Google Hangouts is a communication app that is developed by Google. Using this application, you can send instant text messages, share files like pictures/videos, find contacts, and hold audio/video calls. You can also make phone calls on cellphones but, it may require some additional charges or you need to buy monthly plans.
In this article, we will show you 3 different ways to install the YakYak Google Hangouts client on Ubuntu 20.04.
Installation of Google Hangouts on Ubuntu 20.04
Google doesn’t provide a Hangouts client for the Linux desktop. That’s why we need to install it using a third-party app. Here, we will demonstrate how to install YakYak. This is an open-source client for Hangouts. There are different ways to install YakYak on Ubuntu 20.04 system. YakYak deb package is officially available for Ubuntu/Debian and derivatives. It can also install using the snap package from the Snapcraft store. It is also possible to download it manually and execute YakYak without doing any installation. Let’s discuss all ways one by one in the following sections.
Method 1: Download and install the YakYak deb package
Grab the latest YakYak deb package from the GitHub using the given URL https://github.com/yakyak/yakyak/releases/tag/v1.5.9
Download the following highlighted deb package from the displaying page.
The dialogue will appear on the desktop. Choose ‘Save File’ options and click on OK.
You can see the download status by clicking on the downloads icon which is also marked with red in the following image:
Once the download is complete, navigate into the ‘Downloads’ folder. Launch the Terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+t keys and you can also open it through the application search bar. Run the following commands to move into the ‘Downloads’ directory:
$ cd Downloads
$ ls
Now, install the downloaded deb package using the apt by executing the following commands:
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install ./yakyak-1.5.9-linux-amd64.deb
Method 2: Install Yakyak using Snap package
Snap Linux packages can be installed on any type of Linux distro. But first, make sure the snap package manager is configured on your Linux system. In Ubuntu 20.04, snap is pre-installed on it. If due to any reason it is not available then using the following command you can install the snap package manager on your Ubuntu system:
$ sudo apt update && sudo apt install snapd
Once the snappy is configured on your system, install the ‘core’ for the snap, and then restart the snapd services using the below mentioned commands:
$ sudo snap install core
$ sudo systemctl restart snapd
Now, install the YakYak by executing the following command on the Terminal:
$ sudo snap install yakyak
To remove or uninstall the yakyak application from your system execute the following command on the Terminal:
$ sudo snap remove yakyak
Method 3: Manually run YakYak
This is not a recommended method for Yakyak installation. When a new version is released, you need to repeat all the steps again manually. For this method, download the compressed yakyak package from the GitHub https://github.com/yakyak/yakyak/releases/tag/v1.5.9
Extract the downloaded package on your system by running the following command:
$ tar -xvf yakyak-1.5.9-linux-x64.tar.gz
Make the Yakyak executable by using the following command:
$ chmod +x yakyak
Now, launch the YakYak using the below-mentioned command:
$ ./yakyak
How to use YakYak
Launch the application from the search menu bar as follows:
Click on the application and you will see the following window. You need to enter the google account and password. Login with your account.
Once you have logged in, you can enjoy the YakYak application features now.
You can also remove this application from your system. To do this, run the following command on the terminal:
$ sudo apt remove yakyak
Conclusion
In this article, we demonstrated how to install Yakyak using all possible ways on Ubuntu 20.04 system. If you are daily using hangouts then, Yakyak is the best communication tool that you have. Must try this app on your system. I hope now you don’t have any doubts about the YakYak installation.