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dotnetdreamer/open-android-dex

Turn any android phone into Desktop class experience including full linux environment without root

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README.md

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# Open Android DeX

### Your phone is already a computer. This gives it a desktop

Plug your Android phone into your Windows PC, Mac or Linux machine and a real
desktop opens on your screen, with a taskbar, an app drawer, and windows you can
drag, resize and snap side by side

Unplug it and your phone goes back to being a phone

Or install **Open Android DeX directly on your phone** and use it without a PC.
Run the launcher on the phone itself, on a compatible external monitor, or
access it through the built-in Web viewer in a browser.

[![Download](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/dotnetdreamer/open-android-dex?label=Download&style=for-the-badge&color=2ea043)](https://github.com/dotnetdreamer/open-android-dex/releases/latest)
[![Licence](https://img.shields.io/badge/Licence-GPL--3.0-blue?style=for-the-badge)](LICENSE)
[![Platform](https://img.shields.io/badge/Android%20%7C%20Windows%20%7C%20macOS%20%7C%20Linux-lightgrey?style=for-the-badge)](https://github.com/dotnetdreamer/open-android-dex/releases/latest)

**Free. Open source. No account. No subscription. No root**

</div>

---

## Top features

- **Your phone becomes a computer** when you plug it into your PC or Mac
- **Open apps side by side** and move or resize them, just like on a laptop
- **Use any phone app on your computer**, like WhatsApp, without opening the whole desktop
- **Get your messages and calls on your computer**, and reply or answer without picking up your phone
- **Copy and paste between your phone and computer**, and drag files onto your phone
- **Use your phone as a touchpad** to move the mouse and click
- **Pull out the cable and keep working** over Wi-Fi
- **Works without a computer too**, right on your phone or on a monitor
- **Run Ubuntu Linux on your phone** with Firefox and VS Code, plus Docker
- **Open your phone's desktop in a web browser** on any computer, with nothing to install
- **Make it yours** with themes, wallpapers, nine languages and a Windows 11 look
- **Works on almost any Android phone** with Android 8 or newer, not just Samsung
- **Your phone goes back to normal** when you are done
- **Free and open source**, with no account, no subscription and no root

---

## Get started

### On a Windows PC, Mac or Linux computer

1. **Download** the app for [Windows, Mac or Linux](https://github.com/dotnetdreamer/open-android-dex/releases/latest) and install it
2. **Turn on USB debugging** on your phone. Go to Settings, then About phone,
   tap *Build number* seven times, go back, open Developer options and switch on
   USB debugging
3. **Plug the phone in** and tap *Allow* when it asks

The desktop opens on its own and the app gets out of your way. The desktop app
installs the phone-side launcher for you. Everything it needs comes inside the
download.

> **The PC setup works with Android 8 or newer.** You do not need a Samsung,
> a special cable, a monitor, or root.

### On Android, without a PC

1. **Download `OpenAndroidDeX-Launcher-v<version>.apk`** from the
 [latest release](https://github.com/dotnetdreamer/open-android-dex/releases/latest)
 using your phone's browser
2. **Open the APK and install it.** If Android asks, allow your browser or file
 manager to *install unknown apps*
3. **Launch Open Android DeX** from your phone's app list. You can use it on the
 phone's screen, or connect a compatible monitor and open it there, including
 inside Samsung DeX

The standalone launcher includes the app drawer, widgets, settings, Ubuntu,
Docker and the Web viewer. **No PC, USB debugging or root is needed.** You can
also choose it as your default home app when prompted, so the phone's Home
button or gesture returns to Open Android DeX.

To keep the dock or taskbar visible over other apps, allow **Display over other
apps** for Open Android DeX in Android settings. Tap the notification bell to
enable notification access if you want notifications in the launcher. Enable
the Open Android DeX accessibility service for the Mouse touchpad or browser
control. The Web viewer asks for permission to share the screen when you start
it.

