[Linux] Anbox - Android in a Box

[Arthur]

Anbox lets you run Android apps on Linux without using an emulator. Very cool!

 

Website / Getting Started / Source Code (Installer)

 

To install on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS or later, run...

$ snap install --classic anbox-installer && anbox-installer

 

Anbox puts the Android operating system into a container, abstracts hardware access and integrates core system services into a GNU/Linux system. Every Android application will behave integrated into your operating system like any other native application.

 

To achieve our goal we use standard Linux technologies like containers (LXC) to separate the Android operating system from the host. The Android version doesn't matter for this approach and we try to keep up with the latest available version from the Android Open Source project.

 

 

What makes Anbox different from other projects like Shashlik or Genimobile?

Projects like Shashlik or Genimobile use an emulator to run the Android environment. The emulator creates an entire emulated system which has its own kernel etc whereas Anbox runs the Android system under the same kernel as the host operating system does. There is no emulation layer like QEMU necessary. Everything runs directly on the hardware. This approach also allows a much better integration with the host operating system.

 

Is it possible to install the Google Play Store?

Yes, this is generally possible. However Google doesn't allow anyone to ship its applications as long as the device is not certified and the vendor didn't sign an agreement with Google.

 

The Anbox project does not have any interest in shipping the Google Play store and we're not allowed to do so. We may add an easy way for our users at a later point which allows easy distribution of Android applications suited for the Anbox runtime environment.

 

How can I install applications into the Anbox runtime?

There is no easy way for a user yet to install applications into the Anbox runtime other than using the Android Debug Bridge (adb). When you have adb installed on your host system you can install applications like this:

 

$ adb install path/to/my-app.apk

 

Afterwards your application should be installed as part of the Anbox runtime and can be launched via the host system application launcher.

[gshaw]

If it works as described it'll be a nice truly open alternative to the Chrome method of running Android apps on desktop OS

[gshaw]

FYI, tried this last night and it appears on Ubuntu 16.04 you need to upgrade Snap in order to get this to install otherwise you'll get a "snap not found" error

 

sudo apt-get install snap
sudo apt-get install snapd
sudo apt-get install snapcraft

 

Now trying to get the daemon to run correctly but at least the installer command went through