How to Install Facebook Messenger Linux Client on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

In this tutorial we are going to look at how to install a third-party Facebook Messenger Linux client on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. The app in question is called Messenger for Desktop, available for Linux, OS X and Windows.

Messenger for Desktop features:

• Make HD voice and video calls anywhere in the world.
• Snap photos and shoot videos
• Thousands of Stickers
• Record voice messages
• Group chat
• Launch on OS startup
• Native notifications
• Custom themes

Install Facebook Messenger Linux Client on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

The installation is very simple. Just go to Messenger for Desktop website and download the deb package of your OS architecture which can be checked with a simple arch command.

• x86 means 32 bits
• x86_64 means 64 bits

After the deb packages is downloaded, open a terminal window and navigate to the download folder. Then install it with the following command.

sudo dpkg -i messengerfordesktop*.deb

Once installed, you can start it from Unity dash or your application menu.

Messenger for Desktop is installed in /opt/messengerfordesktop/ directory. You can also start it with this command:

/opt/messengerfordesktop/messengerfordesktop

or

messengerfordesktop

Sign in with your Facebook account.

And there you have it.

SSL Error

Some users report that they have encountered SSL error when opening the app. If you launch Messenger in the terminal, you may find this error message.

Unknown SSL error -12218 (SSL_ERROR_ENCRYPTION_FAILURE) mapped to net::ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR

To solve this problem, you can download the latest beta release of Messenger for Desktop on Github. Once downloaded, install it with the following command:

sudo dpkg -i Messenger_linux*.deb

If for any reason you want to remove this app, run the below command:

sudo apt remove messengerfordesktop

And that’s it! I hope this tutorial helped you install Facebook Messenger Linux client on your Ubuntu 16.04 machine. As always, if you found this post useful,  subscribe to our free newsletter or follow us on Google+, Twitter or like our Facebook page. Thanks for visiting.