Chromebooks have been capable of set up Linux apps for years, which isn’t all that shocking — ChromeOS is principally a browser wrapped round a customized Linux distro, in spite of everything. However based on a brand new report, you’ll quickly have comparable capabilities to run Linux functions proper in your Android telephone.
It will come within the type of a brand new Linux terminal constructed proper into Android’s Developer Choices menu, which a lot of you’ll already be aware of. Android Authority noticed the up to date commits to Android’s open supply code within the AOSP repository. Whereas it’s presently doable to run a Linux digital machine on Android, and loads of latest telephones have the number-crunching energy to take action, these new adjustments point out that Google will supply this as a pre-configured system.
In a super state of affairs, you’d have the ability to faucet just a few objects within the Developer Choices menu and allow the Linux terminal, which might then assist you to obtain and set up the digital machine to run appropriate Linux apps. It wouldn’t be as simple as downloading Android apps from the Play Retailer, however it might be about as straightforward because it might be.
Android Authority noticed these instruments being examined on a Pixel Pill and Pixel 9 Professional XL telephone, indicating that they might be included on an upcoming Android construct for launch {hardware} — presumably Android model 16 for late 2025, on the earliest. And right here’s the place I’ve to play Debian Downer. It’s at all times doable that Google may delay these adjustments to place this functionality a lot farther out, or abandon it utterly.
Personally, I doubt that Google is in any hurry to significantly broaden Android’s software program horizons. A part of the attraction of the system for many customers is its ease of use and security, at the very least relative to one thing like Home windows, macOS, and even ChromeOS. However energy customers are undoubtedly going to understand the little bit of assist in getting a Linux VM up and operating, assuming that it is available in a well timed style.