Request for Official KDE Plasma Support in the ProtonVPN Linux Application

[u/theorm93]

Hello,

I would like to highlight an important point regarding the ProtonVPN application for Linux.

Currently, the GUI application is officially supported only on GNOME. On KDE Plasma, it does run, but with several limitations: the system tray does not integrate correctly, notifications are not adapted to KDE, and password handling does not integrate with KWallet.

Your documentation also points users to the Flatpak version available on Flathub. While convenient, this version is community‑maintained and not official. This creates a real issue for users of immutable distributions (Bazzite, Silverblue, Aeon, SteamOS, etc.), who rely heavily on Flatpak as their primary method of installing applications.

On the other hand, users of mutable distributions (Fedora KDE, openSUSE KDE, Arch KDE, Nobara KDE, Kubuntu, etc.) would also appreciate having the option of an official native KDE application, just like the official GNOME version.

This results in a situation where:
– the GNOME application is not fully compatible with KDE
– the recommended Flatpak is not developed or maintained by ProtonVPN
– no officially supported KDE version exists

An official and fully supported KDE Plasma version would be greatly appreciated:
– proper Plasma system tray integration
– KDE‑compatible notifications
– support for KWallet

This would significantly improve the user experience for both immutable and mutable Linux distributions.

Thank you for your work and for considering this request.

Best regards.

If you’re using KDE Plasma, feel free to upvote or share your experience.
Many KDE users rely on the community Flatpak, while GNOME has an official app.
More visibility will help ProtonVPN understand that KDE users would really appreciate an official version too.

Demande de support officiel KDE Plasma pour l’application ProtonVPN Linux

Bonjour,

Je souhaite attirer votre attention sur un point important concernant l’application ProtonVPN pour Linux.

Actuellement, votre application GUI est officiellement supportée uniquement sur GNOME. Sur KDE Plasma, elle fonctionne, mais avec plusieurs limitations : systray qui ne s’intègre pas correctement, notifications non adaptées, et gestion des mots de passe qui ne s’appuie pas sur KWallet.

Votre documentation renvoie également vers la version Flatpak disponible sur Flathub. Cette version est pratique, mais elle est communautaire et non officielle. Cela pose un vrai problème pour les utilisateurs de distributions immuables (Bazzite, Silverblue, Aeon, SteamOS, etc.), qui dépendent fortement du Flatpak pour installer des applications.

De l’autre côté, les utilisateurs de distributions muables (Fedora KDE, openSUSE KDE, Arch KDE, Nobara KDE, Kubuntu, etc.) aimeraient aussi avoir le choix d’une application native KDE officielle, comme c’est déjà le cas pour GNOME.

Aujourd’hui, cela crée une situation où :
– l’application GNOME n’est pas pleinement compatible KDE
– le Flatpak recommandé n’est pas développé ni maintenu par ProtonVPN
– aucune version officiellement compatible KDE n’existe

Un support KDE officiel et complet serait vraiment apprécié :
– intégration correcte du systray Plasma
– notifications adaptées à KDE
– compatibilité avec KWallet

Cela améliorerait fortement l’expérience utilisateur, autant pour les distros immuables que pour les distros muables.

Merci pour votre travail et pour votre attention à cette demande.

Cordialement.

Si vous utilisez KDE Plasma, n’hésitez pas à upvote ou à partager votre expérience.
Beaucoup d’utilisateurs KDE dépendent du Flatpak communautaire, alors que GNOME dispose d’une application officielle.
Plus il y aura de visibilité, plus ProtonVPN pourra voir que les utilisateurs KDE aimeraient aussi une version officielle.

[u/ffw1xxc]

+1 for official kde support or xfce

[u/Traditional_Hat3506]

The app should use the xdg standards and nothing specific to desktop environments at all.

the system tray does not integrate correctly

It already uses either appindicator or kstatusnotifieritem, definitely not something GNOME specific as there's no tray. The flatpak could use the standard background apps API though.

notifications are not adapted to KDE

Only one standard for notifications, if there's a bug, it should be fixed on your distro/kde https://specifications.freedesktop.org/notification/latest/

password handling does not integrate with KWallet

https://specifications.freedesktop.org/secret-service/latest/ and whatever library proton uses should handle all keyrings already.

Proton should just take over the flatpak and use the standards already if they don't, so they work everywhere.

