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Android phones, like this Nexus S running Replicant, allow installation of apps from the Play Store, F-Droid store or directly via APK files. This is a list of notable applications (apps) that run on the Android platform which meet guidelines for free software and open-source software.
Some VM/emulator apps have a fixed set of OS's or applications that can be supported. Since Android 8 and later versions of Android, some of these apps have been reporting issues as Google has heightened the security of file-access permissions on newer versions of Android. Some apps have difficulties or have lost access to SD card.
The majority of limitations are seen in emulation-based apps rather than the platform virtualization based apps, as the emulation apps must utilize a compatibility layer. Thus for libraries and packages to work as expected like in a real OS, the compatibility layer must work properly and must be able to provide accurate information.
However, the unofficial Google Play App that was developed by a Chinese developer, enabled users of the device to download and install android apps. [9] However, the unofficial Google Play App was eventually removed. [10] However, many users have found ways to bring back the unofficial Google Play App, as well as port google apps to the device.
F-Droid is a free and open source app store and software repository for Android, serving a similar function to the Google Play store. The main repository, hosted by the project, contains only free and open source apps.
Such apps are compiled in the Android-native which allows easy redistribution of apps to end-users. Most apps are distributed through 's Play Store but many alternative software repositories, or , exist. Alternative app stores use Android devices' "Unknown Sources" option to install APK files directly via the Android Package Manager.
By February 2021, BlueStacks reported over 1 billion app downloads. [11] The App Player provides support for mouse, keyboard, and external touch-pad controls. In June 2012, the company introduced an alpha version of its App Player software for macOS, [ 12 ] while the beta version was released in December of the same year.
Termux is a free and open-source terminal emulator for Android which allows for running a Linux environment on an Android device. Termux installs a minimal base system automatically; additional packages are available using its package manager, based on Debian's.