Using QQ from Ubuntu

Usually I’m working in Ubuntu, so cannot use the PC version of QQ. I’ve had to either switch to Windows or use QQ International through my smartphone. Typing on my smartphone in Chinese and English is challenging and fraught with spelling mistakes. I’m having trouble accurately typing Chinese pinyin on my phone. The alternative is to use QQ with a browser.

You can use the browser version of QQ when you are on ubuntu, but I could not find any instructions on how to do this. Here is what to do:

1. In your browser go to web.qq.com. Click the
   立即体验 (li4ji2 ti3yan4, immediately experience it for oneself) Chinese characters button, which turns green when you hover over it.
   
   

   Web QQ Intro screen. Click the 立即体验 button, which turns green when you hover over it.

   
   On the next screen you will see a weird black and white QR code.
   
   

   Web QQ: Your screen will have this sort of QR code

2. On your smartphone start the QQ International app .
3. On the QQ options at the bottom, go to Explore. It will have a star icon, and will turn blue when touched.
   
   

   QQ International, Note the Explore Option, with the Star icon

4. From the Explore options, click the green icon “Scan QR Code”.
   
   

   QQ International, Note the Scan QR Code with the square green icon

5. The QQ International app will now use your smartphone camera. You will see it act like a scanner, with a horizontal line scanning down the viewfinder from top to bottom. Using your smartphone camera, aim and scan the black and white QR code on your PC’s screen.
6. You’ll be asked to approve this login in QQ International on your phone. Once you approve, after a couple of seconds your web page will automatically change and you’ll be using QQ on the web, on Ubuntu!
7. You can now shut off the QQ International app on your smartphone.

Note that web QQ can only do texting and not video chat. For video chat I will have to boot into Windows and use the QQ client. Still, this is better than using my smartphone to text, and saves battery as well. Web QQ is not a complete replacement of the PC QQ client.

I also found that on Ubuntu I was using Chinese (SunPinyin), which would often not allow me to input certain characters and would sometimes glitch, like the character options would toggle from the top to bottom, but not give me any further options. I installed Chinese (pinyin), which is different, and everything is much better. The options go horizontal, instead of SunPinyin’s vertical.

2019 Oct 26 There’s a new version of QQ for linux? Here’s the page for QQ Linux, but looks like Chinese only