[Bug]: Corrupted UI

[James-h143]

What happened?

Note: this is running on a HP Omnibook X 14, Snapdragon X Elite with the ubuntu 25 concept build. The application was previously working

Launched application.
UI appears corrupted
Unable to link device due to corrupted UI

What should have happened?

The application should render correctly

Output of snap info $snap_name

╭─james at Prometheus in ~ 25-08-28 - 0:23:40
╰─○ snap info signal-desktop
name:      signal-desktop
summary:   Speak Freely - Private Messenger
publisher: Snapcrafters✪
store-url: https://snapcraft.io/signal-desktop
contact:   https://github.com//snapcrafters/signal-desktop/issues
license:   AGPL-3.0-only
description: |
  **Note: To use the Signal desktop app, you must first install Signal on your phone.**
  
  Millions of people use Signal every day for free and instantaneous communication anywhere in the
  world. Send and receive high-fidelity messages, participate in HD voice/video calls, and explore a
  growing set of new features that help you stay connected. Signal's advanced privacy-preserving
  technology is always enabled, so you can focus on sharing the moments that matter with the people
  who matter to you.
  
  - Say anything - State-of-the-art end-to-end encryption (powered by the open source Signal
  Protocol™) keeps your conversations secure. Privacy isn't an optional mode; it's just the way that
  Signal works. Every message, every call, every time.
  - Go fast - Messages are delivered quickly and reliably, even on slow networks. Signal is
  optimized to operate in the most constrained environment possible.
  - Feel free - Signal is a completely independent 501c3 nonprofit. Development is supported by
  users like you. No advertisements. No trackers. No kidding.
  - Be yourself - You can use your existing phone number and address book to securely communicate
  with your friends.
  - Speak up - Whether they live across town or across the ocean, Signal's enhanced audio and video
  quality will make your friends and family feel closer.
  - Whisper in the shadows - Switch to the dark theme if you refuse to see the light.
  
  **Minimize to tray**
  
  Per the request of the Signal developers, this snap does not use the system tray by default. This
  is disabled by default per the request of the Signal developers, because system tray support is
  not stable. Set to `false`, Signal will stop when you close it and will not have a system tray
  icon. You can enable it by running the following command.
  
      snap set signal-desktop tray-icon=true
  
  
  **Are you having issues?**
  
  Let us know by creating a new issue here: https://github.com/snapcrafters/signal-desktop/issues
  
  **Authors**
  
  This snap is maintained by the Snapcrafters community, and is not necessarily endorsed or
  officially maintained by the upstream developers.
commands:
  - signal-desktop
snap-id:      r4LxMVp7zWramXsJQAKdamxy6TAWlaDD
tracking:     latest/stable
refresh-date: today at 00:06 BST
channels:
  latest/stable:    7.67.0 2025-08-27 (816) 172MB -
  latest/candidate: 7.67.0 2025-08-27 (816) 172MB -
  latest/beta:      ↑                             
  latest/edge:      ↑                             
installed:          7.67.0            (816) 172MB -

Output of snap connections $snap_name

╭─james at Prometheus in ~ 25-08-28 - 0:23:48
╰─○ snap connections signal-desktop
Interface               Plug                                   Slot                            Notes
audio-playback          signal-desktop:audio-playback          :audio-playback                 -
audio-record            signal-desktop:audio-record            :audio-record                   -
browser-support         signal-desktop:browser-support         :browser-support                -
camera                  signal-desktop:camera                  :camera                         -
content[gnome-46-2404]  signal-desktop:gnome-46-2404           gnome-46-2404:gnome-46-2404     -
content[gpu-2404]       signal-desktop:gpu-2404                mesa-2404:gpu-2404              -
content[gtk-3-themes]   signal-desktop:gtk-3-themes            gtk-common-themes:gtk-3-themes  -
content[icon-themes]    signal-desktop:icon-themes             gtk-common-themes:icon-themes   -
content[sound-themes]   signal-desktop:sound-themes            gtk-common-themes:sound-themes  -
desktop                 signal-desktop:desktop                 :desktop                        -
desktop-legacy          signal-desktop:desktop-legacy          :desktop-legacy                 -
gsettings               signal-desktop:gsettings               :gsettings                      -
home                    signal-desktop:home                    :home                           -
network                 signal-desktop:network                 :network                        -
opengl                  signal-desktop:opengl                  :opengl                         -
removable-media         signal-desktop:removable-media         -                               -
screen-inhibit-control  signal-desktop:screen-inhibit-control  :screen-inhibit-control         -
unity7                  signal-desktop:unity7                  :unity7                         -
wayland                 signal-desktop:wayland                 :wayland                        -
x11                     signal-desktop:x11                     :x11                            -

