How to Update Google Chrome on Ubuntu

So you have managed to install Google Chrome browser on your Ubuntu system. And now you’re wondering how to keep the browser up to date.

When an update is available for Chrome on Windows and macOS, you will be notified in the browser itself and you can select the update option in the browser.

It’s different with Linux. You don’t update Chrome through the browser. They update it with the system updates.

Yes. When a new update is available for Chrome, Ubuntu will notify you through the System Updater tool.

All you have to do is click the Install Now button, enter your account password when prompted, and update Chrome to a new version.

Let me tell you why you are seeing the system level updates and how to update Google Chrome from the command line.

Method 1: Update Google Chrome with System Updates

How did you install Chrome in the first place? You got the deb installer file from the chrome website and used it to install chrome on Ubuntu.

The thing is, when you do that, Google adds a repository entry to your system’s source list. This way your system trusts the packages from the Google repository.

For all such entries added to your system, the package updates are centralized by the Ubuntu Updater.

Because of this, your Ubuntu system will send you a notification when an update for Google Chrome (and other installed applications) is available.

Click the Install Now button and enter your password when prompted. Soon the system will install all updatable packages.

Depending on the update setting, the notification may not be instantaneous. If you want, you can manually run the updater tool and see what updates are available for your Ubuntu system.

Method 2: Update Chrome in Ubuntu Command Line

If you prefer the terminal to the graphical user interface, you can also update Chrome with commands.

Open a terminal and run the following commands one by one:

sudo apt update 

sudo apt --only-upgrade install google-chrome-stable

The first command updates the package cache so your system knows which packages can be updated.

The second command only updates the single package, namely Google Chrome (installed as google-chrome-stable).

Conclusion

As you can see, things are slimmer in Ubuntu than in Windows. Chrome is updated along with other system updates.

A similar note may tell you how to remove Google Chrome from Ubuntu if you are not happy with it.

Chrome is a good browser. You can experiment with this by using shortcuts in Chrome as it makes browsing even smoother.

Enjoy Chrome on Ubuntu!