How to install and use Telegram on a Chromebook
Telegram is one of the most popular chat services out there. You’re in luck if you own a Chromebook and want to use the native Telegram app rather than the web interface. You can get the Telegram app working on your Chromebook in several ways. This guide will show you how to set up the Android Telegram and native Linux Telegram apps.
How to install the Android Telegram app on your Chromebook
If you’re not super tech-savvy and your Chromebook supports Android apps, the best way to get Telegram working is via Google Play on Chrome OS. To start, open up the Chrome OS app menu.
Once the Chrome OS app menu is open, search for “Telegram.” The Chrome OS app will search Google Play for “Telegram,” which you can select to open it up in Google Play. Alternatively, open up the Google Play app, and search for it directly.
Once you’ve located Telegram, find the green “Install” button in the Google Play app, and select it with the mouse. It should begin installing on your Chromebook.
How to install the Linux Telegram app on your Chromebook
The Android app is one way to go. However, it isn’t the only way on Chrome OS. Installing the Linux version of Telegram via Flatpak or the Debian official software repositories is also possible.
To get Telegram working as a Linux app on your Chromebook, you must enable the Linux development environment in Chrome OS. Enabling Linux is easy. To start, open up the Chrome OS settings area.
Once inside the Chrome OS settings area, find “Advanced” and click on the arrow to expand available options. After selecting the arrow next to “Advanced,” scroll down and locate “Developers.” Once found, select the “Developers” option.
Locate the Linux developer environment inside the “Developers” area and click the “Turn on” button. This button will download the latest Debian Linux container and set up the official Chrome OS dev terminal app.
With Linux setup, open up the Chrome OS app menu, search for “Terminal,” and launch the app. Once it is open, search for “penguin” and click on it. “Penguin” is the Linux container’s command line interface.
Once inside the Chrome OS Linux container via the terminal, you must update it. You can update the container using the two commands below.
sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade -y
Flatpak
The easiest way to get the latest Telegram version via Linux on a Chromebook is Flatpak. However, you must first set up the Flatpak runtime on your computer. Then, open up the terminal in Chrome OS, and select “penguin” to launch the command line.
Once inside the terminal, use the apt install command to install the “flatpak” package. This package handles all Flatpak runtime operations in the container. Without it, Flatpak apps do not work in Chrome OS.
sudo apt install flatpak
After installing the package on your Chromebook, you must set up the Flathub app store. To set up the Flathub store on your Chromebook, use the following flatpak remote-add command.
flatpak --user remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
Once the command is run, the Flathub app store will be available on your system. From here, you can install the official Telegram Flatpak app from the Flathub app store using the command below.
flatpak install flathub org.telegram.desktop
Debian version
The Flatpak version of Telegram is a great way to get going with the app on your Chromebook, but it isn’t the only way to get it working. You can also install the “telegram-desktop” package via the Debian package manager.
You must load up the Chrome OS terminal to install the Telegram app. Search for “terminal” in the app menu, and click “penguin.” After selecting “penguin,” you will have terminal access to the Debian container.
Once inside the terminal, use the apt install command to install the “telegram-desktop” package. This package contains everything you need to run Telegram on Chrome OS’s Linux container.
sudo apt install telegram-desktop
How to set up Telegram on Chrome OS
To set up Telegram on Chrome OS, do the following. First, launch either the Telegram Android app or the Telegram Linux app installed previously. Once it is installed, you will see the login screen.
If you have Telegram installed on a mobile device, follow the instructions on the screen to scan the QR code so you may log in. Alternatively, enter the phone number attached to your account and the text verification code that Telegram sends you.
Once you are logged in, you can start using Telegram on your Chromebook or Chrome desktop. Enjoy!
