I don't understand what this would be useful for. The Linux terminal app on Android (check Developer settings if you want it) already exists and it uses hardware accelerated virtualization, while this uses QEMU with TCG. The Linux terminal app also supports running a DE (No VNC - as in no VNC, not NoVNC - required!), has full shell, full root, all the features of Podroid, and hell, you could even swap out the terminal if you wanted to. The only advantage to this seems that it supports Android 14, 15, and 16. Am I missing something, or does this have no purpose?
My understanding is that the integrated linux terminal is not supported on all processors like snapdragon ones and also is not available on all manufactures like Samsung. Therefore this approach covers a much bigger audience.
I think it was only available on Google Pixel until recently. As far as I understand, some Samsung Exynos devices support it (e.g. Z Flip 7, non-US S26 with Exynos), but not Snapdragon devices, which don't seem to support non-protected VMs yet:
Error code: java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException: Non-protected VMs are not supported on this device
I can find it on my S25fe with exynos android 16/oneui 8.0 if I search for it in the setting but is greyed out. I wait for 8.5 to see if it is enabled then and is the only time I'm happy to have an exynos device!
This. Also, for phones that don't support Android virtualization, there's a user-space hack, part of Termux upstream, that allows for root-less chroots via LD_PRELOAD: https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/PRoot.
systemd won't boot with this (needs to be PID 1), but a lot of software will work just fine and there's nearly zero emulation overhead.
I don't think it uses LD_PRELOAD, it uses ptrace to intercept system calls (hence the name). Unfortunately this does have performance overhead, although I've never bothered to measure it. Actually that would be an interesting thing to benchmark.
My bad, I must have confused it with something else. Yes, it uses ptrace; there definitely is some overhead around system calls, but that still should be better than running atop a full-scale CPU emulator. That being said, I haven't benchmarked it myself, just remember it being pretty snappy.
The new app is truly awesome, was able to get a desktop environment running, and a minecraft server & client. Just a shame that you can't pass through USB.
The Linux terminal app on Android reddits are full of reports of instability. It is far from being useful as far as I understand. I had so much hope for this being a good way to use my phone as a portal for development, but it's a dud. At least we have termux and proot.
Termux itself is a red-headed step-child on Android, with current releases installable only from F-Droid, and quite possibly subject to further restrictions in future.
Mind: Termux is the only thing on Android which has not precisely sucked in my own 15+ years' experience with the platform. It remains both crippled and emperiled by the OS and Google.
My own interests lie more in the ability to run Android emulated under Linux, and switching from phone / tablet devices to a small form-factor laptop (Framework 12 or 13 most likely) for on-the-go computing.
you seem to have articulated precisely the advantage that makes it serve a purpose for me: supporting the version of android on my phone. presumably i am far from unique in not having android 16
Not everyone owns one of the limited range of devices that Linux Terminal is available for. For example, no Snapdragon chips currently in use support the "non-protected" virtual machines required by the Android Virtualization Framework. Also, it doesn't jive with Samsung Knox, so the few Samsung devices that this might work on (mostly international models with Exynos chips) will likely not be supported.
I tried it on my Samsung phone. Keeps crashing, "recovery" just deletes everything and you start over from scratch. No session lasted more than 5 minutes.
Yeah, it is controlled by the vendor. If you can't find the option, you will need to use adb to enable it that's what I did basically. You can Google it and you'll find what I'm talking about. IRC, it is pm enable ....
Also, native Emacs under FDroid has recently been improved a lot.
With just Emacs you get:
- An IRC, Usenet and Mail client. The ONLY libre Usenet client. comp.arch and comp.misc have really engaging discussions. You can score up nice commenters and blacklist every spammer
- Gemini and Gopher via ELPA (run Esc-x package-install RET elpher)
- A math mini CAS with Esc-x calc RET
- Esc-x package-install RET malyon, get some nice ZMachine text adventures at IFDB
- Elisp environment+cl-lib can do a lot
- Esc-x package-install jabber, Esc-x jabber. Chat with cool people at XMPP servers.
- Org-Mode, enough said
- eshell will allow you to automate stuff
- Elisp + Android related functions + org-mode: heaven.
- Sudoku, Sokoban, Tetris...
- LSP integration it's possible
Get some $10 pocket bluetooth keyboard and try it.
This can probably be upstreamed into podman. Podman already has supports using a VM using podman machine (uses different tech under the hood depending on the OS). This seems like it can be yet another backend for it.
I think this is great, I've wanted some sort of docker on android system and this does the job quite nicely all wrapped up in an apk. So there is definitely space for this in the current ecosystem. The new terminal built into android crashes whenever I try booting it up.
I want the opposite. And I want to behave like a true Android. Reason: My fucking useless bank that has a banking app that only runs on non-rooted Android only (cause fuck iOS/web according to them). My attempts to run their shitty app on emulators, virtual machines and the like failed. So currently I have a dumb phone that only has their crappy app on it and that's all. On a separate Google account, because I do not dare to link my main Google account to their name.
The QEMU TCG approach makes sense for isolation, but I'm curious about the traffic routing story. Does each container get its own network namespace, or does all traffic still go through Android's network stack? The latter would mean carrier-level DPI still sees everything the container sends — which matters a lot depending on what you're running.
I don't see the purpose to run containers on Android, the managed userspace provides everything I need, including code on the go apps, already sandboxed.
I find it somewhat amusing that it uses QEMU to emulate Linux in order to create a container with restricted permissions, even though it is already running on Linux with restricted permissions. I get the point while it is designed that way, but still funny.
87 comments
Error code: java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException: Non-protected VMs are not supported on this device
Also, the Terminal app is essentially a webview (as I understand, the reason is architectural).
systemd won't boot with this (needs to be PID 1), but a lot of software will work just fine and there's nearly zero emulation overhead.
Thanks for your correction!
Mind: Termux is the only thing on Android which has not precisely sucked in my own 15+ years' experience with the platform. It remains both crippled and emperiled by the OS and Google.
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210103151837/https://wiki.term...>
There's ... some Google Play availability as of June 2024: <https://github.com/termux/termux-app/discussions/4000>.
F-Droid's own future viability is at risk given Google's recent Android directions:
<https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/07/googles-requirement-for-...>.
My own interests lie more in the ability to run Android emulated under Linux, and switching from phone / tablet devices to a small form-factor laptop (Framework 12 or 13 most likely) for on-the-go computing.
> The Linux terminal app on Android (check Developer settings if you want it)
I don't see it. How do I install it?
adbto enable it that's what I did basically. You can Google it and you'll find what I'm talking about. IRC, it ispm enable ....Also, native Emacs under FDroid has recently been improved a lot.
With just Emacs you get:
- An IRC, Usenet and Mail client. The ONLY libre Usenet client. comp.arch and comp.misc have really engaging discussions. You can score up nice commenters and blacklist every spammer
- Gemini and Gopher via ELPA (run Esc-x package-install RET elpher)
- A math mini CAS with Esc-x calc RET
- Esc-x package-install RET malyon, get some nice ZMachine text adventures at IFDB
- Elisp environment+cl-lib can do a lot
- Esc-x package-install jabber, Esc-x jabber. Chat with cool people at XMPP servers.
- Org-Mode, enough said
- eshell will allow you to automate stuff
- Elisp + Android related functions + org-mode: heaven.
- Sudoku, Sokoban, Tetris...
- LSP integration it's possible
Get some $10 pocket bluetooth keyboard and try it.
Any advice?
i'm aware about waydroid but it has too many problems with nvidia. also require wayland.
Also not a termux fan.