Worked for 9s
On 2 October 2026, Kagi ended official development of the Orion browser for Linux, only months after the public beta. The current Flatpak build still launches, but it will not receive security updates. This guide walks you through checking what you installed, exporting anything you care about, removing the beta cleanly, and moving daily browsing to a browser that still gets patches.
We are not rebuilding Orion. We are retiring an unsupported beta in a way that does not strand bookmarks, passwords, or a leftover Flatpak remote. The same steps work on Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, and other distributions that use Flatpak.
What You Need A Linux desktop with the Orion Linux beta installed, or a machine you want to audit for leftover packages Terminal access and permission to run flatpak commands A supported browser already installed, such as Firefox, GNOME Web (Epiphany), or a Chromium-based browser About 20 minutes, plus a password manager if Orion stored logins A note of which sites you used Orion for, so you can re-test them after the switch What Changed, in Plain Terms
Orion is Kagi’s privacy-focused browser. On macOS and iOS it uses WebKit, the same engine family as Safari. The Linux port used WebKitGTK, the GTK version of that engine, and shipped as a Flatpak from Kagi’s own repository, not from Flathub.
Kagi is a small, user-funded team. It chose not to fork Chromium, which kept the browser independent but made a third platform expensive to maintain. On 2 October 2026 the company said it would stop Linux and Windows work and focus on Apple platforms. The Linux beta stops receiving Kagi updates after that date. The unfinished Windows port will not ship from Kagi.
The useful part of the announcement is the handoff. Kagi plans to open-source the Linux and Windows code within about 30 days and has invited maintainers to write to support@kagi.com. Until a community build exists and is patched, treat the current beta as frozen software.
Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1: Confirm the beta is installed
Flatpak isolates apps, so Orion may be present even if you never see it in your distro’s package list. List Kagi apps and the remote that served them.
text Copy Copied flatpak list –app | grep -i -E ‘orion|kagi’ flatpak remotes
A typical install shows an app id such as com.kagi.Orion and a remote named orion-beta. If both commands return nothing, you do not have the beta. You can skip removal and go to the browser switch.
Also check the version. Later betas included private windows and a basic download manager. The exact build does not matter for removal, but write it down if you file a note for your team.
flatpak info com.kagi.Orion
Step 2: Decide whether anyone still needs the binary
Kagi’s own guidance is clear: the beta may keep running, but do not use it as a daily browser. Unpatched browser bugs are a direct path to account takeover and session theft.
Keep the Flatpak only if you have a short, offline reason, such as exporting data that the app itself must open. Do not leave it as the default handler for http and https links. A frozen browser handling links from email and chat is the mistake that causes real incidents.
Daily browsing, banking, work SSO, and webmail: move off Orion now One-time export of bookmarks or settings: open it once, export, then remove it Shared lab machines: remove it so the next user does not inherit an unpatched default
Step 3: Export bookmarks and settings before uninstall
Orion on Linux never reached full parity with the macOS build, so export options can be thin. Do this while the app still launches.
Open Orion and look for a bookmarks manager, usually under the main menu. Export to HTML if that option exists. HTML is the format Firefox, Chrome, and most other browsers can import. If there is no export button, select the bookmark list, copy it, and paste it into a text file as a fallback.
Passwords are the harder case. If you saved logins inside Orion, open each important account in a supported browser and reset the password, or confirm the same login already lives in your password manager. Do not assume a WebKitGTK beta wrote a standard Firefox or Chrome profile you can copy.
Flatpak user data usually lives under this path. Copy the folder only as a backup, not as something another browser will read.
text Copy Copied mkdir -p ~/orion-linux-backup cp -a ~/.var/app/com.kagi.Orion ~/orion-linux-backup/ 2>/dev/null || true ls -la ~/orion-linux-backup
If the app id differs on your system, replace com.kagi.Orion with the id from flatpak list. The backup is for your records. It is not a supported migration format.
Step 4: Point links at a maintained browser
Set a default browser before you uninstall, so file managers and chat apps do not fail open. On GNOME:
text Copy Copied xdg-settings set default-web-browser firefox.desktop xdg-settings get default-web-browser
If you use GNOME Web, the desktop file is often org.gnome.Epiphany.desktop. On KDE, set the default in System Settings under Applications, then confirm with the same xdg-settings get command. Open a link from a terminal to prove the handoff:
xdg-open https://example.com
Step 5: Remove the Flatpak and the beta remote
Uninstall the app, then delete its data directory, then drop the remote so a later update does not offer the frozen build again.
text Copy Copied flatpak uninstall -y com.kagi.Orion flatpak uninstall -y –delete-data com.kagi.Orion rm -rf ~/.var/app/com.kagi.Orion flatpak remote-delete orion-beta
Warning: –delete-data removes the Flatpak data store for that app. Run the backup in Step 3 first if you have not already exported bookmarks.
