Comparison of OS emulation or virtualization apps on Android

There are many Android apps that can run other operating systems, for example with virtualization, terminal emulation, or sometimes installing Linux packages directly in the app. Some remote terminal access apps also have the ability to access Android's internally implemented Toybox, via device loopback support. Some VM/emulator apps have a fixed set of OS's or applications that are supported.

Since Android 8 (Oreo), some of these apps have been reporting issues as Google has been making big platform changes to Android, for example the implementation of SAF has been making it more difficult to use these apps and may even make them require root. Some apps have difficulties accessing SD cards. It is also been reported that some of the apps have trouble utilizing packages like udisks2, Open vSwitch, Snort (software), and Mininet, due to new hardware or Android API restrictions on apps that have been put into place in the recent years.

OS emulators or VM Android apps

The following is a list of OS emulators and OS virtualization Android apps.

App Name Type Device architecture & OS version requirement Guest OS architecture Requires rooted device Connection technologies References
Termux Enhanced Terminal Emulator Android 7.0 and newer same as host No Runs as a terminal but has a Debian based package manager allowing server apps like Apache, nginx, sshd.

An X11 extension allows even running GUI Linux.
UserLAnd Technologies Compatibility layer /Android 5.0 + same as host (sometimes emulates Aarch packages for ARM devices if "arm64" package is not available, but "aarch32" or "aarch64" package is available.) No SSH, VNC, XSDL (supports access from another app on the phone that links to these technologies.)
GNURoot Debian Compatibility layer ?/Android versions below 5.0 same as host No
AnLinux Compatibility layer (utilizes Termux) ARMv7, ARM64, x86, x86-64/Android 5.0 + same as host No SSH, VNC (similar support statement like in UserLAnd.)
VMOS (software) platform virtualization app ?/Android 5.0+ same as host No Emulation inside app (none)
Virtual Master — Android Clone virtualization app ?/Android 5.1+ same as host No Emulation inside app (none)
VPhoneGaGa virtualization app ?/Android ?.? same as host (support 32-bit programs) No Emulation inside app (none)
AndroNIX Compatibility layer (utilizes Termux) ARMv7, ARM64, x86-64/Android 5.1 + same as host No
proot-distro Compatibility layer (utilizes Termux) Android 7+ same as host No Uses user-space proot, somewhat slower because of ptrace overhead, but can run many Linux distributions. The 'root' user insie proot is just a fake root which is only available within the proot environment and cannot mess up Android even when Android itself is rooted.

Can be used as VNC server as well.
chroot-distro Compatibility layer (utilizes Termux) Android 7+ same as host Yes Same a proot, but it utilizes real Android root which has the benefit it runs at native speed (no ptrace overhead) but there is a risk in can break out of the 'chroot jail' which can mess up Android host as it shares its root user with Android root.

Can be used as VNC server as well.
LinuxDeploy Compatibility layer ARM, ARM64, X86, x86-64, emulation mode (ARM ~ 86)/Android 4.0.3 + Yes
Vectras VM platform virtualization app Android 6.0 and newer x86, x86_64, ARM64, ARMv7 No Emulation inside app (none)
Limbo PC emulator platform virtualization app No Emulation inside app (none)
Android Virtualization Framework platform virtualization app Android 16 and newer same as host Yes Fully virtualized (KVM) which allow running any VM on native speed, fully independent of Android. The root user of the VM is not shared from Android root.

Terminal emulation apps utilizing internal OS

App Name Notes Ref
JuiceSSH Other than just local loopback, the app can do SSH, telnet, and Mosh.
ConnectBot Other than just local loopback, the app can do telnet and SSH.
Termius Other than just local loopback, the app can do telnet, SSH, and SFTP.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "terminal - No permissions for Termux to access internal storage - even for reading". Android Enthusiasts Stack Exchange. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  2. ↑ "How to access sdcard? · Issue #46 · CypherpunkArmory/UserLAnd". GitHub. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  3. ↑ "Apt-Get Install failing - Udisks2 Permission Denied error leads to lots of DPKG error · Issue #992 · CypherpunkArmory/UserLAnd". GitHub. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  4. ↑ "[Full Tutorial💻] Install Parrot OS On Android". AndroPalac.com. 2019-10-09. Archived from the original on 2019-10-30. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  5. ↑ "Question #266516 : Questions : udisks2 package : Ubuntu". answers.launchpad.net. 19 March 2015. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  6. ↑ "closed session after dpkg --configure -a ], After installing gnome-terminal · Issue #802 · CypherpunkArmory/UserLAnd". GitHub. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  7. ↑ "Termux - Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  8. ↑ "Termux". termux.com. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  9. ↑ Wallen, Jack (August 13, 2019). "How to install Git on Android". TechRepublic. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  10. ↑ "UserLAnd - Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  11. ↑ "Use Linux Anywhere". userland.tech. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  12. ↑ "GNURoot Debian – Apps on Google Play". 2019-04-06. Archived from the original on 2019-04-06. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  13. ↑ "GNURoot Debian". corbinlc.github.io. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  14. ↑ This is the repository corresponding to the GNURoot Debian Android app.: corbinlc/GNURootDebian, 2019-10-24, retrieved 2019-10-30
  15. ↑ "AnLinux : Run Linux On Android Without Root Access - Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  16. ↑ AnLinux allow you to run Linux on Android without root access.: EXALAB/AnLinux-App, EXALAB, 2019-10-30, retrieved 2019-10-30
  17. ↑ "VMOS Virtual Root Android on Android-Double System - Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  18. ↑ "VMOS Lets You Run a Virtual Android Machine on your Phone". xda-developers. 2019-08-08. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  19. ↑ "AndroNix - Linux on Android without root - Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  20. ↑ "AndroNix - Install Linux on Android without Rooting". AndroNix. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  21. ↑ "Linux Deploy - Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  22. ↑ Skshidlevsky, Anton (2019-10-30), GitHub - meefik/linuxdeploy: Install and run GNU/Linux on Android, retrieved 2019-10-30
  23. ↑ Bradshaw, Kyle (2019-10-18). "Samsung discontinuing 'Linux on DeX' w/ Android 10 update". 9to5Google. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  24. ↑ "Xoureldeen/Vectras-VM-Android". GitHub.
  25. ↑ "Limboemu/Limbo". GitHub.
  26. ↑ https://source.android.com/docs/core/virtualization
  27. ↑ https://www.androidauthority.com/android-linux-terminal-app-3489887
  28. ↑ https://github.com/nix-community/nixos-avf-image-app
  29. ↑ "JuiceSSH - SSH Client - Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  30. ↑ "JuiceSSH - Free SSH client for Android". juicessh.com. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  31. ↑ Wallen, Jack (August 13, 2014). "JuiceSSH makes it easy to manage SSH from an Android device". TechRepublic. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  32. ↑ "ConnectBot - Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  33. ↑ "A Nice Alternative for PuTTY: Termius – A very nice portable SSH connection tool". Computing & Technology, The Ultimate Computer Technology Blog and The Knowledgebase of Computing. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  34. ↑ "Termius". termius.com. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  35. ↑ "JuiceSSH - SSH Client vs Termius - SSH/SFTP and Telnet client - compare android market data from Google Play". www.androidrank.org. Retrieved 2019-11-21.