How to listen to Tidal on the Linux desktop with Tidal-hifi
Tidal is a high-quality audio streaming service. It offers a wide variety of music of lossless quality. Here’s how you can use the Tidal streaming service on your Linux PC with the Tidal Hi-fi app.
How to install Tidal Hi-fi on Linux
The Tidal Hi-fi client is available for Linux users via DEB, RPM packages, Arch Linux Pacman packages, etc. In this guide, we’ll cover these packaging formats.
Note: Tidal Hi-fi is also available in the Snap package store if you wish to install it that way.
You’ll need a terminal to install Tidal Hi-fi on your Linux PC. Open a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Alternatively, you can launch a terminal window on your desktop by searching for “Terminal” in the app menu.
Once the terminal window is open and ready to use, the installation can begin. Follow the instructions below that correspond with the Linux OS you use.
Ubuntu
To get Tidal Hi-fi working on your Ubuntu system, start by downloading the official Tidal Hi-fi DEB package to your computer. You can download the package using the following wget download command.
wget https://github.com/Mastermindzh/tidal-hifi/releases/download/4.1.0/tidal-hifi_4.1.0_amd64.deb
After downloading the DEB package to your computer, you can use the apt install command to set up the Tidal Hi-fi app on your Ubuntu computer.
sudo apt install ./tidal-hifi_4.1.0_amd64.deb
Debian
If you use Debian, you’ll be able to install Tidal Hi-fi by downloading the latest DEB package release. To get your hands on the package, you must run the following wget download command.
wget https://github.com/Mastermindzh/tidal-hifi/releases/download/4.1.0/tidal-hifi_4.1.0_amd64.deb
After downloading the Tidal Hi-fi package to your Debian system, you can install it using the apt-get install command. This command will collect all the needed dependencies and get the program working on your computer.
sudo apt-get install ./tidal-hifi_4.1.0_amd64.deb
Arch Linux
To get Tidal Hi-fi working on Arch Linux, you’ll need to download the official Pacman package from the Github page. You can download the package to your computer using the following wget download command.
wget https://github.com/Mastermindzh/tidal-hifi/releases/download/4.1.0/tidal-hifi-4.1.0.pacman
Once the package is done downloading to your Arch Linux system, you will be able to install it using the pacman -U command. This command will set up the package, correct all needed dependencies, and get everything working.
sudo pacman -U tidal-hifi-4.1.0.pacman
Fedora
Those on Fedora Linux will be able to download an RPM package to install Tidal Hi-fi. With Fedora, you do not need to use the wget download command. You can instead install the package directly with dnf install.
sudo dnf install https://github.com/Mastermindzh/tidal-hifi/releases/download/4.1.0/tidal-hifi-4.1.0.x86_64.rpm
OpenSUSE
If you use OpenSUSE Linux, you’ll be able to install the Tidal Hi-fi app as an RPM package. To get your hands on the package, use the following wget download command.
wget https://github.com/Mastermindzh/tidal-hifi/releases/download/4.1.0/tidal-hifi-4.1.0.x86_64.rpm
After downloading the package to your computer, you can install it using the zypper install command in the terminal.
sudo zypper install tidal-hifi-4.1.0.x86_64.rpm
Once the Tidal Hi-fi app is installed on your Linux PC, follow the step-by-step instructions below to listen to music on your desktop with it.
Step 1: Find the “Sign up” button, and click on it with the mouse if you do not have an account. Alternatively, if you already have an account, click the “Log in” button to log into your account.
Step 2: Once you’ve created your account, find the green “Sign Up” button. Above this button, you’ll see a message. This message says “By Selecting ‘Sign Up’ you can confirm that you have read and agree to TIDAL’s Terms of Use.”
Select the “Sign Up” button to continue.
Step 3: After selecting the “Sign Up” button, you may need to select the “Log In” option once more to access Tidal. Once you’ve logged in, you’ll see an overview of your Tidal profile. Select the “Tidal” logo in the top-left corner.
Step 4: Selecting the “Tidal” logo will take you to the service home page. From there, find the “Get Started” button and select it with the mouse to get started with Tidal.
Step 5: Upon selecting the “Get Started” button, you’ll see your profile, followed by a “Yes, continue” button. You’ll then be prompted to choose a subscription type. Choose either “Free,” “HiFi,” or “HiFi Plus.”
After choosing your subscription, close Tidal Hi-fi and re-open it.
Step 6: Once Tidal Hi-fi reopens, you should see the music player. Log into your account and, find the “Explore” button. Then, click on the search box, and search for a song, band, or genre of music to listen to.
Suggestions
In addition to searching for bands/songs and genres of music, Tidal also has suggestions. Select the “Explore” button and take a look at the music the service has to suggest for you!
Hi Derrik
Is it possible to play Tidal HiRes or Master quality in Ubuntu with the software described here? I’m still looking for a solution for this. I own a DAC that can handle high resolutions and MQA.
As far as I know, for CD quality Tidal, I could just use the browser to play it. I want to surpass CD quality though.
I’m not quite sure, to be honest. This is something you may need to talk to Tidal support about.
Thanks for the useful article. I just installed Tidal Hi-fi app on Linux. It works but doesn’t seem to provide gapless playback, which is a deal breaker for me.