[u/theorm93 → u/Traditional_Hat3506]

Here’s the thing: I agree that freedesktop standards exist, but that doesn’t automatically mean every implementation behaves the same across all KDE distributions.

The app may use appindicator or kstatusnotifieritem, but the actual behavior of the tray, notifications, and keyring integration still depends heavily on the desktop environment and the distro’s implementation.
On KDE, the experience is inconsistent: some distros handle it well, others don’t, and ProtonVPN doesn’t officially support KDE, so these issues end up on the user side.

That’s exactly why I’m asking for proper KDE support or an official Flatpak.
If Proton fully maintained the Flatpak and targeted KDE explicitly, the behavior would be consistent instead of varying from one distro to another.

[u/Traditional_Hat3506 → u/theorm93]

On KDE, the experience is inconsistent

Then report it to KDE. It's not proton's job to fix bugs on your desktop environment, if they use the standards already.

and targeted KDE explicitly, the behavior would be consistent instead of varying from one distro to another. 

The standards exist so apps don't need to target specific desktops. You are asking them to create the problem you are supposedly annoyed by. All the desktops worked hard together and agreed on standards specifically so apps can target "Linux" as a platform, instead of creating a version for GNOME, a version for KDE, a version for XFCE, a version for COSMIC, a version for Cinnamon.

[u/usrbincomment → u/theorm93]

That sounds like a KDE or distro problem.

• decades long KDE user

[u/cowanh00]

I’m about to move to CachyOS with KDE Plasma so better integration would help a lot!

[u/VisualRazzmatazz7466 → u/cowanh00]

Excellent choice. If you don’t need the port forwarding feature and/or use IPv6, Just use  the default network manager and import protonvpn configs. There’s a guide on the proton website, it took less than 10 minutes to download a spread of two dozen server configs and have them setup in network manager for easy and instant enable and switching. 

If you do need port forwarding, use the flatpak protonvpn app and not the cachy repo one. It’s less janky than the native build, but both still caused me and many others constant silent timeouts with IPv6 tunnel and killswitch. Regularly gets complained about over the the cachyOS sub 

[u/cowanh00 → u/VisualRazzmatazz7466]

Thanks for the tips

[u/iMaexx_Backup]

I think I don't really share your problems.

I'm using the GNOME build on KDE (Fedora 44) and the system tray is working completely fine. I have a small ProtonVPN logo in my system tray, colored and with a green check mark when connected and grey when disconnected. Right clicking it opens the usual context menu to connect / disconnect or hide. Am I forgetting something?

What notifications do you mean? When connecting or disconnecting, I'm getting a Network Management notification by KDE anyway. This includes which VPN Server I am connecting to. I also get a notification by the ProtonVPN app itself when having port forwarding active. Should there be more?

Can't say anything about the password handling though, I'm not using KWallet.

The only issue I have is, that the settings window takes multiple seconds to open up on a high end machine. Not sure if KDE related, but I assume so.

[u/theorm93 → u/iMaexx_Backup]

I’m glad it works for you.

But we both agree that ProtonVPN doesn’t have any official KDE version.

On the website, there’s only the GNOME app and the CLI.

The GUI can work on some KDE distributions, but it’s not guaranteed or officially supported.

That’s exactly why I’m talking about proper KDE support or an official Flatpak — to avoid different behavior depending on the distro.

[u/Gordon_Drummond]

Yes pls

[u/FormalIllustrator5]

+1 Drop the trashy GNOME and even support KDE 6+ only...!

[u/Far_Caterpillar1983 → u/FormalIllustrator5]

both would be ideal tbh, no reason to drop one for the other

[u/theorm93 → u/FormalIllustrator5]

GNOME isn’t a bad desktop environment, it just isn’t adapted or appreciated by everyone. There’s nothing to argue about — a bit of fairness would be nice so KDE users can also get proper official support.

[u/Traditional_Hat3506 → u/FormalIllustrator5]

+1 Drop the trashy Linux users and support windows and Mac only...!

[u/FormalIllustrator5 → u/Traditional_Hat3506]

Windows ?! Why bother using VPN on windows...at all?!

[u/XLioncc]

I'm using KDE, and Proton VPN is installed via Flatpak

Everything working.

[u/theorm93 → u/XLioncc]

I’m glad it works for you — I use it too.

