Android may soon be able to run Linux apps easily

Chromebooks have been able to install Linux apps for years, which isn’t all that surprising — ChromeOS is basically a browser wrapped around a custom Linux distro, after all. But according to a new report, you’ll soon have similar capabilities to run Linux applications right on your Android phone.

This will come in the form of a new Linux terminal built right into Android’s Developer Options menu, which many of you will already be familiar with. Android Authority spotted the updated commits to Android’s open source code in the AOSP repository. While it’s currently possible to run a Linux virtual machine on Android, and plenty of recent phones have the number-crunching power to do so, these new changes indicate that Google will offer this as a pre-configured system.

In an ideal scenario, you’d be able to tap a few items in the Developer Options menu and enable the Linux terminal, which would then allow you to download and install the virtual machine to run compatible Linux apps. It wouldn’t be as straightforward as downloading Android apps from the Play Store, but it would be about as easy as it could be.

Android Authority spotted these tools being tested on a Pixel Tablet and Pixel 9 Pro XL phone, indicating that they could be included on an upcoming Android build for release hardware — presumably Android version 16 for late 2025, at the earliest. And here’s where I have to play Debian Downer. It’s always possible that Google could delay these changes to put this capability much farther out, or abandon it completely.

Personally, I doubt that Google is in any hurry to greatly expand Android’s software horizons. Part of the appeal of the system for most users is its ease of use and safety, at least relative to something like Windows, macOS, or even ChromeOS. But power users are definitely going to appreciate the bit of help in getting a Linux VM up and running, assuming that it comes in a timely fashion.