Completely Remove Snap from Ubuntu and Install Firefox as a DEB

This guide removes Snap from Ubuntu, prevents snapd from returning automatically, and installs Firefox from Mozilla's official APT repository.

1. Back Up Firefox

If you use the Firefox snap, its profile data is normally under:

~/snap/firefox/

Create a backup:

cp -a ~/snap/firefox ~/firefox-snap-backup

2. List Installed Snaps

snap list

Use the package names shown on your own system rather than blindly copying another machine's list.

3. Remove Snap Applications

Remove ordinary applications first:

sudo snap remove --purge firefox
sudo snap remove --purge snap-store

Remove other Snap applications as needed, such as Thunderbird.

Then remove desktop/content snaps if installed:

sudo snap remove --purge snapd-desktop-integration
sudo snap remove --purge gtk-common-themes

Remove GNOME platform snaps if present:

sudo snap remove --purge gnome-42-2204

Remove base snaps if present:

sudo snap remove --purge bare
sudo snap remove --purge core20
sudo snap remove --purge core22
sudo snap remove --purge core24

Finally, remove the snapd snap itself if it appears:

sudo snap remove --purge snapd

The general order should be:

Applications
↓
Desktop/content snaps
↓
GNOME platform snaps
↓
Base/core snaps
↓
snapd

4. Stop and Disable Snap Services

sudo systemctl disable --now snapd.service
sudo systemctl disable --now snapd.socket
sudo systemctl disable --now snapd.seeded.service

5. Remove Ubuntu's Firefox Transitional Package

On several Ubuntu releases, Ubuntu's Firefox DEB is a transitional package that redirects to the Snap package.

sudo apt purge firefox

6. Remove snapd

sudo apt purge snapd
sudo apt autoremove --purge

If installed, remove GNOME Software's Snap plugin:

sudo apt purge gnome-software-plugin-snap

7. Remove Leftover Snap Directories

sudo rm -rf /var/cache/snapd
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/snapd
sudo rm -rf /var/snap
sudo rm -rf /snap
rm -rf ~/snap

8. Prevent Snap From Being Reinstalled

sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/99-no-snap.pref > /dev/null <<'EOF'
Package: snapd
Pin: version *
Pin-Priority: -10
EOF

Then:

sudo apt update
apt-cache policy snapd

9. Install Required Tools

sudo apt update
sudo apt install wget gnupg ca-certificates
sudo install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings

10. Import Mozilla's Signing Key

wget -q https://packages.mozilla.org/apt/repo-signing-key.gpg -O-   | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/packages.mozilla.org.asc > /dev/null

Mozilla's published fingerprint is:

35BAA0B33E9EB396F59CA838C0BA5CE6DC6315A3

Verify it:

gpg -n -q   --import   --import-options import-show   /etc/apt/keyrings/packages.mozilla.org.asc   | awk '/pub/{getline; gsub(/^ +| +$/,""); if($0 == "35BAA0B33E9EB396F59CA838C0BA5CE6DC6315A3") print "\nThe key fingerprint matches ("$0").\n"; else print "\nVerification failed: the fingerprint ("$0") does not match the expected one.\n"}'

11. Add Mozilla's Repository

Check your Ubuntu release:

. /etc/os-release
echo "$VERSION_ID"

Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04

echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/packages.mozilla.org.asc] https://packages.mozilla.org/apt mozilla main"   | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mozilla.list > /dev/null

Ubuntu 26.04 and newer

sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mozilla.sources > /dev/null <<'EOF'
Types: deb
URIs: https://packages.mozilla.org/apt
Suites: mozilla
Components: main
Signed-By: /etc/apt/keyrings/packages.mozilla.org.asc
EOF

12. Prioritize Mozilla's Firefox Package

sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/mozilla-firefox.pref > /dev/null <<'EOF'
Package: *
Pin: origin packages.mozilla.org
Pin-Priority: 1000

Package: firefox
Pin: release o=Ubuntu
Pin-Priority: -1
EOF

13. Install Firefox

sudo apt update
apt-cache policy firefox
sudo apt install firefox

The candidate should come from packages.mozilla.org.

14. Verify Firefox Is Not a Snap

apt-cache policy firefox
firefox --version
command -v firefox

Normally, command -v firefox should return:

/usr/bin/firefox

15. Optional: Firefox Language Packs

For French:

sudo apt install firefox-l10n-fr

To list available language packs:

apt-cache search firefox-l10n

16. Optional: Replace Ubuntu App Center

Install GNOME Software without recommended Snap components:

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends   gnome-software   gnome-software-plugin-deb

For Flatpak support:

sudo apt install flatpak gnome-software-plugin-flatpak

17. Final Verification

command -v snap
dpkg -l | grep snapd
apt-cache policy snapd
apt-cache policy firefox
apt-cache policy firefox | grep packages.mozilla.org

18. Update Firefox Normally

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

19. Restore Snap Later

sudo rm /etc/apt/preferences.d/99-no-snap.pref
sudo apt update
sudo apt install snapd