**Window support depends on your phone.** On a monitor, standalone mode uses
the phone's own desktop mode and window controls, such as Samsung DeX. An
external monitor needs compatible video output and an adapter. On the phone's
screen, apps may open fullscreen if Android does not support freeform windows.
Open Android DeX's custom title bars require the PC app and Android 14 or newer.

For **Ubuntu alone**, install `LinuxOnDroid-v<version>.apk` instead. See
[the Linux section below](#ubuntu-a-whole-linux-computer-running-on-your-phone)
for details.

---

## What you get

### A desktop that behaves like one

This is not a copy of your phone screen stretched out. It is a desktop, running
at your monitor's size, sitting next to your other windows.

- **A taskbar** along the bottom with your open apps, a clock and calendar, a
  battery indicator, and quick switches for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, mobile data,
  airplane mode, torch and rotation, plus one that turns the phone's own screen
  off while the desktop keeps running
- **Your phone's notifications**, on the desktop. They pop up in the bottom
  corner as they arrive, the way your computer's own do, and stay in a bell at
  the far right of the taskbar with a count on it. Each one carries the same
  buttons the phone would give you — reply, mark as read, whatever the app
  offers. **A call comes in and a banner drops down across the top with Answer
  and Decline**, so you never have to go and find the handset
- **Volume and what's playing** in the quick settings panel. Sliders for media
  and ringer, and play, pause and skip for whatever the phone is playing
- **Your phone as a touchpad.** While the desktop is open, a notification on the
  phone turns its screen into a touchpad for it: slide a finger to move the
  pointer, tap to click, two fingers to scroll or right-click, and three-finger
  swipes for the gestures you have chosen — show what is open, clear to the
  desktop, step through your windows. It is under Touchpad in quick settings
  too
- **Proper windows.** Every app gets a title bar with close, minimise, maximise
  and snap left or right. Drag them where you want. Resize them from a corner.
  Put two apps side by side and get something done
- **Windows stay where you put them.** Move an app or resize it, and that is
  where it opens next time. Every app remembers its own spot
- **An app drawer** you can search, and a desktop you can drop shortcuts onto
- **Your home screen widgets**, the real ones, live and working, on the desktop.
  Your calendar, your music, your weather. Click inside one and the app opens in
  a window instead of taking over the screen
- **Drag files from your computer** onto the phone. App files install
  themselves
- **Two looks.** A DeX style desktop, or a Windows 11 style one with a Start
  button. Switch between them in one click

Open the app drawer and the five built in tools sit at the top, above everything
else you have installed. One of them, File transfer, shows your computer's files
next to your phone's so you can copy between them.

![Settings, LinuxOnDroid, Docker, the Web viewer and File transfer at the top of the app drawer](doc/img/app-drawer.png)

### Or just your apps, each in its own window

Sometimes you only want WhatsApp or your calendar on the big screen, not a
whole desktop. Open the **Apps** tab on your computer and you will see the apps
on your phone, with their real names and icons. Click one and it opens in its
own window, right next to your other programs. It is usually there in under
half a second.

![The Apps tab listing the phone's apps, with Clock and Google Maps open in windows of their own](doc/img/apps-on-pc.png)

