How to Install Google Chrome in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

This is a step by step guide shows how to install Google Chrome web browser and keep it up-to-date in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

Google Chrome is the top popular web browser today. It is a proprietary software free for use. For those who prefer open-source, then Google also offers Chromium browser for choice.

Google Chrome is available to install in Linux on only Intel/AMD platform through 2 ways! They are:

• official and native .deb/.rpm package.
• unofficial community maintained Flatpak package, runs in sandbox environment.

Here I’m going to show you how to install the browser in both ways. Choose either that you prefer.

Option 1: Install Google Chrome native Deb package

Google provides direct download links, as well as software repository that contains the browser package through .deb for Debian/Ubuntu, and .rpm for Fedora and openSUSE.

Download & Install the Deb package

The package is available to download at the link below:

NOTE: If you’re trying to download the package on a non-Linux system (e.g., Windows), or the link somehow does not work for you, then go directly to next step (Setup Google Chrome Repository) and install it from command line.

After downloaded the .deb package, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal, then run command to install it:

sudo apt install ~/Downloads/google-chrome-stable*.deb

Instead of typing ~/Downloads/google-chrome-stable*.deb, you can just drag’n’drop .deb file into terminal to insert the path to file.

Once installed, search for and launch the browser either from start menu or Gnome ‘Show Apps’ screen depends on your desktop environment, and enjoy!

Setup (Modify) Google Chrome Repository

If the download link above does not work for you, then you can follow this step to manually add the source repository and install .deb package using apt command.

Download & install the .deb package via the steps above automatically setup the Google Chrome repository for your system. However it’s outdated and deprecated due to security and policy change!

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open up a terminal window. Then, run command to move the key file from deprecated location to /etc/apt/keyrings:

sudo mv /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/google-chrome.gpg /etc/apt/keyrings

If you didn’t download & install the .deb package, then, run command to download & install the key file manually:

wget -qO - https://dl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/google-chrome.gpg

Then, run ls /etc/apt/keyrings command to list the directory content. It should include google-chrome.gpg file in that directory.

2. Next, run command to edit the source repository file:

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list

Here I use nano command line text editor that works in most desktops. You can replace it with gnome-text-editor for GNOME, mousepad for XFCE, pluma for MATE, or gedit for Ubuntu 22.04 and earlier with GNOME.

When file opens, add signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/google-chrome.gpg in the brackets, to associate the key to that source repository. After that, the file content will be:

deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/google-chrome.gpg] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main

If the file is empty, just add the full line instead. Finally, press Ctrl+s to save change, and Ctrl+x to exit.

(Another Choice) For choice, user may use .sources file format instead, that’s in use for Ubuntu PPAs, by running command:

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.sources

When file opens, add following line, then press Ctrl+s to save and Ctrl+x to exit:

Types: deb
URIs: https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/
Suites: stable
Components: main
Architectures: amd64
Signed-By: /etc/apt/keyrings/google-chrome.gpg

NOTE: to use this .sources file, you need to delete the previous .list one to avoid duplicated source files:

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list

3. Then, refresh system package cache by running command:

sudo apt update

If everything goes well, it should output a line says ‘Get (or Hit): x http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome…‘.

Finally, install the chrome browser by running command:

sudo apt install google-chrome-stable

As you see in the screenshot, you may alternatively install google-chrome-beta or google-chrome-unstable package for beta or unstable version.

Update Google Chrome

If a newer version of the browser is rolling out, then you can re-run the last apt install command to update.

Or, launch Software Updater utility to check updates along with system package updates.

Option 2: Install Google Chrome via Flatpak

Flatpak is an universal package format that can be installed in most Linux. It runs in sandbox environment, and takes more disk space due to run-time libraries.

The good side is that, it’s easy to configure the permission access, such as Webcam, Microphone, and user folders, for those who care more about personal data.

Tips: Linux Mint 21+ and Fedora 38 + (with 3rd party repository enabled) can directly search for and install the Google Chrome Flatpak pakage from either Software Manager or Gnome Software

1. For Ubuntu, first press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open up a terminal window, and run command to install the daemon package to enable Flatpak support:

sudo apt install flatpak

2. Next, install the browser as Flatpak using command:

flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/com.google.Chrome.flatpakref

3. For future releases, run command to update:

flatpak update com.google.Chrome

Finally, search for and launch it from either start menu or Gnome overview (may need to log out and back in first). Or, run the command below to start it from terminal:

flatpak run com.google.Chrome

To manage the permission of the Flatpak package, simply install and use Flatseal:

flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/com.github.tchx84.Flatseal.flatpakref

Uninstall Google Chrome

To uninstall the .deb package, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove google-chrome-stable

And, remove the source repository by deleting the key and source file:

sudo rm /etc/apt/keyrings/google-chrome.gpg /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.*

Finally, run sudo apt update to refresh system package cache.

To uninstall the Flatpak package, use command:

flatpak uninstall com.google.Chrome

And, run flatpak uninstall --unused to remove unused run-time libraries.