No confirmed permanent fix is available for this specific scrolling freeze. The safest immediate recovery is to close the stuck Stremio instance, launch it again with its default settings, and avoid GPU-related environment-variable tweaks that have already failed in the reported case.
If Stremio opens as a tiny 1×1 pixel window instead of a usable app window, close it and relaunch it once or twice. In the report behind this article, a relaunch usually restored the normal window, although it did not prevent the later scrolling freeze.
What this issue looks like
This report affects Stremio Desktop installed as Flatpak on Linux, specifically during normal interface scrolling. The home screen, library, and poster grids may render correctly at first, then the entire window stops responding within seconds of using a mouse wheel or touchpad.
The important distinction is that this is reported as a hang, not a crash:
- The Stremio window no longer accepts clicks or scrolling.
- The app processes remain running.
WebKitWebProcessuses sustained high CPU, reported around 70–90%.- There may be no GPU error, out-of-memory event, core dump, or driver reset.
- At some startups, an error similar to
Failed to send message: TypeError: undefined is not a functionmay appear and Stremio can remain at a 1×1 window size.
The report was made with the Flatpak stable build using an X11 session and an NVIDIA proprietary driver. That does not prove the problem is limited to NVIDIA, X11, that distro, or that exact Flatpak version.
Likely cause
The high CPU usage in WebKitWebProcess suggests the web-content side of the Stremio Linux shell may be stuck in a loop while processing the interface. That is a useful symptom for diagnosis, but it is not proof of the underlying cause.
In the affected report, disabling compositing, DMA-BUF rendering, and hardware OpenGL did not stop the freeze. This makes a simple GPU-rendering-path explanation less likely for that one system, but it does not rule out every graphics, runtime, or shell interaction on other Linux setups.
Try these steps in order
1. Recover from the current freeze
If the window is unresponsive, give it a short moment to recover. If CPU usage remains high and the interface does not return, close the app.
For a Flatpak installation, you can run this from a terminal:
flatpak kill com.stremio.Stremio
Then start Stremio normally and test a small amount of scrolling. This does not repair the issue, but it is cleaner than repeatedly force-killing individual WebKit processes.
If the app will not close, use your desktop environment’s system monitor to end the Stremio process. Avoid restarting or powering off the computer unless necessary.
2. Update Flatpak and the installed runtime
A report that reproduces on a current build is still worth updating, because Flatpak applications and their runtimes can receive separate fixes.
- Close Stremio completely.
- Open a terminal.
- Run:
flatpak update
- Restart the Linux session, or reboot if a runtime update was installed.
- Launch Stremio and reproduce the issue using its normal configuration.
Do not assume an update will resolve this particular bug. The original report already occurred on a then-current stable Flatpak release, so this is a safe maintenance check rather than a verified solution.
3. Remove temporary rendering overrides before further testing
If you previously added WebKit or OpenGL environment variables while troubleshooting, test Stremio without them. Changes intended to bypass compositing or force software rendering can make later testing harder to compare.
Check any custom launch script, desktop launcher edit, shell profile, or Flatpak override you created. Remove only overrides you recognize.
For example, if you explicitly set a Flatpak override for an environment variable, you can remove that specific override with this form:
flatpak override --user --unset-env=VARIABLE_NAME com.stremio.Stremio
Replace VARIABLE_NAME with the exact variable you added. Do not copy that command with a guessed variable name.
In the reported case, the following tests did not prevent freezing: disabling WebKit compositing, disabling the DMA-BUF renderer, and forcing software OpenGL. Repeating those changes is unlikely to be the best next step unless Stremio support asks for a controlled comparison.
4. Check whether the issue occurs immediately after a clean launch
To make a useful diagnosis, test under consistent conditions:
- Start Stremio normally, with no terminal environment variables added.
- Wait until the home screen has finished rendering.
- Scroll one grid slowly with either the mouse wheel or touchpad.
- Note how long it takes before the interface locks up.
- Repeat once after a fresh relaunch.
Also note whether the 1×1 startup window happens before the scrolling problem. These may be related, but the available report does not confirm that they share one cause.
5. Capture logs while reproducing the hang
Logs are most useful when captured during or immediately after the freeze. Open one terminal and run:
journalctl --user -f
In another terminal, launch Stremio with:
flatpak run com.stremio.Stremio
Scroll until the issue occurs, then save the relevant terminal output. Include only the lines around the freeze and startup, not unrelated personal system logs.
Useful details include:
| Detail | Why it helps |
|---|---|
| Stremio and Flatpak runtime versions | Identifies the affected build combination |
| X11 or Wayland session | Narrows display-session differences |
| GPU model and driver type | Helps compare graphics environments |
Whether WebKitWebProcess stays CPU-bound |
Confirms this hang signature |
| Exact startup error and timing | Helps investigate the 1×1 window symptom |
| Mouse wheel versus touchpad result | Checks whether input method changes reproduction |
6. Test a clean Flatpak app-data profile only if needed
Do this only after the earlier steps. Resetting app data is not a confirmed fix, and it may sign you out, remove local preferences, or affect locally stored items.
First close Stremio. Then make a backup of the Flatpak sandbox data rather than deleting it:
mv ~/.var/app/com.stremio.Stremio ~/.var/app/com.stremio.Stremio.backup
Launch Stremio again. Flatpak should create fresh app data for the application. Test scrolling before restoring settings or installing anything extra.
If the freeze no longer occurs, do not immediately treat that as proof that one setting caused it. Add back only what you need, gradually. If the freeze still happens with fresh data, keep the backup until you have confirmed you no longer need it.
Community addons are independently operated, so addon behavior and availability can vary. There is no evidence in this report that an addon is the cause, and removing addons should not be your first troubleshooting step. A clean-profile test is simply a way to separate saved application state from the core shell issue.
What worked for affected users
The available report does not identify a workaround that reliably stops the scrolling freeze.
What did help temporarily in that report:
- Killing the frozen Stremio instance allowed the user to launch the app again.
- Relaunching after the intermittent 1×1 startup failure usually produced a normal-sized window.
What was reported not to work for the scrolling hang:
- Running with the default configuration.
- Disabling WebKit compositing.
- Disabling DMA-BUF rendering.
- Forcing software OpenGL rendering.
These results come from one reported environment. They are useful evidence to include in a bug report, not a universal compatibility conclusion.
When to report it as a bug
Report or update the existing Linux shell issue if Stremio freezes reproducibly after scrolling and WebKitWebProcess remains busy. Include the results of the clean default launch, your Flatpak and runtime versions, session type, GPU/driver details, and the short log excerpt captured during the freeze.
Avoid filing the report as a generic “crash” when processes remain alive; describing it as an unresponsive UI hang with sustained WebKit CPU usage will help developers distinguish it from startup failures and graphics crashes.
Last reviewed: August 19, 2026