Output of snap version

╭─james at Prometheus in ~ 25-08-28 - 0:25:12
╰─○ snap version
snap    2.71
snapd   2.71
series  16
ubuntu  25.04
kernel  6.14.0-35-qcom-x1e

Relevant log output

Teminal output of app

╭─james at Prometheus in ~ 25-08-28 - 0:25:22
╰─○ signal-desktop
/snap/signal-desktop/816/gpu-2404/bin/gpu-2404-provider-wrapper: line 27: cd: /snap/signal-desktop/816/gpu-2404/bin/../X11/locale: No such file or directory
NODE_ENV production
NODE_CONFIG_DIR /snap/signal-desktop/816/opt/Signal/resources/app.asar/config
NODE_CONFIG {}
ALLOW_CONFIG_MUTATIONS undefined
HOSTNAME Prometheus
NODE_APP_INSTANCE undefined
SUPPRESS_NO_CONFIG_WARNING undefined
SIGNAL_ENABLE_HTTP undefined
Error org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Failed: cannot find desktop file "/var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/signal-desktop_signal.desktop"
Error org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Failed: cannot find desktop file "/var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/signal-desktop_signal.desktop"
Gtk-Message: 00:25:49.203: Not loading module "atk-bridge": The functionality is provided by GTK natively. Please try to not load it.
(node:26812) [DEP0180] DeprecationWarning: fs.Stats constructor is deprecated.
(Use `signal-desktop --trace-deprecation ...` to show where the warning was created)
[26812:0828/002549.519431:ERROR:dbus/object_proxy.cc:590] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.login1.Manager.Inhibit: object_path= /org/freedesktop/login1: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.AccessDenied: An AppArmor policy prevents this sender from sending this message to this recipient; type="method_call", sender=":1.228" (uid=1000 pid=26812 comm="/snap/signal-desktop/816/opt/Signal/signal-desktop" label="snap.signal-desktop.signal-desktop (enforce)") interface="org.freedesktop.login1.Manager" member="Inhibit" error name="(unset)" requested_reply="0" destination="org.freedesktop.login1" (uid=0 pid=1620 comm="/usr/lib/systemd/systemd-logind" label="unconfined")
[26944:0828/002553.678435:ERROR:ui/gl/gl_surface_presentation_helper.cc:260] GetVSyncParametersIfAvailable() failed for 1 times!
[26944:0828/002604.835539:ERROR:ui/gl/gl_surface_presentation_helper.cc:260] GetVSyncParametersIfAvailable() failed for 2 times!

[staticnom]

same issue - Windows Dev Kit 2023 - Ubuntu 25.04 arm

application working great yesterday and today it's messed up. maybe some electron issue rendering with wayland?

[jnsgruk]

Hmm interesting, doesn't seem to be a problem on amd64.

Can you confirm that the previous revision still works as expected with the following?

sudo snap refresh signal-desktop --revision 814

Do you have the issue with any other Electron apps, or just Signal?

[James-h143]

Downgrading to 814 does seem to fix the issue for me

I also downloaded and installed postman which is also electron based and it rendered correctly (although did seem to freeze shortly after starting) so i assume it's just signal

[jnsgruk]

Ok, I have reverted the release for arm64 while we investigate. I probably won't have time today, and I don't have access to a working arm64 machine so this could be a challenge!

Can you try running the broken one with these flags and see if it helps?

signal-desktop --enable-features=UseOzonePlatform --ozone-platform=wayland

And post the logs?

