# Do appimages write any files to the filesystem?

**URL:** <https://discourse.appimage.org/t/do-appimages-write-any-files-to-the-filesystem/1848>\
**Category:** Using AppImages\
**Created:** [September 29, 2020, 6:45pm UTC](https://discourse.appimage.org/t/do-appimages-write-any-files-to-the-filesystem/1848 "2020-09-29T18:45:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ReductoAdAbsurdum](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/discourse.appimage.org/reductoadabsurdum/32/450_2.png) [@ReductoAdAbsurdum](https://discourse.appimage.org/u/ReductoAdAbsurdum)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 6:45pm UTC](https://discourse.appimage.org/t/do-appimages-write-any-files-to-the-filesystem/1848/1 "2020-09-29T18:45:25Z")

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I am looking to run [this](https://github.com/vechain/thor-sync.electron) web browser’s appimage…will it write any files to the filesystem ? How about when the web browser updates itself ?

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**Author:** ![probono](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/discourse.appimage.org/probono/32/81_2.png) [@probono](https://discourse.appimage.org/u/probono)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2020, 7:58pm UTC](https://discourse.appimage.org/t/do-appimages-write-any-files-to-the-filesystem/1848/2 "2020-10-03T19:58:59Z")

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AppImage does not restrict the application from writing to the filesystem, e.g., to `$HOME`.

The AppImage itself is read-only by design.

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**Author:** ![probono](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/discourse.appimage.org/probono/32/81_2.png) [@probono](https://discourse.appimage.org/u/probono)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2020, 8:00pm UTC](https://discourse.appimage.org/t/do-appimages-write-any-files-to-the-filesystem/1848/3 "2020-10-03T20:00:14Z")

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> [@ReductoAdAbsurdum](#):
>
> How about when the web browser updates itself ?

The browser could use something like [GitHub - antony-jr/QAppImageUpdate: Qt5 library and plugin for updating AppImages. ❤](https://github.com/antony-jr/AppImageUpdaterBridge) to update itself.

Updates in AppImage land mean that you get a new AppImage, and the old AppImage stays there in case you don’t like the new version.