- **They behave like your computer's own windows.** Move them, resize them,
  snap them side by side, minimise them. Each app gets its own button on the
  taskbar
- **Pin an app and it opens from there, like any other.** Click it on your
  taskbar or in your Dock, even after a restart, even with Open Android DeX
  closed: it starts by itself and you get just that app's window. If your phone
  takes a moment to connect, Open Android DeX shows you what it is waiting for.
  Pins keep working when you move the portable version or swap it for a newer
  one: run the new copy once and they follow it
- **Phone or tablet, you choose.** A window opens the shape of a phone, and the
  app looks the way it does on your phone. Make the window bigger and an app
  that has a tablet look can change to it, with more room for what you are
  doing. Many apps change, some at their own sizes, and some never do.
  ☰ → **Tablet size** makes the window a tablet's size in one click, and
  ☰ → **Phone size** goes back. Each app opens at the size you last left it,
  or as big as fits if your screen is smaller. Your phone's own screen is not
  changed
- **Use your mouse and keyboard.** Click, scroll and type, in your own keyboard
  layout. Copy something on your computer and paste it into the phone app, or
  the other way round
- **One clipboard, both ways.** What you copy on your computer is on your phone
  the moment you copy it, so it is in your phone keyboard's clipboard history
  too, and what you copy in a phone app is in your computer's (Win+V on
  Windows). A password your password manager copies stays on your computer,
  unless you paste it into the app yourself
- **Choose where the sound plays.** The speaker in each window's title bar
  sends it to your computer, to your computer and your phone, or keeps it on
  your phone — its speaker or your earbuds, where the phone lets us choose —
  just like the sound menu on the desktop
- **Drop files on a window** to put them in your phone's Downloads folder, or
  drop an app's APK to install it. A file is never overwritten: a second
  `report.pdf` arrives as `report (2).pdf`
- **Full screen when you want it.** The ☰ button next to Back has **Full
  screen** (F11 on Windows). Move the mouse to the top of the screen and a
  small bar comes down with Back, the way out of full screen, and close.
  Press Esc to get your window back
- **Your phone as the touchpad.** ☰ → **Use phone as touchpad** turns your
  phone's screen into a touchpad for these windows: slide a finger to move
  your computer's pointer, tap to click, hold or tap with two fingers to
  right-click, two fingers to scroll, ◁ for Back. It works in your phone's
  windows only — it never clicks anything else on your computer. If your
  phone already lets Open Android DeX show notifications, it is in its
  notification shade too while a window is open
- **Close the window and the app closes on your phone too,** as if you had
  swiped it away from your recent apps, instead of staying open there. The
  window asks first, in case the ✕ was a slip. Whatever was on your phone's
  screen stays there. On a Mac, closing the window gives the app back to your
  phone, right where you left it
- **Unplug and carry on.** If your phone is on the same Wi‑Fi as your
  computer (Android 11 and newer), pulling the cable doesn't close anything:
  each window keeps going over Wi‑Fi, and moves back to the cable when you plug
  it in again. The title bar says which one it's using. The first time on a
  network, your phone asks whether to allow wireless debugging there: tap
  Allow, and tick “Always allow on this network” so it doesn't ask again. On a
  Xiaomi phone, turn Wireless debugging on yourself, in Developer options. It
  also needs “Always allow from this computer” ticked when you first plugged
  the phone in. With no way back at all, the window waits half a minute for
  your phone before giving the app back to it
- **It is light.** Only the app you are looking at gets sent, and an app that is
  sitting still costs next to nothing. Your phone does not have to run a
  desktop at all
- **Your Linux apps are there too,** if you have set up Linux on the phone.
  Closing one of their windows closes it, as on a Linux computer, and the app
  may ask you to save first

If that is all you ever want, tick **Open my apps here when my phone
connects**, and the Apps tab opens instead of the desktop when you plug the
phone in. The desktop is still one click away.

On a Mac the apps open in proper Mac windows too, with a Back button at the
top (⌘[ works as well) and the speaker at the other end, and ⌘C and ⌘V copy
and paste as you would expect.
A Mac keeps windows under the app they belong to, so the phone's apps sit under
this app's icon in the Dock: ☰ → **Keep in Dock** gives one an icon of its own
there. On a Linux computer an Android app opens in a simpler window, which your
dock shows by the app's own name and icon and lets you pin. Linux apps are not
offered there.

### Your phone's notifications, on your computer

When a message arrives on your phone, it comes up on your computer as one of
its own notifications. On Windows it comes from the app itself, with its name
and icon, just like an app installed there.

