In this article, I will take you through the steps to Install WhatsApp on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. WhatsApp is a cross platform messaging app that allows users to send text messages and voice messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other content over the Internet. It is one of the most popular Messaging platform available today. While most of the people would like to use WhatsApp on their Mobile devices but if you want you can also use it in your Linux Systems. We will see the steps to install and use this application on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS in great detail in below section. More about WhatsApp for Linux.

How to Install WhatsApp on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

Also Read: How to Enable root user for SSH Authentication on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

Step 1: Prerequisites

a) You should have a running Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Server.

b) You should have sudo or root access to run privileged commands.

c) You should have apt or apt-get utility installed in your Server.

d) You should have snap utility installed in your Server.

 

Step 2: Update Your Server

It is always recommended to first update your Server using apt update or apt-get update command as shown below. This will download and install all the latest versions available from Ubuntu Repository.

root@localhost:~# apt-get update
Hit:1 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal InRelease
Get:2 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates InRelease [114 kB]
Get:3 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security InRelease [114 kB]
Get:4 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports InRelease [101 kB]
Get:5 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/main amd64 Packages [1,303 kB]
Get:6 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [29.0 kB]
Get:7 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/main i386 Packages [554 kB]
Get:8 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [279 kB]
Get:9 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/universe amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [63.9 kB]
Get:10 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/multiverse amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [2,464 B]
Get:11 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/universe i386 Packages [646 kB]
Get:12 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/universe amd64 Packages [870 kB]
Get:13 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/universe amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [362 kB]

 

Step 3: Install WhatsApp

In the next step, you can install latest whatsapp-for-linux package using snap install whatsapp-for-linux command as shown below. It is important to note here that Ubuntu Repo provides unofficial version of WhatsApp application.

root@localhost:~# snap install whatsapp-for-linux
whatsapp-for-linux 1.3.0 from Enes Hecan (nshecan) installed

 

Step 4: Open WhatsApp

You can go to Activities and then Search whatsapp in the Search Box. It should show as below. You can click on it to open. Once opened, you can now scan the code and get connected in your System.

Alternatively, you can also open WhatsApp from Web by accessing URL https://web.whatsapp.com as shown below.

Then go to WhatsApp->Linked devices in your Mobile and then Scan the above code to open WhatsApp in your System.

 

Step 5: Check WhatsApp Version

You can check the current installed version from About Section. As of now, for me the latest installed version is 1.3.0. It could be different for you depending on the time you are installing this application.

 

Step 6: Uninstall WhatsApp

Once you are done with WhatsApp application, you can uninstall it by using snap remove whatsapp-for-linux command as shown below.

root@localhost:~# snap remove whatsapp-for-linux
whatsapp-for-linux removed