Confirm the remote is gone. A leftover remote is harmless by itself, but it is how an old beta gets reinstalled by habit.
text Copy Copied flatpak remotes flatpak list –app | grep -i orion || echo “Orion Flatpak not installed”
Step 6: Import what you saved into a supported browser
Firefox is the most straightforward landing place on Linux. It is actively patched, and it imports HTML bookmarks from the Library menu. GNOME Web is the closest engine match, because it is also WebKitGTK, but it is a lighter browser and may not cover every extension you used in Orion.
In Firefox, open the bookmarks manager, choose Import and Backup, and select the HTML file from Step 3. Sign in to your Firefox account only if you want those bookmarks synced. For work machines, a local profile is often the better default.
Re-test the sites that mattered:
Work single sign-on and any internal web app Banking and payment pages Sites that needed a specific extension or user-agent Downloads, so you know the new browser’s download folder
Step 7: Pick the replacement with a clear rule
Orion’s appeal was a non-Chromium engine, built-in blocking, and no telemetry. You can keep parts of that without waiting on an unmaintained beta.
Firefox: best general replacement, strong tracking protection, wide extension support GNOME Web (Epiphany): WebKitGTK, close to the Linux Orion stack, fewer extensions Chromium or a hardened Chromium build: best site compatibility, different engine trade-off
Install GNOME Web from your distro if you want the engine comparison. On Debian and Ubuntu:
text Copy Copied sudo apt update sudo apt install epiphany-browser
On Fedora:
sudo dnf install epiphany
Do not install a random “Orion Linux” package from a third-party site. The official beta came from Kagi’s Flatpak remote. Anything else claiming to be the Linux build, before Kagi publishes source, should be treated as untrusted.
Step 8: Watch the open-source handoff, do not build from rumor
Kagi said the Linux and Windows code would be published within about 30 days of the 2 October 2026 announcement, with more detail to follow. A repository appearing is not the same as a secure daily browser.
If you maintain software and want to steward the port, Kagi asked interested developers and organizations to email support@kagi.com. For everyone else, wait until three things are true: the source is public, a named maintainer is shipping builds, and those builds include a security-update channel. A one-off compile of browser code is not a patch strategy.
macOS and iOS Orion are unaffected. If you also use a Mac, that install can stay. Do not copy Linux advice onto the Apple builds.
Common Mistakes Leaving Orion as the default browser because it still opens. Links from mail and Slack then hit an unpatched engine. Uninstalling before export. Flatpak data is easy to delete and hard to recover. Backup first, then remove. Deleting only the app icon and leaving the orion-beta remote. The next flatpak update will not patch it, but the remote still invites a reinstall. Trusting a repackaged binary that appears on a forum before Kagi publishes source. Browser installers are a common malware path. Assuming bookmarks live in a Firefox profile. This was a separate WebKitGTK app. Export from the UI or copy the Flatpak data folder. Using the beta for banking “just this week.” Kagi explicitly advised against daily-driver use after updates stopped. Confusing Orion with Orion+, the paid Mac and iOS tier. Ending the Linux beta does not cancel an Apple subscription by itself. Check your Kagi account if you were billed. Troubleshooting
If flatpak uninstall says the app is not installed, list every app and match the id exactly. Beta builds sometimes used a slightly different application id.
flatpak list –app –columns=application,name,version
If the remote delete fails because the name differs, list remotes and delete the one whose URL contains orionbrowser or kagi.
text Copy Copied flatpak remotes -d flatpak remote-delete orion-beta
If a desktop entry remains after uninstall, remove the user copy and update the desktop database.
text Copy Copied rm -f ~/.local/share/applications/com.kagi.Orion.desktop update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications 2>/dev/null || true
If xdg-open still launches nothing, install a browser first, then set the default again. A missing default is a configuration gap, not a sign that Orion is required.
Final Check Bookmarks exported, and important logins confirmed in a password manager flatpak list no longer shows Orion The orion-beta remote is gone xdg-settings get default-web-browser points at Firefox, Epiphany, or another patched browser A test link from the terminal opens that browser Work SSO and one sensitive site have been re-tested No third-party “Orion for Linux” package was added from an unknown repository Summary
Kagi stopped Orion for Linux after the 2 October 2026 cutoff and will open-source the port instead of shipping further updates. The beta can still run, but it should not handle daily browsing, mail links, or logins. Export bookmarks, back up ~/.var/app/com.kagi.Orion if you need a copy, uninstall the Flatpak, delete the beta remote, and set a maintained browser as the default.
Next, import the HTML bookmarks into Firefox or GNOME Web and re-test work logins. If you build software and want to help carry the port, wait for the published source and contact support@kagi.com. Until a maintained community build exists, the practical path on Linux is a browser that still receives security updates.
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