25 February 2022

5 mins read

by cycool29

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I found a bunch of tutorials online, but most of them are outdated, and even broke my system.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

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.

Main window

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.