[jnsgruk]

Also looks like a new version just dropped - could you perhaps try the release in #389 (on the latest/candidate channel)

[tobhe]

It looks like this might be https://issues.angleproject.org/issues/431097618#comment10. It should be possible to work around with either --use-angle=gles or by setting the opengl vendor to something different than freedreno for example export force_gl_vendor=totallynotfreedreno.

It seems to affect all of Chrome/Electron on Snapdragon at the moment

[James-h143]

Also looks like a new version just dropped - could you perhaps try the release in #389 (on the latest/candidate channel)

I have successfully installed version 7.68 as per the link you posted

The issue persists however

[James-h143]

It looks like this might be https://issues.angleproject.org/issues/431097618#comment10. It should be possible to work around with either --use-angle=gles or by setting the opengl vendor to something different than freedreno for example export force_gl_vendor=totallynotfreedreno.

It seems to affect all of Chrome/Electron on Snapdragon at the moment

I can confirm that both of these resolve the issue for me on 7.68

[jnsgruk]

Ah interesting. I might be able to land something in a wrapper to add the angle flag automatically on arm64 platforms

[jnsgruk]

Okay, pushed a fix and there is a new candidate release out (See #390) so if you can do:

sudo snap refresh signal-desktop --channel latest/candidate

Hopefully you should be back in business!

[James-h143]

Ok, I have reverted the release for arm64 while we investigate. I probably won't have time today, and I don't have access to a working arm64 machine so this could be a challenge!

Can you try running the broken one with these flags and see if it helps?

signal-desktop --enable-features=UseOzonePlatform --ozone-platform=wayland

And post the logs?

sorry, i missed this one. this also seems to work

╭─james at Prometheus in ~ 25-08-28 - 14:08:37
╰─○ signal-desktop --enable-features=UseOzonePlatform --ozone-platform=wayland
/snap/signal-desktop/818/gpu-2404/bin/gpu-2404-provider-wrapper: line 27: cd: /snap/signal-desktop/818/gpu-2404/bin/../X11/locale: No such file or directory
NODE_ENV production
NODE_CONFIG_DIR /snap/signal-desktop/818/opt/Signal/resources/app.asar/config
NODE_CONFIG {}
ALLOW_CONFIG_MUTATIONS undefined
HOSTNAME Prometheus
NODE_APP_INSTANCE undefined
SUPPRESS_NO_CONFIG_WARNING undefined
SIGNAL_ENABLE_HTTP undefined
userData: /home/james/snap/signal-desktop/818/.config/Signal
Error org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Failed: cannot find desktop file "/var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/signal-desktop_signal.desktop"
Error org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Failed: cannot find desktop file "/var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/signal-desktop_signal.desktop"
Gtk-Message: 14:08:45.586: Not loading module "atk-bridge": The functionality is provided by GTK natively. Please try to not load it.
(node:55195) [DEP0180] DeprecationWarning: fs.Stats constructor is deprecated.
(Use `signal-desktop --trace-deprecation ...` to show where the warning was created)
[55195:0828/140846.100981:ERROR:dbus/object_proxy.cc:590] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.login1.Manager.Inhibit: object_path= /org/freedesktop/login1: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.AccessDenied: An AppArmor policy prevents this sender from sending this message to this recipient; type="method_call", sender=":1.314" (uid=1000 pid=55195 comm="/snap/signal-desktop/818/opt/Signal/signal-desktop" label="snap.signal-desktop.signal-desktop (enforce)") interface="org.freedesktop.login1.Manager" member="Inhibit" error name="(unset)" requested_reply="0" destination="org.freedesktop.login1" (uid=0 pid=1731 comm="/usr/lib/systemd/systemd-logind" label="unconfined")

[James-h143]

Okay, pushed a fix and there is a new candidate release out (See #390) so if you can do:

sudo snap refresh signal-desktop --channel latest/candidate

Hopefully you should be back in business!

Thanks, opens fine now even with no flags passed on the CLI

[jnsgruk]

Great! I just promoted those revisions into stable. Thanks for your help getting this solved! 😎