ExTV/Podroid

Podroid is an Android app that runs a full Alpine Linux virtual machine with container runtimes on any arm64 device without requiring root access.

The tool solves the problem of running containerized workloads and Linux desktop applications on Android by implementing a real virtual machine with its own kernel via QEMU or hardware-accelerated AVF on supported devices. This approach differs from chroot or proot tricks, allowing Podman, Docker, and LXC to function exactly as they do on a server. The app includes an in-app terminal with xterm-256color support, an X11 desktop viewer for running GUI applications, USB passthrough, SSH access, port forwarding, and a guest-to-Android bridge for file sharing and system integration.

Podroid suits developers who need to run containers or Linux applications on their Android phone and want native container behavior rather than emulated or constrained environments. It works on Android 8 and later on any arm64 device, with support for both English and Chinese. The tool is particularly valuable for those who want to develop, test, or run containerized services directly on mobile hardware without rooting their device. The documentation covers setup, the choice between QEMU and AVF backends, networking configuration, and the X11 viewer functionality.

The project actively solicits contributions of all sizes, from bug reports to kernel configuration tweaks, UI improvements, and new themes. Pull requests are expected to be scoped and tested via the provided build script, with clear explanations of the reasoning behind changes. Bug reports should include device information, Android version, reproduction steps, and diagnostic logs exported from the app's settings. The project maintains related tooling including an agent framework that can programmatically interact with running Podroid instances over SSH.