- **Reply without picking up your phone.** A message has a reply box right in
  the notification, and the app's own buttons — mark as read, archive,
  whatever it offers
- **Click it and the conversation opens** in a window of its own on your
  computer, right at that conversation. With the phone's desktop running, it
  opens there instead
- **Calls ring here too**, with Answer and Decline
- **Read it on your phone and it goes from your computer as well**
- **It knows when to stay quiet.** No pop-up for the app whose window you
  are using (it waits quietly in the notification center), nothing your
  phone would have kept quiet itself (Do Not Disturb, an app you set to
  silent), and nothing while the phone's desktop is in front, which shows
  its own
- **The bell at the top of the window** turns it on and off. It is also where
  you choose whether notifications say what they say or only which app has
  something, whether calls ring here, and which apps come through: each has
  its own switch. *Send a test* shows you one arriving. On Windows you can
  also right-click a notification to turn its app off

Nothing is installed or changed on your phone for this: the part that reads
its notifications runs only while the phone is attached and notifications
are on. They come to Windows and Mac computers; on Linux the phone's desktop
shows them. How it works: [doc/phone-notifications.md](doc/phone-notifications.md).

### Ubuntu, a whole Linux computer, running on your phone

This is Ubuntu 24.04 with a full desktop, running on the phone itself, in a
window on your screen. Not a terminal.

Before it starts downloading it asks what you want in it: Firefox, Chromium,
VS Code, git, Node.js, GIMP and IntelliJ IDEA. The first four are ticked, so
you can just press Install and get the lot — untick the ones you will not use
and save the download, or tick the extras: Node.js (the current LTS, npm
included), GIMP, or IntelliJ IDEA Community. There is a shared folder so files
move between Android and Linux without any fuss. No root, and no long setup
guide to follow.

![Ubuntu 24.04 with XFCE running in a resizable window on the desktop](doc/img/linux.png)

**Linux apps as windows of their own.** Every app in Linux's menu is also in
the desktop's app drawer, next to your Android apps, with a small Linux mark on
its icon. Open one — the terminal, the file manager, VS Code, GIMP — and it
comes up in a window of its own, with the same title bar, taskbar button and
window controls as an Android app, instead of inside the Linux desktop. Menus,
dialogs, copy and paste, and typing in any language work as they do in Linux.
How it works: [doc/linux-windows.md](doc/linux-windows.md).

**You can also get just the Linux part on its own.** On the
[releases page](https://github.com/dotnetdreamer/open-android-dex/releases/latest)
there is a separate download called **LinuxOnDroid**. It is about 1 MB, you
install it on the phone by itself, and that is all you need. No computer, no
cable, no desktop app. Tap the icon and Ubuntu opens on your phone. Keep about
3 GB free for it.

#### Log in to it from another computer

Your phone's Ubuntu can also be a machine you SSH into, from a laptop or
desktop anywhere — the same Wi-Fi, a different one, or with the phone on mobile
data in your bag. Nothing to open on a router, no account, no server to run.

1. On the phone: Linux → **Remote access** → *Turn on* → *Add a computer*.
2. On the computer: Open Android DeX → the **Linux** tab → type the code. With the
   phone plugged in there is no code at all.
3. Then, in any terminal: `ssh galaxy-s25-ultra` (or whatever your phone is
   called). VS Code's Remote-SSH, scp, rsync and git find it by name too.
4. Or the whole desktop: **Linux** → **Open desktop** opens the phone's XFCE in
   a window. The desktop takes the window's size and follows it when you
   resize it; F11 makes it fullscreen. It is started for you if it is not
   running, and its password is handed over, so there is nothing to type.

Only computers you pair can get in, each with a key of its own, and the
connection is end-to-end encrypted. It goes straight between the two devices
whenever the networks allow it and through a relay — which cannot read it —
when they do not. No desktop app on that computer? The `dexremote` command does
the same job, the desktop included (`dexremote desktop`, in a browser tab). How
it works, and what was ruled out on the way:
[doc/remote-access.md](doc/remote-access.md).

