WhatsApp is a popular messenger for mobile phones. Although Whatsapp client is available for Mac and Windows but there is no official software available for Linux, so we’ll look into few alternatives on how to run WhatsApp on Linux.
All methods have been tested and are working – unlike some instructions on the Internet, each program has been tested and confirmed that the instructions for installing WhatsApp on Linux are working.
The only limitation is that your phone with WhatsApp must be connected to the network, otherwise none of the method will work.
Also read: How to restore Whatsapp Backup
Whatsapp Web Client
The easiest and fastest way to run WhatsApp on Linux is the Whatsapp web client. To do this, go to the page https://web.whatsapp.com/
Then open WhatsApp on your phone.
Press Menu and select WhatsApp Web. Click on the + (plus) icon in the upper right corner.
Point your phone at the computer screen to read the code.
You can also choose to receive notifications when the web.whatsapp.com page is not open.
Franz – Free Messaging System for Windows, Mac and Linux
If for some reason you don’t like web client or you want to download a native application to run Whatsapp on your Linux. Try Franz. It is free messaging app for multiple applications. It works for Slack, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Groupme, Skype, Telegram, hangout and more. It is available for all major platforms.
It allows you to add each service with multiple accounts. That means, you can login Facebook message with multiple accounts and at the same time you can open Multiple WhatsApp for different phone numbers.
Download the app from website, register it using your email address(required) and use it.
You can also install Whatsapp through Linux terminal
Step 1: Install dependencies and download the latest release.
sudo apt install libgconf2-4 gconf2
wget "https://github.com$(curl -s https://github.com/meetfranz/franz/releases | grep -E -o '/meetfranz/franz/releases/download/[a-z0-9./-]{6,}[.]tar[.]gz' | head -n 1)" -O franz.tar.gz
Step 2: Untar the file, move the file to /opt/franz and run the installer.
tar xvzf franz.tar.gz sudo mv franz-* /opt/franz sudo wget "https://meetfranz.com/static/franz-logo.svg" -O /opt/franz/franz-logo.svg
Step 3: Add the application to the menu.
sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/franz.desktop
Copy following entries to add franz to desktop
[Desktop Entry] Name=Franz Comment= Exec=/opt/franz/franz Icon=/opt/franz/franz-logo.svg
Use Whatsapp on Linux using Rambox
Rambox is open source program that integrates multiple applications. Community edition is available for free, You can purchase paid version if you want extra features.
Step 1: Install dependencies and download the latest version
sudo apt install libappindicator1 gconf2
wget "https://github.com$(curl -s https://github.com/ramboxapp/community-edition/releases/ | grep -E -o '/ramboxapp/community-edition/releases/download/[A-Za-z0-9/.-]{5,}x64.tar.gz' | head -n 1)" -O Rambox.tar.gz
Step 2: Untar the file and run the installer
tar xvzf Rambox.tar.gz rm Rambox.tar.gz sudo mv Rambox-* /opt/rambox sudo wget "https://avatars1.githubusercontent.com/u/30912243" -O /opt/rambox/rambox.png
Step 3: Add the application to the menu:
sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/rambox.desktop
Copy following entries to rambox.desktop
[Desktop Entry] Name=Rambox Comment= Exec=/opt/rambox/rambox Icon=/opt/rambox/rambox.png
Bonus for you, there is another web client that you can use. Whatsie is a web client for Whatsapp, that you can use in Window, Mac and Linux.
