Top 6 All-in-One Messenger Apps for Linux
Ever since I have started using Ubuntu as my daily driver, I have been searching for goodall-in-one messaging apps. Back in Windows, I used Station which met all my requirements and had all the apps I wanted like Trello, Slack, WhatsApp, Gmail, etc. Moreover, the DND features to snooze notifications of individual apps and 1Password integration were an added bonus. Scrolling through GitHub, Reddit, Ubuntu repository, I prepared a list of hand-picked All-In-One messenger apps for Linux and here goes the list.
Best All-in-One Messenger Apps for Linux
Shift is more-of a Gmail focused email client rather than an all-in-one messenger app. But, it does stacks up pretty well in both the roles. For a minimal user, it has a wide list of 700+ apps to choose from. Although, Shift allows you to use only 2 apps in the free variant. I use a GSuite account and I was happy to see that as soon as I sign in to Gmail, I get Google Calendar and Google Drive connected in the same tab. All the Gmail shortcuts are also retained, so things work the same as in a normal browser window.
Shift is a great app but the free variant is quite restricted. The biggest of them being the “Sent with Shift” signature on every email. The free variant also doesn’t have DND mode, chrome extensions, unified search, etc. About the paid variant, I couldn’t find a password manager integration or a lock-down mode.
What’s good?
What’s not?
Total No of Apps Supported: 1200+
DownloadShift
2. All-in-one Messenger
The most popular app on this list is the All-in-One Messenger. It is a cross-platformChrome apprather than a standalone software. But, you can launch it actively without Google Chrome. You get all the popular messaging apps like Slack, WhatsApp, Discord, Google Hangouts, etc. Although it is quite a bare-bone minimal app, it does have a few nifty features. You can mute notifications for individual applications which really comes in handy when those WhatsApp group notifications start flooding.
All-in-One Messenger is a good choice for minimal users. For power users, there are roughly 13 apps to choose from and most of them are messaging applications. On the collaboration front, you would be slightly disappointed as there’s no Trello, Google Docs, Google Drive, etc.
Total No of Apps Supported: 10+
DownloadAll-in-One Messenger
Rambox is the most popular all-in-one messaging app for Linux distros. It has a huge list of Messaging and Email apps like Slack, Messenger, ProtonMail, etc. Apart from these if you don’t find your favorite web apps, you can add the URL within “Custom Service” and start using it within Rambox.
The notifications from all these apps can get distracting at times. Hence, you can hit the DND mode which would block all the app notifications. Another nifty feature is the Master Password which lets you set up a single password for all your apps. Upon setup, Rambox will ask you to enter the password on every startup. My favorite feature is the JS and CSS code injection which simply means it lets you access the inspect element code of the app. Thus you can create your own custom themes or event handlers for Rambox.
Rambox recently moved from the open-source banner to the paid model. The app is now bifurcated into free andpaid variantswhere the latter one costs $4/month. The paid variant provides 600+ apps, text search, spell-check, ad-blocker, etc.
Total No of Apps Supported: 100+
DownloadRambox
Read:6 Best Sticky Notes for Ubuntu to Take Fast Notes
Franz is another popular all-in-one messaging app available for different platforms. It has all the basic features like desktop notifications, DND, multiple accounts, etc. Compared to Rambox, Franz has fewer services but mostly collaborative ones like Zendesk, Trello, GitHub, etc.
Just like Rambox, Franz supports cloud synchronization of your service list and preferences. My most favorite feature about Franz is the “Franz Todo” list. It’s not a major thing but it comes in really handy to just copy-paste tasks from Slack or Google Keep onto the To-do drawer by the side. Unlike, Rambox you’re able to not only access inspect elements of Franz but also inspect elements of individual services and inject CSS or JS code.
Franz is an overall idle app for everyone but the most annoying thing about it is that it requires you to create an account. The account creation is mandatory even if you don’t want cloud sync. The free variant of Franz should be good for personal usagebut it has a lot of caveats. Firstly, it would randomly make you wait 10 seconds asking you to upgrade to the premium plan. It doesn’t really matter at the start but slowly it gets on your nerves and forces you to go in the paywall. Lastly, Franz counts multiple accounts as service so if you have 2 accounts for Gmail, it would count as 2 different services.
Total No of Apps Supported: 70+
DownloadFranz
5. Wavebox
If you are a corporate GSuite user, Wavebox might be the ideal app for you. I have also recommended it in mybest Linux email clientsfor Ubuntu and it is worthy of a mention here as well. First up, the free variant allows you to only use a maximum of 2 Gmail accounts. And as soon as you add your Gmail account, it adds all GSuite applications within in a tabbed manner. This is the only app in this list which lets you use Google’s entire collaborative app suite. Along with Gmail, you can use other messaging and collaboration apps like Trello, Slack, etc.
Wavebox is a powerful tool yet it plays it cool when it comes to resources. It smartly puts apps to sleep in turn reducing the RAM usage.
DownloadWavebox
6. Station
I have been using Station for a long time on Windows and recently it released for the Linux platform. The best thing about Station is the integrated 1Password support. Moreover, Station provides a few Boosted apps such as Google Drive, Slack, etc. These apps are integrated within Station and you may hit CTRL + T and quickly jump within the app. For instance, since I am a GSuite user, I have set up Google Drive and Slack under Station. This lets me quickly jump from a Google Doc to a private conversation in Slack within a click.
Total No of Apps Supported: 670+
DownloadStation
Wrapping Up
For minimal users, I would recommend sticking to the All-in-One messenger. For power users, Rambox is still the best option out there. In case you are into the Google ecosystem, Wavebox should be the ideal choice as it provides the entire GSuite and it is much more resource-efficient than the Chromium-based web browsers.
For more issues or queries regarding Linux, let me know in the comments below.
Also Read:7 Best Open Source Network Monitoring Tools for Windows and Linux
Pratik works as an In-house writer and video host at TechWiser. Former Programmer, Current writer. Loves tech in any form, quite optimistic about AI, data science and IoT. Talks extremely less but you betcha can geek out over anything on Twitter.
