diff --git a/src/DownloadDeps.py b/src/DownloadDeps.py
index 50cef402..0efeb03c 100644
--- a/src/DownloadDeps.py
+++ b/src/DownloadDeps.py
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@
     move,
     extractTarGZ,
     downloadTempDirectory,
-    downloadFile
+    downloadFile,
+    backendDirectory,
 )
 from .ui.QTcustom import DownloadProgressPopup, DisplayCommandOutputPopup
 import os
@@ -65,7 +66,7 @@ def downloadBackend(self, tag):
         *NOTE
         tag is unused for now, as still in active development. just downloads the latest backend.
         """
-        if not os.path.exists(os.path.join(currentDirectory(), "backend")):
+        if not os.path.exists(backendDirectory()):
             backend_url = "https://github.com/TNTwise/real-video-enhancer-models/releases/download/flatpak-backends/backend-V2-stable.tar.gz"
             main_zip = os.path.join(currentDirectory(), "backend.tar.gz")
             main_folder = os.path.join(currentDirectory(), "repo")
diff --git a/src/Util.py b/src/Util.py
index 2c4a379a..ae657ed7 100644
--- a/src/Util.py
+++ b/src/Util.py
@@ -23,6 +23,23 @@ def isFlatpak():
 with open(os.path.join(cwd, "frontend_log.txt"), "w") as f:
     pass
 
+def backendDirectory():
+    """
+    returns cwd except when running in flatpak, then it returns the flatpak bin directory
+    """
+    
+    if isFlatpak():
+        # Get the absolute path of the current script
+        current_script_path = os.path.abspath(__file__)
+
+        # Get the directory of the current script
+        current_directory = os.path.dirname(current_script_path)
+
+        print("Current directory:", current_directory)
+        return current_directory
+    else:
+        return cwd
+
 def downloadFile(link,downloadLocation):
     response = requests.get(
             link,
diff --git a/src/ui/ProcessTab.py b/src/ui/ProcessTab.py
index 4556f9bc..8818ac82 100644
--- a/src/ui/ProcessTab.py
+++ b/src/ui/ProcessTab.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 from PySide6.QtCore import Qt
 
 from .QTcustom import UpdateGUIThread
-from ..Util import pythonPath, currentDirectory, modelsPath, printAndLog, log
+from ..Util import pythonPath, currentDirectory, modelsPath, printAndLog, log, backendDirectory
 from ..DownloadModels import DownloadModel
 from .SettingsTab import Settings
 from ..DiscordRPC import start_discordRPC
@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@ def renderToPipeThread(self, method: str, backend: str, interpolateTimes: int):
             f"{pythonPath()}",
             "-W",
             "ignore",
-            os.path.join(currentDirectory(), "backend", "rve-backend.py"),
+            os.path.join(backendDirectory(), "rve-backend.py"),
             "-i",
             self.inputFile,
             "-o",