When Discord is outdated on Linux, it pushes you to install their binary. (Yes, even with Flatpak and Snap)

This window appears when Discord is outdated. The button takes you to a direct link to a .deb package, which can be installed effortlessly through a GUI. Discord is then closed. Linux users which are not using a Debian-based distribution are offered a tarball.

This is a public issue aimed at Discord’s Linux client.

Linux, Discord users who have chosen to install Discord through either Flatpak or Snap, either for the added security and privacy, or simply to make the package’s management easier, with privacy as a known or unknown side effect, are prompted with a request from the Discord client to download their binary. Installing this binary instead of updating the package through Flatpak or Snap will install another version of Discord that the user might choose to use as their main version for simplicity.

For Ubuntu users, the majority of Linux users, what happens when you click this button happens quickly. You’re taken directly to Discord’s official site for their binary. The download can be executed with a GUI package manager on Ubuntu. Then, all the user has to do is to click an install button. If they haven’t caught on yet that this isn’t their Snap or Flatpak, they’ll see that it works and replace their shortcuts. They might catch on after some time, until which they will be using Discord’s binary, or they might not, start to rely on this system for Discord updates, and eventually remove their old package.

Whether this is an attempt at dodging security measures taken by the Linux community or simply bad UX design, it has to change.

The Linux community values their privacy and others’. That’s something Discord needs to be taught.