How To Install qTox Messenger on Linux

Tox is a completely free and open source, end-to-end encrypted messenger, focusing on user’s privacy and security, preventing massive surveillance, which outshines other instant messenger like Skype, QQ etc. Technically speaking, Tox is just the core library that provides the Tox protocol and API. There are a few implementations of Tox for different platforms.

• Linux:          qTox, uTox
• Mac OS X:  qTox, uTox.
• Windows:    qTox, uTox
• Android:     Antox
• iOS:           Antidote

Read also: 2 Ways to Install Telegram Messenger on Ubuntu

How to Use Tox to Chat with Your Friends and Family?

Tox is decentralized, end-to-end communication.  There are no central servers to store user’s message whatsoever.  You need to create a profile when you use Tox on a device. In other words, this profile identifies your device rather than yourself.  Every Tox profile has a 76 hexadecimal characters as the Tox ID.

So you have to download and install a Tox client on your computer (qTox or uTox), on your phone (Antox or Antidote) and then create a profile and you will be able to chat with your friends and family.

How To Add friends on Tox Client?

As I’ve said, the Tox ID is a 76 hexadecimal characters that identifies your device. To add a friend, you need to enter these characters into the add friends text field.

But who in the world can remembers such long characters? The account resolution service comes to the rescue! This service can translate those 76 characters into email addresses such as [email protected] which is much easier for the human brain. This is very similar to the DNS service.

Which Tox Client Should I Use?

Currently, qTox is the easiest and has more features than other Tox Client. qTox can help you capture the compute screen, send files to your friends. You can also do voice call and video call with qTox. If you are a Linux user and use different computers very often, then install qTox. qTox is also recommended for Windows and Mac users. Android users install Antox. iPhone users install Antidote.

Install Tox Clients on Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint

Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint users can install qTox from the default software repository.

sudo apt-get install qtox

Install qTox on Arch Linux

qTox is in the Arch Linux community repository, so you can use pacman to install it.

sudo pacman -S qtox

Install qTox on Fedora, OpenSUSE and Other Linux Distributions

Download qTox binary from https://wiki.tox.chat/binaries#other_linux

Extract it

tar xvf qTox.*.tar.xz

A new binary file will be created in the current directory. Double click to run it. If qTox failed to launch, you can open a terminal in the current directory and enter

./qtox

to see error messages.

Using qTox

On first launch, you will be asked to create a profile. Choose a username and password.

After you login, the add friends interface will be presented as you have no friends on Tox yet. The interface of qTox is very clear and easy to navigate. On the left pane, there are 4 tabs used for adding friend, creating groups and group chat, file transfer list and settings respectively.

To add friends on qTox, click the plus button on the lower left corner and paste the Tox ID of your friends. If your friends register an email account, then enter the email address of your friends. It’s much easier.

To get your Tox ID, click on your username and you can find it in the right pane.

Conclusion

Tox and Tox clients are still in heavy development. More Linux distributions will be supported in the future. Tox is the answer to the 2013 NSA surveillance scandal. So it’s highly recommend for people who values their privacy and security.