How to Install Zoom on Debian 11 Bullseye

In the era of COVID-19 and possible future situations similar to it, Zoom has become an essential tool for business and education. The platform provides high-quality video and audio, making connecting with colleagues and customers accessible from any device. Zoom’s screen sharing feature is also valuable for presentations and collaboration. Additionally, the ability to record meetings has proved helpful for training purposes. For businesses, Zoom’s enterprise features are a significant advantage. Single sign-on and integration with calendaring systems make it easy to deploy and manage Zoom across an organization. Additionally, support for large-scale deployments ensures that businesses can meet their communication needs, even as they grow.

In the following tutorial, you will learn to install Zoom on Debian 11 Bullseye using the downloaded Zoom deb package or installing the Flatpak third-party package manager, with some tips for maintaining or removing software in the future.

Update Debian

Before you begin, ensure your system is up-to-date to avoid any conflicts during the installation, and for good practice, use the terminal command as follows.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Install Zoom Client – APT Method

The first option is to install the official Debian-based package. By default, Zoom is not available in the default Debian repository.

In your terminal, use the following command to download the package.

wget https://zoom.us/client/latest/zoom_amd64.deb

Once you have finished downloading the package, run the installation command.

sudo apt install ./zoom_amd64.deb

Install Zoom Client – Flatpak Method

The second option is to use the Flatpak package manager; this will need to be installed on your desktop, as Debian, unlike most other distributions, does not install one by default.

First, install the Flatpak manager using the following command.

sudo apt install flatpak -y

Next, you must enable Flathub using the following command in your terminal.

sudo flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Ideally, you should reboot at this stage; if you skip this and notice icons not appearing, the reboot will generate the paths required for the future.

reboot

Now run the installation using the following flatpak command.

flatpak install flathub us.zoom.Zoom -y

How to Launch Zoom Client

Launching can be done in a few ways now that you have the software installed.

Users in the terminal can launch using the following command.

zoom

Lastly, Flatpak users can run from the terminal using the following command.

flatpak run us.zoom.Zoom

However, this is not practical, and you would use the following path on your desktop to open the course.

Activities > Show Applications > Zoom

Example:

Once you open the client, you will see the first default landing screen. From here, you can join a meeting or sign in for account holders. Also, you will notice a blue icon in the bottom right-hand corner, as with the picture below, with Zoom available in the background, but this will be removed once you exit the program.

Example:

How to Update/Upgrade Zoom Client

Updates should appear in notifications, but if these fail to show sometimes, it is recommended to check using the terminal regardless of the following commands to check for updates.

Flatpak Method

flatpak update

How to Remove (Uninstall) Zoom Client

Use one of the following commands to suit the original installation method for users who no longer require the application.

Flatpak Remove Method

flatpak remove  --delete-data us.zoom.Zoom -y

Next, run the following command for any leftover clean-ups required, similar to the autoremove command described for the apt remove example command.

flatpak remove --unused

Comments and Conclusion

Zoom is worth checking out if you’re looking for a powerful videoconferencing and online chat platform. With its many features, zoom makes it easy to connect with others for collaboration or learning.