Description
Want to run Docker or a real Linux environment on your phone, but on Android you either need root or get stuck with a half-baked proot setup where containers misbehave? Podroid takes the hard, proper route—it boots a real Alpine Linux VM with its own kernel on your Android phone, no root, and Podman, Docker and LXC behave exactly as they do on a server. Ready the moment it boots, no fiddling.
It's not a chroot or proot trick — it runs a genuine VM via QEMU (with hardware-accelerated AVF on supported devices), so containers and kernel modules behave authentically. It ships a full-featured terminal (122 themes, 13 fonts) and can open an X11 desktop to run GUI Linux apps, with SSH, port forwarding and USB passthrough all included. For anyone who wants to turn an old phone into a pocket Linux server, or debug containers on the go, it's a Linux machine in your pocket. GPLv2 open source.
A real Linux VM: it boots an Alpine Linux VM with its own kernel (QEMU, or hardware-accelerated AVF on supported pKVM devices), not a chroot or proot trick, so Docker, Podman and LXC behave exactly like on a server.
Containers out of the box: Podman, Docker and LXC come pre-installed and ready the moment it boots — podman run and docker run work straight away.
Built-in terminal: a full xterm-256color terminal with 122 color themes, 13 fonts, live resize, and ESC/TAB/CTRL virtual keys along the bottom.
X11 desktop: run GUI Linux apps in a built-in viewer with touch, keyboard, mouse and audio.
Networking that connects: one command forwards a container port to your phone and LAN (on both QEMU and AVF backends), plus SSH, USB passthrough and a guest-to-Android bridge.
No root: installs on any arm64 device running Android 8+ without root, in English or Chinese, with container backup, a live VM status view and Downloads-folder sharing with the guest.
It's not a chroot or proot trick — it runs a genuine VM via QEMU (with hardware-accelerated AVF on supported devices), so containers and kernel modules behave authentically. It ships a full-featured terminal (122 themes, 13 fonts) and can open an X11 desktop to run GUI Linux apps, with SSH, port forwarding and USB passthrough all included. For anyone who wants to turn an old phone into a pocket Linux server, or debug containers on the go, it's a Linux machine in your pocket. GPLv2 open source.
Features
A real Linux VM: it boots an Alpine Linux VM with its own kernel (QEMU, or hardware-accelerated AVF on supported pKVM devices), not a chroot or proot trick, so Docker, Podman and LXC behave exactly like on a server.
Containers out of the box: Podman, Docker and LXC come pre-installed and ready the moment it boots — podman run and docker run work straight away.
Built-in terminal: a full xterm-256color terminal with 122 color themes, 13 fonts, live resize, and ESC/TAB/CTRL virtual keys along the bottom.
X11 desktop: run GUI Linux apps in a built-in viewer with touch, keyboard, mouse and audio.
Networking that connects: one command forwards a container port to your phone and LAN (on both QEMU and AVF backends), plus SSH, USB passthrough and a guest-to-Android bridge.
No root: installs on any arm64 device running Android 8+ without root, in English or Chinese, with container backup, a live VM status view and Downloads-folder sharing with the guest.
