Skype is a popular application that belongs to Microsoft Corporation. It is used for instant messaging, file and screen sharing, and audio and video calling. Instant messaging and Skype to Skype calls are free. However, you have to pay for some of Skype's additional features, such as calling landlines from Skype or sending SMS messages to mobile numbers. Skype can be installed on all major operating systems, including Linux, Windows, and macOS.
By default, Skype is not installed on Linux operating systems. In this article you will learn how to install skype using various methods on the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS operating system. The installation steps are almost identical for all Ubuntu versions:
Install Skype using GUI on Ubuntu
Installing Skype via the GUI Ubuntu Software Repository is very simple. Follow the steps to install Skype via the Ubuntu Software Repository on your Ubuntu 20.04 system:
Click on the Ubuntu Software icon in the left sidebar of your desktop as follows.
Once the Ubuntu Software window is open, click on the search icon and type the keyword "skype" in the search bar. In the search results, you will see the skype icon as follows:
Now, click on the install button to start the installation of Skype on your Ubuntu system.
After doing that, the authentication dialog will display on the desktop. You need to enter the password of your system user and click on the Authenticate button to proceed further.
The Skype installation will start on your system. You can see the installation progress with the help of displaying a progress bar as follows:
The installation process will take time to complete depending on the network speed. In a while, you will see the following window showing Skype has been installed on your system.
Install the Skype .deb package from the official website
In this method, you can install Skype from its official website. First, you need to download the .deb file on your system then you will install it using Dpkg. Perform the following steps to install Skype with this method:
Step 1: Download the Skype .deb package
You can directly download the latest version of Skype from its official website https://www.skype.com/en/get-skype/. Here, you will see the various packages for different operating distributions. As you want to install on Ubuntu 20.04, then you will download the .deb file from this website. To download Skype through the command line, use the following command:
$ wget https://repo.skype.com/latest/skypeforlinux-64.deb
The Skype package will be saved into your system’s home directory.
Step 2: Install Skype
In this step, you will install the download .deb file on your system using the dpkg package manager. To install Skype via Dpkg run the command on the terminal as follows:
$ sudo dpkg -i skypeforlinux-64.deb
After executing the above command, Skype will be installed on your Ubuntu 20.04 system.
Step 3: Launch Skype
To launch Skype on Ubuntu 20.04 system, you will use the application launcher search bar. Type ‘Skype’ keyword in the search bar. You will see the Skype icon in the following search result:
Click on the Skype icon to launch it.
You can also launch Skype via the Terminal application. Type the command as follows:
$ skypeforlinux
Once you launch Skype, the following window will be displayed on the system:
You can sign in using the above interface, or if you don’t have an account, then register and enjoy Skype on your Ubuntu 20.04 system.
Install Skype using snap package
You can install with the snap package. Snap is an application that allows you to install any application on your Ubuntu system. It contains all the necessary libraries and dependencies. Snap is already installed on all current Ubuntu versions. However, if for some reason this package is missing on your system, you can install it using the following command in the terminal:
$ sudo apt install snapd
To install Skype via the snap application, you need to run the following command on the terminal window:
$ sudo snap install skype --classic
If you have installed skype via snap then use the following command to launch it:
$ skype
In this article, we have explained a list of all possible ways to install the popular communication tool skype on your Ubuntu 20.04 LTS system. You can choose from all the methods the one that suits you best. I hope you enjoyed this article. Please give us your feedback in the comments.
