How To Install Telegram On Linux
There are many different ways to install Telegram on Linux. In this article, we’ll go over all of the different ways to get this program running on your system. We’ll cover instructions for Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian and Arch Linux. We’ll also go over how to get the Telegram Snap package and Flatpak program working.
SPOILER ALERT: Scroll down and watch the video tutorial at the end of this article.
Note: if you have problems installing Telegram on Linux, consider trying the web app as an alternative.
Ubuntu
The Telegram chat application doesn’t have an official release as the developers prefer to just put up a generic downloadable binary. Also, Ubuntu doesn’t officially package it in any way. Since it isn’t in the primary software sources, users who want to install Telegram like any other program on Ubuntu will need to add a PPA to the system first.
To add the PPA, open up a terminal window and enter the command below.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/telegram
The “add-apt-repository” command adds the Telegram software source to Ubuntu. From here, you’ll need to update Ubuntu, so that it can see the Telegram PPA.
sudo apt update
After “update” finishes in the terminal, use the apt command to install the latest Telegram package to your system.
sudo apt install telegram
Want to uninstall Telegram from Ubuntu? Try this command:
sudo apt remove telegram
Debian
Unfortunately getting a native, installable Deb package is a bit harder on Debian than it is on Ubuntu because Debian doesn’t support Ubuntu PPAs. Those that use Debian Sid should be able to run a simple command to get it working. However, newer versions of the Debian operating system (including Stable) are not as lucky.
Telegram for Debian Sid
sudo apt-get install telegram-desktop
Uninstall from Sid with:
sudo apt-get remove telegram-desktop
Telegram for other versions of Debian
Downloading the latest Sid Telegram binary won’t work because newer versions of the operating system do not have the correct dependencies. As a result, it will refuse to install. If you are on a newer version of Debian, consider it a lost cause and install Telegram via Snap package, Flatpak or the Generic binary.
Arch Linux
Telegram is not in the official Arch software sources, but it doesn’t matter as there are multiple versions of the official Telegram client in the AUR. Specifically, the telegram-desktop-bin package and the telegram-desktop-git package.
These packages are not the same. Those who choose to install the telegram-desktop-git package need to compile all of the source code manually. Building takes a very long time but may be beneficial if you want to optimize the program.
Conversely, the telegram-desktop-bin takes the freely available pre-compiled version of Telegram from the website and quickly generates an installable Arch package. In this tutorial, we’ll be focusing on the Telegram Bin package.
To install, first use the Pacman package tool to install the git package, as it is required to interact with the AUR.
sudo pacman -S git
Next, use the Git tool to grab the latest Telegram PKGBUILD files for your PC.
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/telegram-desktop-bin.git
Using CD, move the terminal into the new Telegram Bin folder.
cd telegram-desktop-bin
Run makepkg. This command tells Arch to generate a native package, as well as to install all required dependencies. Keep in mind that using -si may not install all dependencies. If this happens, refer to the telegram-desktop-bin AUR page.
Uninstall Telegram from Arch with the following command:
sudo pacman -R telegram-desktop-bin
Fedora
To get Telegram working on Fedora, you’ll first need to enable the RPM Fusion software repositories. Open up a terminal, and enter the following commands. Replace X with the release version number of Fedora you are currently using.
sudo dnf install https://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-X.noarch.rpm -y
Then, use the DNF package tool to install Telegram.
sudo dnf install telegram-desktop
Uninstall the Telegram app from Fedora with this DNF command:
sudo dnf remove telegram-desktop
Snap Package Instructions
Using a Linux operating system that doesn’t have a native Telegram package? Not to worry, if your operating system has support for the Snap package format, you’ll be able to install the chat client anyways. To get Snaps working, head over to our tutorial and follow the instructions. When done, open up a terminal and enter the following snap command to get the latest version of Telegram!
sudo snap install telegram-desktop
Uninstall the Telegram Snap using this command in the terminal:
sudo snap remove telegram-desktop
Flatpak Instructions
Another great way of getting Telegram on the Linux desktop is with Flatpak. To install it, first follow our instructions on how to get the Flatpak up and running. After that, all you’ll need to do is run a command in the terminal, and the program will be ready to use.
Note: when installing the Telegram Flatpak, be sure to say “yes” when it asks to add the Flathub repo.
sudo flatpak install --from https://flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.telegram.desktop.flatpakref
Need to uninstall the Telegram Flatpak? Follow these instructions:
sudo flatpak uninstall org.telegram.desktop
Binary
If your Linux PC doesn’t support Snaps or Flatpaks, Telegram has a downloadable, self-updating binary to download. To get it, head over to the official website, and click on “Telegram for PC/Mac/Linux.” Download the latest tar.xz package. From here, open up the file manager and right-click on the archive. It should have “tsetup” in the filename.
Drag the “Telegram” folder to your /home/username/ directory. Then, open the folder and double-click on the program that says “Telegram.” It should instantly open up and be ready to use.
