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.
My friend asked me to use xbox live chat so I’m probably going to try using waydroid for that
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.
If it’s the Steam version, why not play through proton?
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
I think so. IIRC there are a few different implementations. But if you configure any of them Android will automatically use it to run non-native apps.
Ive thought about using it for bank apps so I dont have hassle if I lose the phone or it gets robbed. Has anyone tried this ?
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.Servarr is a stack of applications that sets up a media suite. Radarr and Sonarr handle the managing of movies and TV shows, respectively. Prowlarr searches for the media through either Torrenting or Usenet. Then you’d need a downloader like SABnzbd or Deluge. Ombi is another application to handle requests and finally you’d need a streaming app like Plex, Emby or Jellyfin.
Think of it like a marionette; you’re making a bunch of services work together for one goal. Most people use docker and create a docker compose file to manage all the services. Typically the flow goes like this, a person makes a request to Ombi for something to watch. That request goes to Radarr or Sonarr, which creates a folder and populates the Metadata from IMDB. Then a request is sent to Prowlarr to find the media. Once found its sent to the downloader, like Deluge, to actually grab the media. After it’s done, Radarr / Sonarr will import the media into the correct folder. Now you’ve got a perfect collection for Plex / Emby / Jellyfish to start streaming your media. Really awesome suite once you get it up and running.
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?
Only the ones that are written in compiling language. The ones written in java/cotlin can. Also, in x86 tablets there are special chips that have arm emulation in hardware for these compiled apps. But plain x86 desktop cpus don’t have that. So it depends what app can work and what can’t.
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 went through the same process of thought.
I’m using Aegis and it exports an encrypted .json backup automatically whenever I change or add something, so I can sync that backup somewhere off the phone and the desktop app OTPClient can open it directly from the backup dir.
For playing games (or for any other native app) you can use scrcpy to see the actual Android screen on your desktop and use mouse and keyboard with it, sort of like vnc.
There are a few games that are unique to Android that I like playing this way, like Battleheart or Puzzle Retreat.
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.
I would say use a cross-platform password manager that supports it in that case. Bitwarden, 1Password and Enpass all have Linux versions and support TOTP, and in the case of Enpass, it has local wifi sync so none of it goes to them. I get that moving 2FA codes to that can be time-consuming, though.
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.
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.
Lotta people in here saying what they use it for, but the only ppl I know irl running waydroid are playing softcore gatcha games on it.
I miss Dragalia Lost
I should see what the community servers are up to
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You misread that. They did type “Waydroid”.
If you just woke up, good morning.
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Just own it mate. You said something silly. So what? No biggie.
That would show the edit icon.
…They said waydroid
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I use it for some banking apps and online shops that require the android app for using coupons.
The only thing I can truly think of is Signal. If there was a native Gtk app for signal that was near feature complete I would probably ditch Android altogether. Maybe OSMAnd~, but that’s a nice to have.
Yeah I know about it, but it’s so so far off from being usable as a daily driver interacting with people on Android sadly :/
Reminds me that my daughter wanted to play Toca Life World on her PC. So I guess I would use it for that. As soon as I have the energy to do it.