How to use Zoom video conferencing on Chromebook
Ever since 2020, Zoom has become a hugely important program. Unfortunately, there’s no native release of Zoom for Chrome OS. However, there’s a Linux Zoom app you can get running on your Chromebook easily. In this guide, we’ll show you how to get Zoom working on your Chromebook.
Before we begin
While not required, it is recommended to create an account for Zoom before attempting to install it on your Chromebook. Having an account for Zoom makes joining meetings easier. To create an account, visit the official Zoom website.
Enable Linux support on Chrome OS
To install Zoom on a Chromebook, you’ll first need to enable Linux support on Chrome OS. To do that, click on the Chrome OS clock icon. This will reveal a menu. In this menu, click the gear icon.
After selecting the gear icon, you’ll load up the Chrome OS settings area. From here, find the “Advanced” section, and click on it with the mouse. When you select “Advanced,” it’ll reveal options.
Look through the “Advanced” section for the “Developers” area. Then, find “Linux development environment,” and select it. Finally, find the “turn on” button, and click on it to download it.
Once the Linux development environment is done downloading, a terminal app will open. Select “penguin” to access the Linux command-line interface. Then, enter the apt update command.
sudo apt update
With the Linux development environment’s software sources up to date, you can install the available upgrades using the apt upgrade command.
sudo apt upgrade
How to install Zoom on a Chromebook – Downloadable DEB package
The main way you can get Zoom working on your Chromebook is via the downloadable Debian package distributed on the official Zoom download page. To get the Zoom DEB package, use the following wget download command in the Chrome OS terminal.
Note: to access the Chrome OS terminal, find the “Terminal” app in the Chromebook app menu, and select “penguin.”
wget https://zoom.us/client/latest/zoom_amd64.deb
Once you’ve downloaded the Zoom DEB package to your Chromebook, you can install the Zoom app using the following apt install command. This command will set up Zoom on your Chromebook, and configure everything that it needs to run.
The installation should be quick. When it is finished, you can open up the Zoom app via the “Linux apps” menu on the Chrome OS dash.
How to install Zoom on a Chromebook – Flatpak
Another way to get the Linux Zoom client working on a Chromebook is via the Flathub app store as a Flatpak. To do this, start by launching the Chrome OS terminal. Then, select “penguin” to access the command-line interface.
Inside the terminal interface, use the apt install command to set up the “flatpak” package. This package handles all Flatpak programs, including Zoom. Without this package, Zoom will not run correctly.
sudo apt install flatpak
After installing the Flatpak runtime on your Chromebook, you need to enable the Flathub app store. Flathub hosts applications, including Zoom. To install Zoom as a Flatpak on your Chromebook, it must be enabled.
flatpak install flathub us.zoom.Zoom
With the command above run, Zoom will be installed on your Chromebook. You can now launch it via the “Linux apps” menu inside of the Chrome OS app menu.
How to get the Android version of Zoom on a Chromebook
The Linux release of Zoom works best on a computer, however, if you don’t wish to tinker with the command line on your Chromebook, but still need Zoom, there’s another option: the Zoom Android app.
To start, open up the Play Store app on your Chromebook. If you do not have the Play Store app, your Chromebook doesn’t support Android, and you may need to use the Linux app or the website.
Once in the Play Store app, type in “Zoom for Chrome ” and look through the search results for it. When you’ve located it, select the green “Install” button to download and install the Android version of Zoom to your Chromebook.
How to use Zoom on your Chromebook
To use Zoom on your Chromebook, do the following. First, open up the Chrome OS app menu. Once it is open, look for the “Linux apps” app menu, and launch Zoom. If you’ve installed the Android version, look in the Chrome OS menu for that instead.
Once Zoom is open on your Chromebook, find the “Sign in” button, and log into your account. If you do not have a Zoom account, click on the “Join Meeting” button instead. Enter your meeting ID, as well as your name, and select the “Join” button to join your Zoom meeting.
