TESIGN
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EN · KO

  1. TESIGN / RADAR
  2. 2026.09.17
  3. Podroid

Podroid

Linux container VM for your phone

WHO USES ITA developer who only has their phone and needs to test a container without a laptop · An embedded or mobile developer who needs a real Linux kernel environment · Someone learning Linux who wants a genuine terminal on their Android phone

Install to use

Boots a real, separately-kernelled Alpine Linux VM on an unrooted Android phone, running Podman, Docker and LXC exactly as they behave on a server.

★ 2.6k▲ +14 / 7dDaily star increases over 14 days. Hollow bars mean no data. The last day may be partial.2026-09-03 no data2026-09-04 no data2026-09-05 no data2026-09-06 no data2026-09-07 no data2026-09-08 no data2026-09-09 no data2026-09-10 no data2026-09-11 no data2026-09-12 no data2026-09-13 no data2026-09-14 +72026-09-15 +52026-09-16 +2largest one-day increase in the 14 days+7last 14 days · stars per dayhollow = no data

2,604 stars · checked on GitHub GitHub check 42 h late · incl. +2 observed via GH Archive since then · 7-day +14 observed via GH Archive (as of )

Podroid's homepage: a dark screen reading "Linux containers on Android. No root required," with a Download APK button.

TESIGN TAKE

The claim of "a real, separately-kernelled VM on Android" is backed by a specific mechanism (QEMU or pKVM AVF), which is what separates it from the usual chroot-based imitations.

INSTALL

AT A GLANCE

LICENSE
GPL-2.0
USAGE
Use freely. Release your source if you redistribute (copyleft).
LANGUAGE
Kotlin
PLATFORM
android
ACTIVITY
last commit 13 days ago () · latest release [unconfirmed]
COMMUNITY
contributors [unconfirmed] · open issues [unconfirmed] · made by: [unconfirmed] Reference time unavailable
SOURCES
GitHub
OPEN SOURCE
YES
FIRST SEEN
CATEGORY
DEV TOOLS

A summary, not legal advice.

WHY IT MATTERS

Most "Linux containers on Android" apps fake it with chroot or proot tricks, not a real container runtime. Podroid instead boots a genuine VM with its own kernel via QEMU (or hardware-accelerated AVF on supported pKVM devices), so Podman, Docker and LXC behave exactly as they do on a server. It ships a full xterm-256color terminal with 122 colour themes, an X11 viewer for GUI Linux apps, USB passthrough, SSH, port forwarding and a guest-to-Android bridge — no root required.

BUILD FROM THIS

  • Run a real container on your phone to test something before deploying it to a server
  • Expose a container to your phone's LAN with podroid-forward and hit it from another device
  • SSH in to handle a quick server task from just a phone, no laptop needed

WHO IT'S FOR

A developer who only has their phone and needs to test a container without a laptop
An embedded or mobile developer who needs a real Linux kernel environment
Someone learning Linux who wants a genuine terminal on their Android phone

START IN 5 MINUTES

# 1) Download the APK from https://github.com/ExTV/Podroid/releases/latest and install it
# 2) Tap Start VM, wait for Ready!, open the terminal
$ podman run --rm alpine echo "hello from a container"
$ ssh root@<phone-ip> -p 9922  (password: podroid)

CAVEATS

  • GPLv2 · supports arm64 Android 8+ devices only
  • Building from source needs Docker and the Android SDK/NDK (using the app itself only needs the APK)

RECEIPT

FIRST SEEN
AT SOURCE
KEPT
STAR DELTA
+2 ★ / 24h
CREATED → FIRST SEEN
183d
WHEN FIRST SEEN
2,602 ★
SOURCES
GitHub

The same facts in machine-readable form — View as Markdown · JSON

SIMILAR TOOLS

Up to five from DEV TOOLS by ★ total: edited entries first, then repository cards; this entry is highlighted. Drawn from the same stored snapshot as the rankings — a comparison, not a recommendation.

IMAGENAME★ TOTAL▲ 7dLICENSEPLATFORMLAST PUSH
ECC README banner: headline 'The operating system for AI agent harnesses', harness chips, and skill, agent and command lists.
eccSkills, memory and security for agents★ 259k▲ +832MITpermissivewindows · macos · linux · cli
DeepSeek Harness landing: blue background, the headline 'Everything is a plugin' and a quick-start box with the npx command.
DeepSeek HarnessPlugin agent harness for developers★ 225k▲ +1,356MITpermissiveweb · cli
ponytail.dev landing page: a line-drawn developer with a ponytail on black, the title 'ponytail' and an install button.
ponytailMake your agent write less code★ 139k▲ +1,068MITpermissive—
Spec Kit docs landing page — the headline 'Build with a spec, fix a bug, or assess an idea' and the uv tool install specify-cli command
Spec KitSpec-first process for coding agents★ 137k▲ +560MITpermissivecli · windows · macos · linux
Podroid's homepage: a dark screen reading "Linux containers on Android. No root required," with a Download APK button.
PodroidLinux container VM for your phoneTHIS ENTRY★ 2.6k▲ +14GPL-2.0copyleftandroid

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