A control strip sits along the top wherever Linux is running, on the phone or in
a window. It holds the pointer, the keyboard, the screen and zoom. Tap the
pointer and you pick how touch should behave: point where you look, use the
screen as a touchscreen, or use it as a trackpad. Each one spells out what taps,
drags and two finger gestures do.

### Your desktop in a web browser

Open the Web viewer, press Start, and the phone shows you a web address.

Type that address into a browser on your laptop, a work computer, or anyone
else's machine, enter the six digit code the phone shows you, and the whole
desktop appears in the browser tab. Click things. Type. Browse the phone's files
and download them. Drag files onto the page to send them over.

Nothing gets installed on the other machine. No extension, no app, no account,
no sign up. Just a browser.

On your home Wi-Fi it works with no setup at all. If you want to reach your
phone from anywhere in the world, including over mobile data, it can do that too
without you opening a single port on your router.

### Docker, running on a phone

A working Docker engine, on a normal phone, with no root.

`docker pull`, `docker run` and `docker compose` all work. You get your
containers and images listed in a window, plus a terminal. It is not fast,
because it is a phone, but it is the real thing.

### Make it look how you want

There is a proper Settings app inside the desktop. Ten sections, around forty
things you can change, and every change shows up straight away. No Apply button
and no restart.

- **Themes.** Dark, light, and a warm paper theme
- **Wallpapers.** Eleven of them, plus a dimmer slider
- **Languages.** Nine, including Hindi, Gujarati, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish,
  French, German and Portuguese, or just follow whatever your phone is set to
- **Mouse pointers.** Pick a shape, a colour, an outline and a size
- **Trackpad gestures.** Five three finger gestures, and you choose what each
  one does — on your laptop's touchpad and on your phone's
- **Picture quality.** Resolution, frame rate, sharpness and sound, so you can
  trade smoothness for battery life on an older phone
- **Display size.** Make everything on the desktop bigger or smaller, from five
  sizes or to the exact dpi. A live preview shows the result first, and whether
  most apps are likely to use their phone or tablet layout
- **Window behaviour and clipboard sharing**, among others

### Cut the cable

Start over USB, switch to Wi-Fi, then pull the cable out. Your phone gets
remembered, so next time it connects on its own. If the connection drops it
comes back by itself.

You can also connect wirelessly from the start by scanning a QR code the app
puts on your screen.

### It leaves your phone alone

Everything it changes gets put back when you are done, automatically. That
happens even if you yank the cable out mid session, because the phone tidies up
after itself a short while later. Nothing keeps running and nothing stays
switched on behind your back. Display size only ever changes the desktop, never
your phone's own screen.

---

## How it compares

|  | **Open Android DeX** | Samsung DeX | Android 16 desktop mode | scrcpy | Vysor / AirDroid |
| --- | :---: | :---: | :---: | :---: | :---: |
| Works on any Android phone | ✅ Android 8+ | ❌ Samsung only | ❌ recent Pixels and tablets | ✅ | ✅ |
| Needs a monitor or special cable | ❌ uses your PC or phone screen | ✅ required | ✅ required on phones | ❌ | ❌ |
| Needs root | ❌ never | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Resizable windows with title bars | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ one mirror window | ❌ one mirror window |
| Live home screen widgets on the desktop | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Phone notifications, and answering calls | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ⚠️ paid tiers |
| Full Ubuntu desktop included | ✅ | ❌ dropped in 2019 | ⚠️ separate terminal app | ❌ | ❌ |
| Docker | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Free and open source | ✅ GPL 3.0 | ❌ | part of the OS | ✅ Apache 2.0 | ❌ |
| Account or subscription | ❌ none | ❌ none | ❌ none | ❌ none | ✅ required |

Put together from each project's public documentation in August 2026. If
something here is wrong,
[tell us](https://github.com/dotnetdreamer/open-android-dex/issues) and we will
fix it.

