Note: These instruction are written specifically for Raspberry Pi OS, not for Ubuntu. Signal is a privacy-focused messaging app and a great alternative to WhatsApp. Many users are looking for more secure and independent communication tools, and Signal offers strong end-to-end encryption and a user-friendly experience. This post explains how to use the unofficial ARM64 build of Signal Desktop on a Raspberry Pi.
Signal is a privacy-focused messaging app and a great alternative to WhatsApp. It offers end-to-end encrypted messaging and calls. Unlike WhatsApp Web, Signal Desktop is a standalone app that connects to your phone via a QR code. You must first install Signal on your phone and link it to use the desktop version. There is no official ARM and ARM64 version, but a reliable unofficial build by Dennis Ameling is available. Download and install the .deb package manually from his GitHub releases. This version does not update automatically, so check regularly for new releases. Go to: https://github.com/dennisameling/Signal-Desktop/releases
Code:
pkill -f signal-desktop-unofficial || true && \sudo mkdir -p /etc/skel/.config/autostart /etc/dconf/db/local.d && mkdir -p ~/.config/autostart && \wget https://github.com/dennisameling/Signal-Desktop/releases/download/v7.53.0/signal-desktop-unofficial_7.53.0_arm64.deb -O /tmp/signal-desktop-unofficial_7.53.0_arm64.deb && \sudo apt install /tmp/signal-desktop-unofficial_7.53.0_arm64.deb && \echo -e "[Desktop Entry]\nType=Application\nName=Signal Autostart\nExec=signal-desktop-unofficial --start-in-tray\nIcon=signal-desktop\nX-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true" | sudo tee /etc/skel/.config/autostart/Signal_Autostart.desktop >/dev/null && \sudo chmod 644 /etc/skel/.config/autostart/Signal_Autostart.desktop && \mkdir -p ~/.config/autostart && cp /etc/skel/.config/autostart/Signal_Autostart.desktop ~/.config/autostart/ && \sudo sed -i 's|^Exec=.*|Exec=signal-desktop-unofficial %U|' /usr/share/applications/signal-desktop-unofficial.desktop || true && \sudo sed -i 's|^Exec=.*|Exec=signal-desktop-unofficial --start-in-tray %U|' ~/.config/autostart/Signal_Autostart.desktop || true && \sudo sed -i 's|^Exec=.*|Exec=signal-desktop-unofficial --start-in-tray %U|' /etc/skel/.config/autostart/Signal_Autostart.desktop || trueInstall spell check dictionaries:
Signal Desktop supports spell checking based on your system’s available language dictionaries.
You can run the command below to automatically install spelling dictionaries (like hunspell-en, hunspell-nl, etc.) based on the languages already configured on your Debian system:
Code:
INSTALLED_PACKAGES="" && for loc in $(locale -a | grep -Ei 'utf-8|utf8'); do full_locale=$(echo $loc | awk -F'[_\\.@]' '{print tolower($1 "-" $2)}'); base_locale=$(echo $full_locale | cut -d'-' -f1); for pkg_type in hunspell hyphen; do base_pkg="${pkg_type}-${base_locale}"; full_pkg="${pkg_type}-${full_locale}"; if apt-cache show "$full_pkg" &>/dev/null; then if ! apt-cache policy "$full_pkg" | grep -q 'Candidate: (none)'; then INSTALLED_PACKAGES+=" $full_pkg"; fi; elif apt-cache show "$base_pkg" &>/dev/null; then if ! apt-cache policy "$base_pkg" | grep -q 'Candidate: (none)'; then INSTALLED_PACKAGES+=" $base_pkg"; fi; fi; done; done; if [[ -n "$INSTALLED_PACKAGES" ]]; then sudo apt-get install --ignore-missing -y $INSTALLED_PACKAGES || true; fi
Want to install GNOME on Raspberry Pi OS? See my guide here: GUIDE: Install GNOME Ubuntu-like on Raspberry Pi OS Lite (NO SNAP)
Disable autostart for current user:
Code:
rm -f ~/.config/autostart/Signal_Autostart.desktopCode:
sudo rm -f /etc/skel/.config/autostart/Signal_Autostart.desktop /usr/share/applications/Signal_Autostart.desktop && rm -f ~/.config/autostart/Signal_Autostart.desktopCode:
pkill -f signal-desktop-unofficial || true && sudo apt remove -y signal-desktop-unofficial && sudo rm -f /etc/skel/.config/autostart/Signal_Autostart.desktop /usr/share/applications/Signal_Autostart.desktop && rm -rf ~/.config/Signal ~/.local/share/Signal ~/.cache/Signal ~/.config/autostart/Signal_Autostart.desktop ~/.config/Signal\ UnofficialStatistics: Posted by Wobbo — Sun May 04, 2025 9:26 am