WhatsApp is a telecommunications application to provide video, chat and voice communication between computers, tablets, and mobile devices over the Internet connection. All you need is a phone number to sign up, and then you can send messages from your Linux system.
There is no official Linux client for WhatsApp, unfortunately. The good news is that it is still possible to download WhatsApp clients made by users, which will use WhatApp’s web interface to create a seamless experience. Using this method, we are able to have WhatsApp on Linux and have it resemble the same client you would get on a Windows PC.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install a WhatsApp client on all major Linux distros.
In this tutorial you will learn:
- How to install WhatsApp on all major Linux distros
| Category | Requirements, Conventions or Software Version Used |
|---|---|
| System | Any Linux system |
| Software | |
| Other | Privileged access to your Linux system as root or via the sudo command. |
| Conventions |
# – requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command$ – requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user |
How to install WhatsApp on Linux (all major distros)
We will be installing an application called WhatsDesk, an unofficial WhatsApp client built for Linux. In all of our scouring for WhatsApp replacements, this seems to currently be the best unofficial client out there.
You can use the appropriate commands below to install WhatsDesk with your system’s package manager.
Debian based systems
To install WhatsDesk on Ubuntu, Debian, and Linux Mint:
$ sudo apt update $ sudo apt install snapd $ sudo snap install whatsdesk
Red Hat and Fedora based systems
To install WhatsDesk on Fedora, CentOS, AlmaLinux, and Red Hat:
$ sudo dnf install snapd $ sudo snap install whatsdesk
Arch Linux based systems
To install WhatsDesk on Arch Linux and Manjaro, we will use the Arch User Repository.
With yay AUR helper:
$ yay -S whatsdesk
Or manual installation:
$ sudo pacman -Sy base-devel git $ git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/whatsdesk-bin.git $ cd whatsdesk-bin $ makepkg -si
Open WhatsDesk
After installation, you will be able to open the WhatsDesk application from your system’s app launcher or by typing the following command in terminal:
$ whatsdesk
You will need to scan a QR code from your phone, and then you will be able to access all of WhatsApp and begin sending or receiving messages and calls.
Closing Thoughts
In this tutorial, we saw how to install WhatsApp on all major Linux distros, including Debian based, Red Hat based, and Arch Linux based. Since it is not possible to install an official WhatsApp client on Linux, we are forced to use a community made client, in this case WhatsDesk. This seems to be a well working client and should give you a seamless WhatsApp experience on your Linux system.
