Anbox

Anbox
Original author(s)Marius Gripsgard, Ricardo Mendoza, Simon Fels, Thomas Voß
Developer(s)Anbox authors
(4)
Initial release11 April 2017; 8 years ago (2017-04-11)
Repositorygithub.com/anbox/anbox
Operating systemLinux
Platformx86-64, ARM, ARM64
TypeCompatibility layer
LicenseGNU GPL v3[1]
Websiteanbox.io

Anbox (short for “Android in a Box”) is a free and open-source compatibility layer that allows Android applications to run on Linux distributions[2] by using containerization techniques. Originally introduced by Canonical, Anbox executes Android applications in a lightweight system container, isolated from the host system for security and efficiency.

Anbox was officially released on April 11, 2017, and rapidly gained attention as a bridge between the mobile Android ecosystem and desktop Linux environments.

Anbox was deprecated on February 3, 2023[3] as it is no longer being actively maintained,[4] as development has shifted to Waydroid[5] (formerly called Anbox-Halium)[6].

Canonical's active development focus shifted to Anbox Cloud, a platform for running Android applications in a cloud environment.[7] Anbox Cloud is a closed-source,[8] enterprise-focused version of the original Anbox, maintained by Canonical, offering extended features, better scalability, and support via Ubuntu Pro.

How Anbox works

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Anbox executes the Android runtime environment by using LXC (Linux Containers), recreating the directory structure of Android as a mountable loop image, while using native Linux kernel to execute applications. It makes use of Linux namespaces through LXC for isolation. Applications do not have any direct hardware access, all accesses are sent through the Anbox daemon.[9] This ensures that Android apps can run on Linux without the need for emulation, offering improved performance compared to traditional methods like Android emulators.

How Anbox Cloud differs from Anbox

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Anbox Cloud is a cloud-based platform developed by Canonical for running Android operating system instances at scale. It builds on container-based virtualization using LXD to enable multiple isolated Android environments on a single machine.

Unlike the original Anbox project, which was desktop-oriented and is now discontinued, Anbox Cloud is intended for deployment in server and cloud infrastructures. It supports both Arm and x86 architectures, offers GPU acceleration for graphics-intensive workloads such as cloud gaming, and includes tooling for automation, orchestration, and performance monitoring.

Anbox Cloud is compatible with public cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, as well as private and hybrid cloud environments. Anbox Cloud supports elastic scaling and centralized management, and is used for mobile application testing, CI/CD pipelines, low-latency Android streaming, and the development of in-vehicle software based on Android Automotive OS[10], including support for the Vehicle Hardware Abstraction Layer (VHAL). It is suited for use cases requiring high instance density, secure isolation, and consistent performance.

Anbox Cloud logo
Anbox Cloud logo

See also

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  • Android-x86 - An open source project that makes an unofficial porting of Google's Android mobile operating system to run on devices powered by AMD and Intel x86 processors, rather than RISC-based ARM chips.
  • BlueStacks has developed an App Player for Windows and MacOS capable of running Android applications in a container.
  • The SPURV compatibility layer[11] is a similar project developed by Collabora.
  • Waydroid also uses Android (LineageOS) in an LXC container on a regular Linux system, using Wayland.[6]
  • Wine - A Windows compatibility layer for Unix-like systems.

References

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  1. ^ "anbox/anbox". GitHub. 4 January 2023.
  2. ^ Lynch, Jim (2017-04-12). "Anbox: Run Android apps in Linux". InfoWorld. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  3. ^ "Anbox". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-10-22.
  4. ^ "Add deprecation notice to README by morphis · Pull Request #2121 · anbox/anbox". GitHub. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  5. ^ "README: Important". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
  6. ^ a b "WayDroid brings lag-free Android app integration to the OnePlus 6/6T Linux port". 24 July 2021.
  7. ^ Lardinois, Frederic (21 January 2020). "Canonical's Anbox Cloud puts Android in the cloud". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  8. ^ "Anbox Cloud official website". anbox-cloud.io. Retrieved 2024-10-22.
  9. ^ "anbox/anbox". GitHub. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  10. ^ "Canonical's Anbox Cloud brings new development and testing features to improve in-vehicle infotainment". Ubuntu. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  11. ^ "Running Android next to Wayland".
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