I tried Waydroid on Arch and its amazing. It runs Android apps flawlessly. And with a touchscreen device, I feel like I have an Android tablet running inside my Linux machine.
But I still don’t know what to use it for…
What apps do you use with Waydroid? What use cases do you have for it?
Honestly: I cannot have the Instagram app on my phone (both for privacy and for addiction) - I have it installed on Waydroid and the fact that it works like 50% of the way keeps me from using it more than a couple times a week.
2FA app, in my case aegis, and a few games
There aren’t any 2FA apps for desktop?
Yes there are for example by gnome authenticate
*Gnome Authenticator
Yes there are for example by gnome authenticate
Yeah. You’d have to pry keepassxc from my cold dead hands st this point. Passwords + TOTP, cross platform, just a datafile.
Android does have lots of games, and some apps that aren’t as easy to use, or as good as in native linux. For example, some painting apps (krita is powerful, but can also overwhelm someone), video editors like capcut or lumafusion, audio apps. For most of everything else, there is a web browser on linux that can do the job better probably, and native apps. But overall, I’d say that Android apps aren’t really that useful on linux, because they’re mostly geared towards apps that you use on the go, while you usually sitting on a chair at home or work when you’re using linux. To be honest, most native apps now have been replaced by a web browser, so either native linux or native android apps are only useful for high end professional usages (e.g. blender, video editing, etc) rather than everyday use.
aren’t a lot of games aarch64 only? do they even support x86? I’ve attempted in the past to use waydroid for a game, but no way to install it on an x86 machine. Does waydroid support some kind of box64 layer?
There is an unofficial script that ads arm emulation. Note before anyone asks, it will not become officially supported by waydroid.
To make my system less secure lol
It is true that Waydroid isn’t super secure. that being said, it is still just a mostly stock android (unless you download gapps). Root is not exposed to the container so unless an exploit is found it is reasonably secure. There are measures waydroid can take to make it more secure. but as it stands it’s “not bad”
Android relies on SELinux for its app sandbox. On Fedora the Waydroid package has some SELinux rules, but not sure if they are as good.
Daniel Micay answered under a Waydroid issue and at least on Android I fully trust his knowledge.
I dont know about exposed root, but Waydroid uses LXC containers and not rootless Podman/Docker.
The best solution would either be:
- only run it on Fedora (no Problem for me)
- harden the SELinux policy when needed
- switch to a rootless container
- or on other Distros, use a VM where you can fully control the environment
Side point, is it possible to install the google play store on waydroid? Aurora keeps crashing.
Yep,
waydroid init -s GAPPS. But it will complain when first trying to sign in with Google so you’ll have to authorize the device.
People with linux phones use it to run android apps: Signal because using electron is worse than waydroid for battery life, banking apps, bullshit government apps without web versions, etc. It’s terrible for battery life, but it works.
Was straight up asking myself this the other day and still couldn’t come up with a good answer. I keep reading for 2fa or my passwords but that’s not really a reason IMO. Why not just have a copy of your totp seeds (any good android totp manager should let you export) and then use a desktop manager like keepassxc, the same with your passwords. The only reason i can personally think of are games but even then which games are worth keeping on your desktop that don’t already have a port? Another application that might be worth emulating could be like Shazam but not sure how good the desktop alternatives are
I keep reading for 2fa or my passwords but that’s not really a reason IMO. Why not just have a copy of your totp seeds (any good android totp manager should let you export) and then use a desktop manager like keepassxc, the same with your passwords.
Well, you know, some people use more than one computer. Having WayDroid + 2FA codes on one laptop, and filling in the codes on a browser on the other laptop does not defeat the idea of strictly using two different devices for 2FA.
No i get people use more than one computer but I don’t understand your point though about using wayDroid specifically vs a desktop totp manager? You can achieve the same by just having your totp seeds on one computer and manually filling the generated code on the other. Only difference is no android application needed just a standalone desktop totp manager
No i get people use more than one computer but I don’t understand your point though about using wayDroid specifically vs a desktop totp manager? You can achieve the same by just having your totp seeds on one computer and manually filling it in on the other. Only difference is no android application needed just a standalone desktop totp manager
Right, I see your point. Now, I don’t see myself clicking on a touchscreen laptop with KeePassXC to get TOTP codes. Seems easier to use Aegis app in WayDroid.
Ahh didn’t think about laptops with touchscreens just assumed touchpads or mice. That’s fair honestly never knew that was a popular way to navigate would assume people just get tablets for that but you make a solid point.
Used to use it for Apple Music but Cider 2 does what I want now, especially since Apple started locking down AM on rooted devices (of which Waydroid basically is) for no good reason.
