How to use the command 'waydroid' (with examples)

Waydroid is a command that allows you to boot a full Android system on a regular GNU/Linux system like Ubuntu using a container-based approach. This article will provide examples of different use cases of the ‘waydroid’ command.

Use case 1: Start Waydroid

Code:

waydroid

Motivation: The ‘waydroid’ command without any arguments starts Waydroid and brings up the Android system on your GNU/Linux system. This is useful when you want to run Android apps and perform Android-related tasks on your Linux system.

Explanation: Running the command ‘waydroid’ without any arguments starts the Waydroid session.

Example output:

Starting Waydroid session...
Waydroid session started successfully.

Use case 2: Initialize Waydroid

Code:

waydroid init

Motivation: The ‘waydroid init’ command is required on the first run or after reinstalling Android. It initializes Waydroid and sets up the necessary configuration files.

Explanation: Running the command ‘waydroid init’ initializes Waydroid by setting up the necessary configuration files. This is necessary before starting the Waydroid session.

Example output:

Initializing Waydroid...
Waydroid initialization complete.

Use case 3: Install a new Android app from a file

Code:

waydroid app install path/to/file.apk

Motivation: The ‘waydroid app install’ command allows you to install a new Android app onto your Waydroid session. This is useful when you want to test or use Android apps that are not available on your Linux system.

Explanation: Running the ‘waydroid app install’ command with the file path of the APK installs the specified Android app onto your Waydroid session.

Example output:

Installing app from path/to/file.apk...
App installed successfully.

Use case 4: Launch an Android app by its package name

Code:

waydroid app launch com.example.app

Motivation: The ‘waydroid app launch’ command allows you to launch an Android app by specifying its package name. This is useful when you want to directly start a specific Android app on your Waydroid session.

Explanation: Running the ‘waydroid app launch’ command with the package name of the app launches the specified Android app on your Waydroid session.

Example output:

Launching app com.example.app...
App launched successfully.

Use case 5: Start or stop the Waydroid session

Code:

waydroid session start|stop

Motivation: The ‘waydroid session start’ and ‘waydroid session stop’ commands allow you to start and stop the Waydroid session, respectively. This is useful when you need to control the running state of the Android system on your Linux system.

Explanation: Running the ‘waydroid session start’ command starts the Waydroid session, while running the ‘waydroid session stop’ command stops the Waydroid session.

Example output (for ‘waydroid session start’):

Starting Waydroid session...
Waydroid session started successfully.

Example output (for ‘waydroid session stop’):

Stopping Waydroid session...
Waydroid session stopped successfully.

Use case 6: Manage the Waydroid container

Code:

waydroid container start|stop|restart|freeze|unfreeze

Motivation: The ‘waydroid container’ commands allow you to manage the Waydroid container. This is useful when you need to start, stop, restart, freeze, or unfreeze the container running the Android system.

Explanation: Running one of the ‘waydroid container’ commands with the respective action (start, stop, restart, freeze, or unfreeze) performs the corresponding operation on the Waydroid container.

Example output (for ‘waydroid container start’):

Starting Waydroid container...
Waydroid container started successfully.

Example output (for ‘waydroid container stop’):

Stopping Waydroid container...
Waydroid container stopped successfully.

Example output (for ‘waydroid container restart’):

Restarting Waydroid container...
Waydroid container restarted successfully.

Example output (for ‘waydroid container freeze’):

Freezing Waydroid container...
Waydroid container frozen successfully.

Example output (for ‘waydroid container unfreeze’):

Unfreezing Waydroid container...
Waydroid container unfrozen successfully.

Conclusion

The ‘waydroid’ command provides a container-based approach to boot a full Android system on a regular GNU/Linux system. By using different arguments and options, you can start Waydroid, initialize it, install and launch Android apps, manage the Waydroid session, and control the Waydroid container. These use cases demonstrate the versatility of the ‘waydroid’ command and how it can be used to integrate Android functionality into your Linux environment.