I won’t lie: it’s easy to add or remove startup apps, commands, and scripts in Ubuntu. Just open the Startup Applications tool, click ‘Add’, and away you go.
But while Ubuntu’s utility is adequate, it’s not as user-friendly as similar tools available elsewhere.
Sure, Startup Applications is equipped with the critical customisation fields a user will need to curate a set of software/services to start at login — SSH agent, VPN app, password manager, backup script, resolution tweaks, and so on — but it’s rather rote.
Take the way you add an app to start at login: Ubuntu’s Startup Applications makes you navigate using a file manager pop-up to the exact .desktop file or runtime needed. Fine for DEBs or AppImages, less obvious for apps in other formats.
Linux Mint’s Startup Applications tool is far more user-friendly (and informative). Toggles are clearer than checkboxes, startup delays are listed, and adding apps is done by selecting from a list of software which is installed.
It’s not easy to install Linux Mint’s Startup Applications in Ubuntu, but there is an alternative app I came across on Flathub recently called Ignition.
Created by the developer of Flatpak manager app Warehouse, Ignition might spark some interest among those looking to manage login items in Ubuntu via a user-friendly UI.
Startup Applications, Modernised
Ignition is a GTK4/libadwaita app to manage startup apps and scripts. It does everything the no-frills Startup Applications tool in Ubuntu does, but is easier to use and nicer to look at.
“Ignition provides a simple UI to add, remove, and modify startup entries on your computer. Ignition can add apps, scripts, and arbitrary commands to run at login,” reads the Flathub blurb — there’s not a lot else to add to that: it does!
There is a ‘catch’ in that the version available on Flathub can’t list any existing system startup scripts or services (as those are outside of its sandbox, y’see).
But any items you add in Ignition do show up in Ubuntu’s Startup Applications — but as is very easy to add and modify apps from Ignition, some may prefer using it full-time!
Startup applications and login items aren’t something we all need to make use of (and some of us are memory-scarred from experiencing sluggish Windows logins due to a slew of auto-start items).
So while Ignition is not tool a tool every Ubuntu user needs, and doesn’t do anything that isn’t already possible, it does do it better. For those who do configure this could offer a sweet frontend for doing it.
• Get Ignition on Flathub