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Telegram is a free, cross-platform messaging app which, according to its developers, focuses on speed and security.

Telegram Desktop Ubuntu

There are official Telegram clients for Android, iOS, WP, Mac OS X, as well as for the desktop: Windows, Mac OS X and Linux (along with a web-based version, Chrome app) and quite a few unofficial clients. The official Telegram Linux desktop app is not packaged for Ubuntu so to make it easier to install, Lorenzo from atareao.es has created a PPA.

The Telegram desktop application supports desktop notifications, stickers (Telegram only has a few for now, but more will follow soon), sending and receiving attachments (documents or photos), adding contacts and so on. What it doesn't support is sending voice messages (you can listen or download received voice messages though).

It's important to mention that by using the PPA below, the Telegram auto-update feature won't work so you'll have to rely on the PPA for updating the application.


Install Telegram Desktop in Ubuntu or Linux Mint via PPA


To add the Atareao Telegram PPA and install the official Telegram Desktop application in Ubuntu / Linux Mint and derivatives, use the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/telegram
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install telegram

If you encounter bugs, report them @ GitHub.

Also see:

via atareao.es, thanks to Icy EyeG for the tip!