Samsung DeX only works on Samsung phones and needs a monitor. Google's desktop
mode needs a recent phone and a monitor as well. scrcpy is excellent software,
but it mirrors your phone rather than giving it a desktop. The commercial
mirroring apps put your phone in a window and then charge you every month for
the useful half of it. Open Android DeX runs on almost any phone, using the
screen already in front of you, for nothing.

---

## What you need

| | |
| --- | --- |
| **Your computer** | Optional. For the PC app: Windows 10 or 11, a Mac (Intel or Apple Silicon), or a 64-bit Linux desktop |
| **Your phone** | Any Android 8.0 or newer |
| **A cable** | None for the phone alone. For the PC app: a USB data cable or Wi-Fi. For a monitor: compatible video output and an adapter |
| **Root** | No |
| **An account** | No |
| **Money** | No |

**Which download?**

| Your machine | File |
| --- | --- |
| Windows | `..._windows_x64-setup.exe` (installer) or `..._windows_x64_portable.zip` |
| Mac, Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) | `..._macos_apple-silicon.dmg` |
| Mac, Intel | `..._macos_intel.dmg` |
| Linux — Ubuntu, Debian, Mint | `..._linux_amd64.deb` |
| Linux — Fedora, openSUSE | `..._linux_x86_64.rpm` |
| Any other Linux | `..._linux_amd64.AppImage` |
| **Android — standalone launcher** (phone screen, compatible monitor or Samsung DeX) | `OpenAndroidDeX-Launcher-v<version>.apk` |
| **Just Ubuntu, phone only** | `LinuxOnDroid-v<version>.apk` |

---

## Questions people ask

<details>
<summary>Do I need to root my phone?</summary>

No. Nothing here needs root or Shizuku. The PC app connects through Android's
USB or wireless debugging. The standalone Android apps do not need debugging
enabled.
</details>

<details>
<summary>Does this change my phone permanently?</summary>

The PC app switches a few display settings on while the desktop is running and
puts them all back afterwards, including when you unplug without closing the
app. One setting stays changed: Android's limit on how many background
programs apps may run, which the PC app turns off because Ubuntu needs more
than it allows (see "Ubuntu closes by itself" below, which also says how to
turn it back on). In standalone mode, making Open Android DeX your default home
app is optional, and you can switch back in Android's default-app settings.
</details>

<details>
<summary>Why does it want to read my notifications?</summary>

Because that is the only way Android lets an app show them. It is the same
permission your smartwatch asks for. It powers three things: the cards that pop
up in the corner, the bell in the taskbar, and the play and pause buttons in
quick settings.

Nothing is sent anywhere. The notifications are read on the phone and drawn on
the phone, and what you see on your monitor is the same video the rest of the
desktop arrives in. When you press Answer, the desktop presses the button your
dialler already put on the notification — the app itself holds no permission to
make, answer or end a call.

Plug in with a cable and the desktop app turns this on for you and turns it back
off when you finish. Without a cable, tap the bell in the taskbar and it will
show you the phone screen that switches it on. Either way you can turn it off
for good in Settings → Notifications, and the bell disappears with it.
</details>

<details>
<summary>Will it work on my phone?</summary>

The PC setup works with Android 8 or newer and does not need Samsung hardware,
DisplayPort, a dock or an adapter. The standalone launcher also runs on the
phone's screen; using it on an external monitor requires compatible video
output, and resizable windows depend on the phone's desktop support. A few
phones with unusual software handle windows differently, so if yours
misbehaves please
[open an issue](https://github.com/dotnetdreamer/open-android-dex/issues).
</details>

<details>
<summary>My Mac says the app is damaged or will not open it.</summary>

That is macOS being careful about apps that have not paid Apple's notarisation
fee. Open Terminal and paste this once:

```bash
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/Open Android DeX.app"
```

Then open it normally. macOS may also ask for Local Network permission, which is
for Wi-Fi connections, and Accessibility, which is only used for full screen
(the button, and the F11 and Esc keys). USB needs neither.
</details>

<details>
<summary>Can I use the Ubuntu part without a computer?</summary>

Yes. That is what the separate **LinuxOnDroid** download on the
[releases page](https://github.com/dotnetdreamer/open-android-dex/releases/latest)
is for. About 1 MB, installed on the phone, and you tap the icon to get Ubuntu
fullscreen. No cable and no desktop app.

