Guide to Use Anytype on a Chromebook

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The Linux Route

Note: for this option to work, you must have a Chromebook with a x64 processor. Until the team releases a version of the Linux app that supports ARM-based processors. See the alternative (Android app) option at the bottom for ARM-based Chromebooks.

Prep-work/Setup

  1. Download the latest release of Anytype from download.anytype.io or from GitHub. Make sure you download the Debian file or .deb under the Linux section - this is the only Linux installation package that will work.
  2. In the meantime, go to your Chromebook Settings.
  3. Click “Advanced” on the side panel.
  4. Select “Developers” which will be a sub-category of “Advanced”.
  5. Find the section to set up the Linux Development Environment and select to turn it on.
  6. Follow the instructions to set up the dev environment. You now will have Linux running on your Chromebook.

For more detailed instructions, visit check out this support article.

Installing Gnome Keyring

Anytype needs Gnome Keyring installed to store the seed phrase as a system secret. Without this installed, you will be asked to log in every time you start the app again.

  1. Go to the Launcher and open the terminal. Select “penguin” to open the terminal of the Linux Development environment.
  2. Copy and paste (or type) the command sudo apt-get install -y gnome-keyring.
  3. Follow and accept the following prompts in the CLI to install Gnome Keyring.

Installing the Anytype app

  1. Open the Files app.
  2. Navigate to your downloads folder or the folder in which you chose to save the .deb package.
  3. Double-click the file. This should open a prompt with the app information. Click the “Install” button to install the app on your Chromebook. This should open a panel in your notifications that will show the progress of the app’s installation. This process should take about a minute or so. Once the app installs, you should find it in the Launcher in a folder entitled “Linux apps.” You may notice that the icon is a generic penguin icon and not Anytype’s app icon. This can be fixed.
  4. Open the app and log in for the first time. If you correctly installed Gnome Keyring, you should receive a prompt after attempting to log in that asks for a password. Leave it blank and select to continue. If you do not set it as a blank password, it will prompt you for the password every time you go to open the Anytype app.

Fixing the App Icon

  1. We will need to install a file manager to access the Linux system files. Gnome Files (“Nautilus”) is a simple option and can be installed by copying and pasting (or typing) the command sudo apt install nautilus in the terminal and accepting the following prompts in the CLI. Once the app is installed, you will find a shortcut (entitled “Files”) in the Launcher under the “Linux Apps” folder.

  2. In the meantime, go to the Chromebook Files app and click on the Linux files folder. Here, create a folder with the name “anytype” which will be necessary for upcoming steps.

  3. Download one of the following icons. Choose the light or dark one according to your preference. Save it as “anytype.png” to the “anytype” folder that we created in the Linux files folder.
    anytype anytype

  4. Open the Gnome Files app under the “Linux Apps” folder in the launcher.

  5. Click “Other locations” in the side panel. On this page, click on the “Computer” folder with the disk icon.

  6. Scroll down and open the folder named “usr” - in this folder, find the folder called “share” and open it. Search for and locate the folder entitled “applications.” In this folder, you should find a file called “anytype.desktop” - if you got lost in all of that, the file path should be Computer > usr > share > applications > anytype.desktop

  7. Copy this file in the Gnome Files app, and go to the Home folder by clicking on it in the sidebar. In the Home folder, open the “anytype” folder that you earlier created and paste the “anytype.desktop” file there.

  8. Now, open the Chromebook Files app and navigate to the Linux files folder. Open the “anytype” folder where you should have pasted the “anytype.desktop” file. Open this file with the Chromebook Text app (it should automatically open it in the Chromebook text editor app when you double-click on the file).

  9. When you have the file opened, look for where it has Icon=anytype - replace this with Icon=/home/[user]/anytype/anytype.png replace [user] with your Linux username which can be found by going to the terminal, opening “penguin,” and looking at the command line entry. Your username should be before the @penguin in green text. Remember to save this file.

  10. Go back to the Chromebook Files app and copy the “anytype.desktop” file that you just edited. Then go back to the Linux files folder. Click the three dots (menu) in the upper right-hand corner. Choose the option to show hidden files.

  11. Numerous hidden Linux folders will appear. Open the folder named “.local” - within this folder, open another folder entitled “share.” In the “share” folder, there should be a folder called “applications” (if not, create a folder with the name “applications”). Open this folder and paste the “anytype.desktop” file.

  12. The app icon should update by itself shortly. If it doesn’t, it should change upon restart. If you still have problems, it’s likely that you mistyped or misplaced something - it is important to be very meticulous about getting the name and placement of everything correct for this to work.

  13. :tada: Ta-da! The app icon should appear now in the taskbar and the launcher.

To learn more about this method, check out this YouTube video.

Updating the app

  1. Go to download.anytype.io or GitHub and download the new Anytype release (remember, make sure you download the Debian or .deb package).
  2. Open the .deb package. This will once again bring up a prompt to install the app. Click the “Install” button - it should take about a minute to install the update.
  3. Once installed, the app should be updated. Make sure to check the version in the app to make sure that it has been updated (which can be found on the loading screen or by going to the menu, clicking the “Anytype dropdown,” and opening “About Anytype”).

Uninstalling the app

  1. For some reason, using the above-stated method to change the app icon makes it so that you can no longer right-click on the Anytype app in the Launcher and uninstall it from that menu. Instead, you will have to use the terminal.
  2. Open the terminal and select “penguin.” In the terminal copy and paste or type sudo apt remove anytype and then sudo purge anytype - this should completely remove Anytype from your Chromebook.
  3. If for some reason you chose not to fix the app icon, you should be able to right-click on the app icon in the Launcher or shelf and choose the option to uninstall the app from the menu.

The Android Route

Note: This unfortunately isn’t the best option to run Anytype on your Chromebook, but it’s the only available choice if you have a Chromebook with an ARM-based processor. This option is available to any Chromebook that supports the Google Play Store.

Installing the app from the Play Store

  1. Go to the Launcher and open the Play Store app.
  2. In the Play Store, search for “Anytype.”
  3. You should see the app come up as “Anytype: Private Notes.”
  4. Click the install button to download and install the app.
  5. Or you can follow this link and choose the device to install it on or open it in the Play Store app from the omnibox (search/URL bar) in Chrome by clicking the button that says “Open in app” and install it from there.

Installing via APK (not recommended)

There are two methods to install APK packages on a Chromebook, however, both of these methods are undesirable. You can either turn on developer mode or you can enable the Linux Development Environment and turn on ADB debugging in the Android app development section of the Linux environment settings. You can learn more about developer mode here and the Linux/ADB method here.

Uninstalling the Android app

  1. Go to the launcher and right-click on the Anytype app icon.
  2. From the menu, select “Uninstall.”
  3. This will bring up a prompt to confirm that you want to uninstall the app. To proceed, confirm the process by clicking the “Uninstall” button in the pop up.
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I installed the app.image on my chromebook with no problem and it works great!

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