Is it possible to use Android apps on the Librem 5?

Fact is that its already possible to run Anbox ( and thus Android apps ) on the current emulator image.

Anbox isn’t perfect though and it also has some screen issues on the emulator ( the bottom handle overlaps the window )

I guess in the end it will just come down to the hardware, but since Anbox is already running on some ubports supported devices I would be surprised if it wouldn’t work on the Librem 5.

To give it a try you can install it yourself on the emulator:

$ sudo apt install snapd
$ sudo snap install --devmode --beta anbox

Reboot

$ sudo modprobe ashmem_linux
$ sudo modprobe binder_linux

start “Anbox Application Manager”

To install apps you will need to use ADB ( https://docs.anbox.io/userguide/install_apps.html )

$ sudo apt install android-tools-adb

Download an apk of your desired app using the browser ( e.g. from apkmirror.com or any other obscure package source )

$ adb install whatever.apk

After installing you can run the application through the “Anbox Application Manager” or copy the .desktop file from ~/snap/anbox/common/app-data/applications/anbox to ~/.local/share/applications to access it directly from the menu

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