If you install both, they keep their own separate copies of Ubuntu, because
Android does not let one app read another's files. That means two downloads.
</details>

<details>
<summary>The Ubuntu install stops halfway on my Xiaomi, Samsung or Huawei.</summary>

Those phones are aggressive about killing apps that run for a long time with the
screen off, and the first Ubuntu setup takes a while. Turn off battery
optimisation for the app before you start the install. If you are using it
through the desktop app this is handled for you.
</details>

<details>
<summary>Ubuntu closes by itself while I use it, often with a browser open.</summary>

Android 12 and newer lets apps run 32 background programs between them, across
the whole phone, and closes some once there are more. Ubuntu gets there easily:
the desktop is about twenty on its own, and one busy browser tab can be fifteen
more. When it looks like that is what happened, the Linux window says "Android
probably closed Linux".

Connect the phone to Open Android DeX on a computer and the desktop app turns
that limit off, every time it finds it on. It stays off after you unplug,
unless something turns it back on, such as an Android update. On a phone with
no computer, on Android 14 or newer, open Settings → Developer options and turn
on Disable child process restrictions. The Linux window has a button that takes
you there.

Once the desktop app has turned it off, the Developer options switch can no
longer turn it back on. To have Android's limit back, run these with the phone
connected, and know that the desktop app turns it off again the next time it
sees the phone:

```
adb shell settings delete global settings_enable_monitor_phantom_procs
adb shell device_config delete activity_manager max_phantom_processes
```
</details>

<details>
<summary>Is my screen going through someone else's server?</summary>

No. Over USB or your own Wi-Fi nothing leaves your network. If you set up remote
access from anywhere, you point it at a server you run yourself, and even then
only a small amount of connection setup passes through it. Your screen and your
access code never do.
</details>

<details>
<summary>Something went wrong. What do I send you?</summary>

Open the **?** menu at the top right of the app and choose **Create a
diagnostics report**. It writes one file with everything needed to work out
what happened, so attach that to an issue.

The plain log lives here if you want to read it yourself:

```
Windows %LOCALAPPDATA%\com.ccrstech.openandroiddex\logs\open-android-dex.log
macOS ~/Library/Logs/com.ccrstech.openandroiddex/open-android-dex.log
Linux ~/.local/share/com.ccrstech.openandroiddex/logs/open-android-dex.log
```
</details>

---

## For developers

<details>
<summary>Building it yourself, and how the project is laid out</summary>

**You will need:** Node 20 or newer, Rust (stable), JDK 17 or newer, and the
Android SDK (platforms `android-35` and `android-36`, build tools with `d8`),
with `ANDROID_HOME` and `JAVA_HOME` set. Windows also needs VS Build Tools with
the C++ workload. macOS needs the Xcode command line tools.

```bash
cd open-android-dex-tauri
npm install
npm run tauri dev
```

`npm run tauri dev` is **the** way to run this. It rebuilds both phone side
payloads, deploys them, and applies permissions in the order that matters.
Hand launching scrcpy or sideloading the APK skips all of that.

```bash
npm run tauri build     # Windows -> bundle/nsis/ ; macOS -> bundle/{macos,dmg}/
npm run apk             # phone side payloads only
cargo test              # from src-tauri/

# The two phone apps on their own, from openandroiddex-launcher/
./gradlew :app:assembleDebug          # the launcher, sideloadable
./gradlew :linuxapp:assembleDebug     # LinuxOnDroid

# The Play builds of the same two. Needs the release key — see
# openandroiddex-launcher/release-signing.gradle for the four variables, and
# .github/workflows/android.yml for the workflow that does this in CI.
./gradlew :app:bundleRelease :linuxapp:bundleRelease

# Frontend only work, no JDK or Android SDK needed:
SKIP_LAUNCHER_APK=1 SKIP_WMD_DEX=1 npm run tauri dev

# Raise the log level (default: debug)
OADX_LOG=trace npm run tauri dev
```

