Pi-Apps - The most powerful app store for Raspberry Pi

Table of Contents

• What is Pi-Apps?
• How to install Pi-Apps?
• How to launch Pi-Apps?
• How to update Pi-Apps?
• Basic usage

While ago, I got my first Raspberry Pi. Like most of the Linux users (specifically, Raspberry Pi users) transferring from Windows, I am getting crazy with these questions:

How to install emoji font on my pi?

Why Discord is not supporting ARM architecture?

The built-in screenshot tool really sucks...

Where can I install ZOOM?????

I found a bunch of tutorials online, but most of them are outdated, and even broke my system.

And... I found Pi-Apps! 🤩

wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Botspot/pi-apps/master/install | bash

Now I am able to install emoji fonts, a usable Discord client, a powerful screenshot tool, and even ZOOM Meeting client!

What is Pi-Apps? 🤔

Pi-Apps is a well-maintained collection of app installation-scripts that you can run with one click.

In short, it is an app store.

Unlike the tutorials or blog posts on the web, Pi-Apps has a beautiful GUI, constantly maintained scripts, bug reporting system, and a cheerful community!

Pi-Apps now serves over 1,000,000 people and hosts nearly 200 apps.

Looks cool... How can I install it on my Pi? ⏬

Here is the one-liner command 😎 :

wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Botspot/pi-apps/master/install | bash

Supported systems:

• Raspberry Pi OS (32-bit/64-bit) (Buster/Bullseye)

  • Fully supported.

• Twister OS

  • Fully supported, preinstalled.

• Kali Linux, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Mate, any other Debian-based ARM OS

  • Pi-Apps should mostly work but you may encounter errors for some apps.

• Android, ChromeOS, non-ARM, non-Debian operating systems

  • Not supported. Your mileage may vary.

To install Pi-Apps manually if you prefer to see what happens under the hood

git clone https://github.com/Botspot/pi-apps ~/pi-apps
~/pi-apps/install

To uninstall Pi-Apps
This will not uninstall any apps that you installed through Pi-Apps.

~/pi-apps/uninstall

Now I have it installed... How to launch it? 🤟

• From the start menu on Raspberry Pi OS:
  • Accessories -> Pi Apps
• Use the terminal-command: pi-apps
• Run Pi-Apps from its directory: ~/pi-apps/gui

How To Update Pi-Apps? ⏫

• Pi-apps will automatically check for updates on boot and display a notification to update.
• To manually run the updater, use this command: ~/pi-apps/updater gui
• It also supports a cli interface: ~/pi-apps/updater cli

Basic usage 🔧

Pi-Apps is very easy to use!

• This is the main window.
  • Search for apps.
  • Open the selected category. (you can also double-click on the category)

• Opening a category will reveal a list of apps:
  • Go back to the main list of categories.
  • Install the selected app.
  • Uninstall the selected app.
  • See more details about the app. (see details window below)

• This is the details window:
  • Go back to the list of apps.
  • View the shell-scripts responsible for installing or uninstalling the selected app.
  • Modify the app's description, icons, or scripts. (This button is hidden unless you enable it in Settings)
  • Install the selected app.
  • Uninstall the selected app.
  • See who played a part in adding the app.
  • If the selected app failed to install, this button will allow you to see its error log.

• Pi-Apps Settings can be configured by launching Menu -> Preferences -> Pi-Apps Settings. In addition to changeable settings, this window also gives access to these tools:
  • Does that one app seem to be in the wrong category? With this button, you can change it.
  • Create a new app with a wizard-style set of dialogs. We recommend reading the tutorial.
  • View the past weeks-worth of installation logs. This is useful if you ever encounter an app that won't install and want to see the terminal output after you closed the terminal.
  • This allows you to easily import a 3rd-party app from elsewhere. It helps Pi-Apps developers test upcoming apps for reliability on a variety of systems.

To learn more about Pi-Apps, read the documentation and the wiki.

If you find this article helpful, consider buying me a coffee!