Cider doesn’t support lossless, but then again neither does the version of android supported by waydroid currently
I was able to get lossless back then. It’s a matter of enabling
fake_wififor the app in Waydroid. You have to play a track for it to activate, but that’s also a bug I’ve experienced on my actual phone.I could enable it in the app, but Android versions below 10 resample everything down to 16 bit / 44.1 khz and Waydroid is stuck on Android 9 for now.
Now I guess I’d have to pass safety net or hide root and I can’t be bothered. I just plug my phone into the dac instead
I haven’t gotten to it, but I’d like to try and set it up as an android TV replacement. Just have distro of choice load on boot with Bluetooth remote/controller for input
I’d imagine the drm would ruin that plan. No HD streaming.
I have to use Android apps because GNOME apps are a pile of hot garbage everything about GNOME is so trashy ffs GNOME shall be stomped blitzed from this universe
then don’t use gnome apps?
I’m forced to use GNOME at work. I hate it so much with a passion. GNOME is the worst thing ever created! It’s an abomination of all software, there’s literally nothing nothing as garbage as GNOME. I’ll seek GNOME developers and explode their computers so they cannot continue adding more trash to this world. I’ll hack all GNOME repos and delete GNOME from existence. Even GNOME feet is a joke. Use chad gymrat xfce instead.
Jokes on you, gnome got the sweet sweet EU opensource funding
yes, delete competition, that sounds sane… How is your work even forcing you to use GNOME?
I asked if I could use Arch with Chad KDE but they denied. Then I asked for at Windows but also denied. I’m forced to used Ubuntu LTS with GNOME.
Damn where do you work, I’d gladly fill that seat. I’d take Ubuntu over Windows any day.
I actually like Gnome but I’m so tired of Microsoft shops.
So you’re forced to use Ubuntu, not GNOME? Why don’t you just install KDE then? I understand them wanting to keep distros the same between people if anything but DE shouldn’t matter.
Careful you’ll anger the mob here that forgot what intuitive design is
Playing Slay the Spire.
It does have a native Linux version but it doesn’t sync cross-platform. So since I like playing on the go it is nice to also be able to play at home on a bigger screen.
Did it work out of the box for you? Doesn’t load for me on either of my machines that have waydroid
Do you have an ARM emulator installed? I don’t think the game ships an x86 build. Other than that it just worked.
Is that what libhoudini is? I heard of it, but don’t recall if I installed it
If it’s the Steam version, why not play through proton?
You already answered this in your question description :) With a touchscreen laptop and Linux and WayDroid you can have a Linux tablet. (Unfortunately (?) the choice of a DeGoogle ROM for Android tablets is minimal and you never know when the ROM developer will buy a new phone, change their life priorities and drop the ROM development) Compared to an Android phone you’d have a much larger screen. What do I use WayDroid for personally ? Just to test some programs, to see what’s new in F-Droid, and sometimes use LibreTube.
Why should one use libretube over freetube? What special features does it provide?
If you like LibreTube check out Grayjay. It similarly lets you privately browse and watch YT content, while also being able to subscribe and make playlists, but it’s killer feature is pooling all your subscriptions across different platforms into one feed. Ie having your Patreon, YouTube, Twitch, etc all in one app.
I use it to play visual novel type android games.
if you want netflix witjh DRM stuff like offline downloads waydroid can do it I think via the android app…
You need to use a waydroid-utils script to install “widevine” for drm.
This is a solution i’ve tested for someone else not me;
I think it works, but it’s not been rigorouly road tested.Posssibly other DRM services will work if you can tolerate that type of thing.
My guess is that the main use for it is android app development and testing.
you might want to look into stremio or the servarr suite if youre having to jump through these hoops anyway
waydroid is pretty easy to get working - and I think will be usable by the actual end user once set up.
I did look at stremio but I couldn’t see a way to do the offline downloads thing on netflix.
That is a desirable feature for the person who travels a lot and they just want to have some videos for when they’re off-line or on limited bandwidth like on the train or bus.This servarr thing looks way more complex - though I admit I might be a bit too dim for it as I couldn’t figure out what it actually does.
Thanks for the suggestions though - waydroid looks easiest to meet all the needs. I’m sure someone smarter than me will have fun with that weird servarr suggetion - it does seem to have a whole lot of features.
I use it to run the Sky App to stream football.
The only options are a windows app or an android app (since you can’t watch in the browser) and I couldn’t get the windows app to work with WINE.
The android app runs fairly well with waydroid, although it occasionally runs into some hiccups.