A fresh clone has an empty `src-tauri/resources/bin/`. Unpack the matching
scrcpy release into it, flattened, for a local bundle. Rebuilding the native
prebuilts is rarely needed and requires Docker:

```bash
bash openandroiddex-linux/proot/build.sh    # libproot.so, libloader*.so
bash openandroiddex-docker/qemu/build.sh    # libqemu.so
```

**Releasing.** One dispatch versions everything, builds it and cuts the release:

```bash
gh workflow run desktop.yml -f bump=patch      # or -f version=0.4.0, or -f dry_run=true
```

**Testing a branch on Windows.** Tick "Windows portable only" (or pass the flag)
for a quick build of just the portable zip, downloadable from the run's page for
two weeks — no installer, no macOS or Linux, no version bump, no release:

```bash
gh workflow run desktop.yml --ref <branch> -f windows_portable_only=true
```

**Where things live**

| Path | What it is |
| --- | --- |
| [open-android-dex-tauri/](open-android-dex-tauri/) | The PC app. Tauri v2 (Rust) plus React 19, TypeScript, Vite and Tailwind v4 |
| [openandroiddex-launcher/](openandroiddex-launcher/) | The desktop shell that runs on the phone. Everything you see |
| [openandroiddex-wmd/](openandroiddex-wmd/) | The small window daemon that moves and resizes app windows |
| [openandroiddex-linux/](openandroiddex-linux/) | Ubuntu provisioning and runtime scripts |
| [openandroiddex-remote/](openandroiddex-remote/) | Remote access: SSH into the phone's Linux, or open its desktop, from any network. Rust, both ends — the phone's daemon and the computer's side |
| [openandroiddex-docker/](openandroiddex-docker/) | The Alpine VM scripts and QEMU build |
| [openandroiddex-signal/](openandroiddex-signal/) | Optional relay for reaching a phone from anywhere. One Node file with no dependencies |
| [test/](test/) | End to end checks that run without a phone |
| [doc/](doc/) | Design records explaining why things are built the way they are. **Read these before changing window management** |
| [.agents/AGENTS.md](.agents/AGENTS.md) | Rules for AI coding agents and contributors |

Contributions are welcome. Please read the relevant record in [doc/](doc/)
first, because several decisions there look arbitrary until you see what was
measured.
</details>

---

## Licence

Open Android DeX is free software under the **GNU General Public License v3.0
or later**. See [LICENSE](LICENSE). It ships alongside independent third party
software that keeps its own licences, including scrcpy, adb, QEMU, proot and
FFmpeg. See [COPYRIGHT](COPYRIGHT) and
[THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md](open-android-dex-tauri/src-tauri/resources/THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md).

**If this is useful to you, a ⭐ helps other people find it.**

[Download](https://github.com/dotnetdreamer/open-android-dex/releases/latest) ·
[Report a problem](https://github.com/dotnetdreamer/open-android-dex/issues) ·
[Discussions](https://github.com/dotnetdreamer/open-android-dex/discussions)

</div>

Repository info

Default branch: main
Latest version: v0.3.33
Created: 19/08/2026
Last activity: 12/11/2026
License: GPL-3.0
Open issues: 11
Watchers: 2

Topics

android android-desktop linux-desktop opo samsung samsung-dex

Contributors

dotnetdreamer

128 contributions

github-actions[bot]

24 contributions