App Goes To White On Long Inactivity Linux

[KowabungaOfficial]

Is it a bug?

• [x] I know this is an issue with the app, and contacting Mullvad support is not relevant.

I have checked if others have reported this already

• [x] I have checked the issue tracker to see if others have reported similar issues.

Current Behavior

When inactive the app turns white in the background. Has nothing to do with the current issue with 3068 as that one has to deal with opening the app. This happens after the app has been active for a while (gui is visible and everything then it turns white)

Expected Behavior

Expected app to show interface.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Leave open in background for a while, while doing other things (Do something in the foreground while app is in the background)
2. See the current app is all white

Failure Logs

Operating system version

Arch Linux (Unofficial) and Debian

Mullvad VPN app version

2025.4

Additional Information

No response

[arc-d3v]

It happens on all distros (tested on NixOS as well). Since 3-4 updates the background (map) of the app is going blank or wrongly displayed, going in parameters, switch locations or profile then go back fix? it randomly. I use a window manager (it happens on both hyprland and sway) on Wayland.

[MarkusPettersson98]

Hello, thanks for reporting 💛

We suspect that this is caused by a bug in electron https://github.com/mullvad/mullvadvpn-app/issues/5561. Can you be sure it is not the same issue as https://github.com/mullvad/mullvadvpn-app/issues/3068? This comment seems similar to what you are experiencing :blush:

Since 3-4 updates the background (map) of the app is going blank or wrongly displayed, going in parameters, switch locations or profile then go back fix? it randomly.

Do I understand you correctly that the map is still rendered? Would you mind opening a separate issue for that, preferably with GUI logs attached :blush:

[arc-d3v]

Hello, thanks for reporting 💛

We suspect that this is caused by a bug in electron #5561. Can you be sure it is not the same issue as #3068? This comment seems similar to what you are experiencing 😊

Since 3-4 updates the background (map) of the app is going blank or wrongly displayed, going in parameters, switch locations or profile then go back fix? it randomly.

Do I understand you correctly that the map is still rendered? Would you mind opening a separate issue for that, preferably with GUI logs attached 😊

I don't know if the issue is related. It seems that many of them have different issues. In my case, it's just the background, except for this, the app works correctly. I can reproduce it today.

If I go on settings and go back, it goes back to normal.

I'll open a new issue today or tomorrow when I have time.

[MarkusPettersson98]

Thanks for attaching screenshots, I don't think we've seen reports of this before (at least not that I'm aware of)!

[r1sk01]

This issue occurs for me, except the entire app goes white, and to fix it, I need to minimise and maximise the window.

[MarkusPettersson98]

This issue occurs for me, except the entire app goes white, and to fix it, I need to minimise and maximise the window.

Yeah, this is a known issue. So far, we have still not managed to nail down why it occur, sadly. :/

[imeesa]

Hello, thanks for reporting 💛 We suspect that this is caused by a bug in electron #5561. Can you be sure it is not the same issue as #3068? This comment seems similar to what you are experiencing 😊

Since 3-4 updates the background (map) of the app is going blank or wrongly displayed, going in parameters, switch locations or profile then go back fix? it randomly.

Do I understand you correctly that the map is still rendered? Would you mind opening a separate issue for that, preferably with GUI logs attached 😊

I don't know if the issue is related. It seems that many of them have different issues. In my case, it's just the background, except for this, the app works correctly. I can reproduce it today.

If I go on settings and go back, it goes back to normal.

I'll open a new issue today or tomorrow when I have time.

Have you made an issue? I can't seem to find it

[arc-d3v]

#8079

[ng8weji9vowdv]

In beta .6 the application goes fully in white blank (no labels at all unlike on the screenshots shown above), you have to close it and reopen to see the changes (happens on inactivity as well).

[r1sk01]

In beta .6 the application goes fully in white blank (no labels at all unlike on the screenshots shown above), you have to close it and reopen to see the changes (happens on inactivity as well).

this is what i experience too :p

[PurpleSmurf2]

I can confirm that the app turns white after a certain time and is only displayed correctly again when you close the window and open it again. Could it be that the app switches to idle mode after a certain period of inactivity and this is causing the problems? The problem has existed for years now and it is very surprising that the error has still not been found. Mint Cinnamon 22.1 Mullvad 2025.6

[sin-ack]

~~Relevant Electron issue: https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/45862~~ ~~Looks like it will be fixed in Electron 38, which will pick up Chromium 140.~~ My bad, this is the map issue, not this one.

[bitmold]

I regularly encounter this too with 2025.10 on Debian, unlike screenshots above though I find the entire window to be white instead of just the map. There are no controls accessible and I have to close + reopen the application. I'm going to be following this issue and can provide a screenshot the next time it happens, was just about to open an issue until I found this one...

[EndlessFractal]

Currently on aur/mullvad-vpn-bin 2025.13-1 Running KDE Plasma 6.5.2 on X11

I couldn't find anything interesting with journalctl.

[MarkusPettersson98]

I couldn't find anything interesting with journalctl.

And neither have we. God, I wish we would move away from Electron.

Thanks for the reports, but we are still flabbergasted as to why this happens. As such, we don't have a fix in the pipeline yet:/

[EndlessFractal]

Some people were talking about the same thing happening on Signal, but being fixed after Electron was updated to 38.1.2. https://github.com/flathub/com.logseq.Logseq/issues/189

The same error "GetVSyncParametersIfAvailable" quoted in the issue above, was mentioned in several other issues in here: https://github.com/mullvad/mullvadvpn-app/issues?q=GetVSyncParametersIfAvailable

From here, it looks like the app is being compiled with Electron 37.6.0.

Is there any chance of trying a more recent version? I'd be willing to try a beta version!

Cheers!

[bitmold]

I remember this with Signal, hopefully this is a quick fix.