You have an .AppImage file and would like to treat it like an installed Linux app.

The solution:

Create a custom .desktop file.

Download and Prepare

  1. Download the .AppImage file and an icon to your ~/Downloads directory.
  2. Move the .AppImage file to /usr/bin:
sudo mv ~/Downloads/cryptomator.AppImage /usr/bin
  1. Make it executable:
sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/cryptomator.AppImage
  1. Optionally, extract the .AppImage to grab the icon:
./cryptomator.AppImage --appimage-extract
  1. The icon is typically located in squashfs-root/usr/share/icons.
  2. Save or move the icon under /usr/share/icons/custom/cryptomator.png:
sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/icons/custom && sudo mv squashfs-root/usr/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/org.cryptomator.Cryptomator.png /usr/share/icons/custom/cryptomator.png

Installation Options

System-wide Installation

To make the application accessible to all users, use the /usr/bin directory and /usr/share/applications for the .desktop file. Use sudo for the commands.

Local Installation

If you want the application to be accessible only by the current user, place the .AppImage in ~/.local/bin and the .desktop file in ~/.local/share/applications. No need for sudo in this case.

Create .desktop file

Either grab the .desktop from the extracted folder or create a new one:

  1. Create a .desktop file under /usr/share/applications/cryptomator.desktop (make sure to remove the comments):
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Cryptomator
Comment=Cloud Storage Encryption Utility
Exec=/usr/bin/cryptomator.AppImage                 # replace with your .AppImage location
Icon=/usr/share/icons/custom/cryptomator.png       # replace with your icon location
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Utility;Security;FileTools;
StartupNotify=true
StartupWMClass=org.cryptomator.launcher.Cryptomator$MainApp
MimeType=application/vnd.cryptomator.encrypted;application/vnd.cryptomator.vault;

That’s it! Your AppImage is now registered as a desktop application in Linux. Choose the installation option based on whether you want it accessible to all users or only for the current user.