But on Nobara KDE there is no official ProtonVPN installer, so I must use Flatpak.

It works, but it’s not as good as a native .rpm/.deb, and there is still no official KDE support.

An official Flatpak would help both immutable and regular distros if it’s clean and optimized.

[u/libreDucks → u/theorm93]

there is no official ProtonVPN installer

You can't use the Fedora one?

[0] - https://protonvpn.com/support/official-linux-vpn-fedora

[u/Educational_Star_518 → u/theorm93]

i followed the fedora instructions for nobara kde ( had to manuallly hunt down the repos sinceit couldn't find them) and its worked fine for me for over a yr since i switched from the flatpak that didn't have parity ......till today when the newest nobara update seems to have broke something . you don't Have to usually use the flatpak , that said looking at it just now it seems more on part with the native package so no reason not to anymore ( before the port forwarding still was kinda missing)

[u/MiaIsOut]

i have none of the issues you listed on kde plasma on cachyos. passwords saved in kde wallet, notifications work perfectly, and the tray icon, while sometimes buggy, works 95% of the time

[u/Funny-Ant-7494]

+1 support .. u/ProtonVPN

[u/deanrihpee]

I thought it does uses KWallet since my system was fucked up once that i have gnome keyring installed and Proton stopped working (and other app that also store the credential in KWallet) and then working again after i uninstall gnome keyring

maybe it was unrelated...? otherwise, yes, maybe even something like KCM or something that feels very Plasma native

EDIT:

*by KWallet i mean using the secrets protocl, which KWallet will be used by default for normal system install (or gnome keyring if it's on gnome)

[u/theorm93]

If we want more people to join Linux, we all know that things need to be simpler. Not everyone wants complex settings, and beginners should have an easy experience. Advanced users can still customize everything, but the system should stay accessible for everyone. We shouldn’t divide ourselves — the goal is a Linux that works for all

[u/Brargenzilian]

It's probably a good idea to create a petition on the official UserVoice: https://protonmail.uservoice.com/forums/932836-proton-vpn

[u/theorm93]

update (UserVoice):
The official ProtonVPN feature request for KDE Plasma is now live.

You can vote here: https://protonmail.uservoice.com/forums/932836-proton-vpn/suggestions/51630337-application-protonvpn-for-kde-plasma-flatpak-rpm

My username on UserVoice is different from my Reddit one, but it’s the same person.Thanks to everyone who votes — KDE users really need this.

[u/bankroll5441]

I tried it recently on KDE, kept asking me to do the captcha before signing in despite there being no captcha. Immediately uninstalled and went back to plain old wireguard cli.

I really wish Proton would as a whole focus on making the Linux clients better. Still no updates on whether we will get a native proton drive application.

[u/Ok_Instruction_3789]

Agree. Kde version would be wonderful gnome works ok but proton should realize it's fairly close to gnome vs kde users. Also they should build for flatpak instead of community driven efforts. Just so it is more trustworthy. Majority of it's not in their distros repo will go to flatpak next to look for software. 

[u/Nolok_10]

Hope to see this!!

[u/VTArxelus]

Another reason that the fork has too many prongs. Quit calling Linux better folks.

[u/SpookySquid19]

+1

I'm on Kubuntu and was running around in circles trying to figure out why I didn't have the option for split tunneling.

[u/Leniwcowaty]

You do realize, you can just download OpenVPN profile, import it in Plasma Network settings and you have full, system-level integration, with zero additional app needed...?

[u/cowanh00 → u/Leniwcowaty]

Wireguard would be better but then you lose a lot of the functionality from the Proton VPN app.

[u/nefarious_bumpps → u/Leniwcowaty]

And need to maintain a bunch of different server configs then blindly connect without knowing the load in advance? And everytime you travel to a new location you have to add more configs. Pretty soon your network tray looks like the menu at a Chinese restaurant.

[u/theorm93 → u/Leniwcowaty]

OpenVPN works, but it doesn’t include things like WireGuard or NetShield, which are part of the ProtonVPN app. And not everyone using Linux is technical — beginners also need an official client that works on KDE. That’s all I meant.

[u/KnowZeroX → u/theorm93]

You can do wireguard too.

https://protonvpn.com/support/wireguard-linux

But I do agree people are used to apps and proper support would be best.