• Questions
  • What is Waydroid?
  • How does Waydroid differ from Android emulators?
  • Can I play all Android games through Waydroid?
• Before Starting
• Get Started
• Waydroid Tweaks
  • Run Waydroid on X11
  • Internet Connection Issue
  • Hiding Waydroid Application Shortcuts
• Conclusion

Hello. In this guide, you will be informed about what is Waydroid and how to install/configure it. If you are ready, let's begin!

Waydroid is a container-based compatibility layer that allows Android to run on Linux.

Mobile Android devices use processors with ARM-based architectures while most of the computers use processors with x86_64 architectures.

• So, Android emulators emulate (imitate):
  • CPU architecture: They emulate ARM CPU architecture instead of natively using your CPU architecture.
  • Android system services and kernel
  • Device hardware and sensors
• However, Waydroid does not emulate anything mentioned above. It directly uses your own computer hardware and Linux kernel to run Android on Linux. That's why there is almost no performance loss.

• No. Most of the Android games do not support x86_64 architecture.
• It is possible to install an ARM translation layer to make some incompatible games compatible.
  • However, this does not mean that all games will start working after installing an ARM translation layer.
• Some popular Android games that natively support keyboard and/or mouse configurations are:
  • Roblox - keyboard + mouse
  • Minecraft: Pocket Edition - keyboard + mouse
  • PUBG Mobile - keyboard + mouse (it is hard to aim and shoot at the same time because it does not work like Android emulators)
  • Honkai Impact - keyboard + mouse (it is hard to change camera and attack at the same time)
  • Asphalt Legends - mouse
  • Shadow Fight 3 - keyboard + mouse (2 and 4 work with mouse but it is hard to move and attack at the same time)
  • Subway Surfers - keyboard
  • Geometry Dash Series - mouse
  • Angry Birds Series - mouse
  • Candy Crush Series (and other King games) - mouse
  • Clash Royale (and other Supercell games) - mouse

• First of all, install Waydroid following the steps according to your Linux distribution.

• Next, install Waydroid Helper according to your distribution.
• After successfully installing and running the application, click this button to configure Waydroid:

• Next, go to Extensions and install LiteGapps-Lite
• Then, scroll down and install houdini (for Intel CPUs) or ndk_translation (for AMD CPUs)
• Click this button to go back and run Waydroid.

• Once you see the app saying that Waydroid session is running, go to the configuration page and click Settings.
• If you have a hybrid graphics setup (1 integrated + 1 dedicated GPU), scroll down and find gpu.
  • From gpu, select your integrated GPU because Waydroid does not support hybrid graphics.
• If you additionally would like to change Waydroid's screen resolution permanently, scroll up and find persist.waydroid.width and persist.waydroid.height and change the values to your liking.

• Lastly, go to Details and click Retrieve GSF ID.
  • Copy the numbers you see and click Open registration page. Paste the numbers to the website that opened and click Register.
  • Make sure to restart Waydroid after completing the steps.

• Install weston package using your package manager.
• Inside Waydroid Helper, go to Scripts and click Launch Waydroid with Weston.
• This is how you can run Waydroid on X11!

This issue generally occurs from the firewall your system is using.

• This step is explained in Arch Wiki

• You might have noticed that Waydroid application shortcuts are seen on your Linux applications list. In order to hide them:
  • Inside Waydroid Helper, go to Scripts and click Toggle Waydroid App Icons, make sure to restart your Linux system for applying changes.
• Now you are ready to use Waydroid!

This guide was about Waydroid installation and configuration. I hope the guide has been useful. Thank you for reading, have a nice day!