue..
Because when this happens, the zen browser is using system’s global theme color…
Maybe KDE Plasma is injecting something forcefully…

And you may have noticed that the Zen browser’s minimize and maximize buttons don’t render
today I noticed same happening with Warehouse’s buttons…
Which makes me think the Plasma theme is somehow kinda interrupting the flatppak app’s own process to render its own elements by itself.

But I do not understand why relogging fixes it…

No what does that do actually…?

I might be wrong, but I really think I noticed that the same thing happens with other user accounts… I used user2 with hyprland and I am pretty sure it happened there as well..
Also happened with clean new user with Plasma…

I may have to test it.

I set the custom font to ‘Galada’ which is a derivative of ‘Lobster’ font but with Indian native language characters, I use that just in case anyone messages me in Hindi language, but mostly I like the Lobster font because it’s closest font to my actual IRL handwriting.

I got that from google fonts and it is installed at user level not at system level…

But it is not the problem, the buttons are the problem, I now use keyboard shortcuts to do that stuff…

And yes, having multiple DEs installed is not the problem here, as I have hyprland installed many months ago, and I never booted into it even once until recently, and this issue started to happen before I ever booted into hyprland, that too was with different user…

Just to be sure, I’ll see what happens with fresh install when I get my hands on the framework laptop…