A step forward for Wire for Linux

The overwhelming positive response to the release of an experimental version of Wire for Linux was a pleasant surprise for the whole team. However, from feedback it was also clear that people wanted to verify the download packages and to receive automatic updates to the app.

Today we’re happy to take a big step forward — Debian-based distributions (like Ubuntu or Mint) can now get Wire Desktop via APT. You can receive updates of Wire through the update mechanism of your own package management system. Updates are automatic and more secure as we sign the repositories with a PGP key.

Already have Wire installed?

To avoid conflicts with already existing package in the official Debian repository we renamed the app on Linux to wire-desktop. You need to remove the old, manually installed package. Don’t worry, you won’t lose your Wire conversation history.

It takes just a few steps to get your 🐧 ready to chat:

1. If you already installed Wire, uninstall it (don’t worry, your history will be kept)

sudo apt-get remove wire

2. Install apt-transport-https to receive the package via HTTPS

sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https

3. Import our PGP signing key to be able to verify the downloaded package

wget -q https://wire-app.wire.com/linux/releases.key -O- | sudo apt-key add -

4. Add our repository address to your sources list

echo "deb https://wire-app.wire.com/linux/debian stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/wire-desktop.list

5. Update your local list of available packages

sudo apt-get update

6. Install wire-desktop:

sudo apt-get install wire-desktop

Note that Wire for Linux is still experimental and the best place to give feedback or report problems is to open an issue on GitHub.

Get Wire for your phone, tablet or desktop.