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.

INSTALL

START IN 5 MINUTES ↓

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.

Activity and discovery evidence

★ 3.7kAs of 11-01 21:00 UTC

3,699 stars · checked on GitHub 11-02 02:16 UTC · no 7-day star increase observed (GH Archive) (as of 11-01 21:00 UTC)

AT A GLANCE

LICENSE: GPL-2.0
USAGE: Use freely. Release your source if you redistribute (copyleft).
LANGUAGE: Kotlin
PLATFORM: android
ACTIVITY: last commit 12 days ago (2026-10-20) · latest release v1.2.9 (2026-09-21) · 29 releases As of 11-02 02:16 UTC
COMMUNITY: 7 contributors · 28 open issues (incl. PRs) · made by: an individual As of 11-02 02:16 UTC
SOURCES: GitHub
OPEN SOURCE: YES
FIRST SEEN: 2026-09-15 03:29 UTC
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: 2026-09-15 03:29 UTC
AT SOURCE: 2026-03-16 01:04 UTC
KEPT: 2026-09-17 01:24 UTC
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. As of 11-01 21:00 UTC

NAME	★ TOTAL	▲ 7d	LICENSE	PLATFORM	LAST PUSH
eccSkills, memory and security for agents	★ 295k	▲ +28	MITpermissive	windows · macos · linux · cli	2026-10-30
DeepSeek HarnessPlugin agent harness for developers	★ 268k	▲ +61	MITpermissive	web · cli	2026-10-30
ponytailMake your agent write less code	★ 182k	▲ +31	MITpermissive	—	2026-10-29
Spec KitSpec-first process for coding agents	★ 145k	▲ +12	MITpermissive	cli · windows · macos · linux	2026-10-30
PodroidLinux container VM for your phoneTHIS ENTRY	★ 3.7k	—	GPL-2.0copyleft	android	2026-10-20

TIMELINE

2026-03-16 01:04 UTCRepository created
2026-09-15 03:29 UTCFIRST SEEN BY TESIGN
2026-09-17 01:24 UTCPublished on TESIGN

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